Introduction

I'm in the wife to B and mom of 3 girls Nala (8/2001), Nina (7/2003) and Natasha (1/2005).

Where do I start? I feel like I have been a homeschooler since my first child was born. It's something that I felt very strongly about and knew it was something I wanted to do. Well why didn't I really do it til now? I can't really answer that. Nala went to preschool and did well. She went to Kindergarten, and did well. It wasn't until her first grade year that I started to really consider doing something. Nina is in preschool and her homework was getting ridiculous. It was just a lot of stuff for her to do and I was really concerned. I started reading articles and talking to parents amount all the homework their children were bringing home. Nala still excelling in school, was still bringing home the same level books she brought home in Kindergarten yet the library books she was reading were at least 2nd grade level. She complained of some boy bothering her. A friend of mine started homeschooling so I had someone in my close circle to talk to. I joined a few yahoo homeschooling support groups. Nala talked to me about all the things she wanted to do and it just seemed there was not enough hours in the day to do them. I already gave her extra worksheets do to and books to read. She was in school all day, I work nights and usually sleep in the late afternoon....I just felt it was undoable. Did I feel I I could do a better job teaching my child? Maybe but that was not even the question. It was about offering her experiences and memories that would add to her growth. It was about being in charge of education and what she learned. Nala is already a motivated, highly social, hungry learner. I wanted to encourage that and just really open doors for her and in my mind, the only way to do that was to teach her myself.

But how was I to do that when she loved school. She would be so upset if she missed a day. Is this fair? Well I wanted to try it and see.

On Monday 10/22/2007, Nala was so sick. I took her to the dr and it was nothing serious. I thought it was the flu and estimated she would be out all week. I started thinking, wow maybe we can give this week a trial run of homeschooling and see how it worked out. I had an appointment with her teacher that morning to discuss the reading situation as well as this boy who was bothering her. The teacher was sick also and called out. The next day, Tuesday, Nala was feeling better (I should have known, my kids do not stay sick long. 24 hours bugs are the norm) and she was actually expecting to go on the trip to the Zoo her class had that day. Well she didn't go but she said she wanted to do some writing so i have her some paper and let her do her thing.

Wednesday came and she wanted to go back to school. She was doing some work and I talked honestly to her. I said Nala I really want to homeschool you. That means you'll be learning at home. We'll be doing a lot of fun things, the same things you do in school and more. You want to give it a try? She said Ok. And there we started.

I had already been in touch with a homeschooling mom and she walked me through what to do. Although I had a ton of homeschooling websites and info I wasn't sure exactly how to start. I wrote my letter of intent and sent it off to the homeschooling office and another to the school. It was official, Thursday October 25, 2007. I was now a homeschooling mom.