Journey To The Road Less Traveled

So, if I was so happy about sending the boys to school, how in the world did we end up homeschooling?
There are things in life that we do because that’s just what people do in mainstream America.  And there are things that we think we want very much that make us miserable in the end.  School was both of these things for me.  I didn’t really even know that homeschooling existed as an option.
Soon after the school journey began, God began to also bring homeschooling moms around me to inspire me in this new direction.  Incidentally, it’s really pretty amazing how many wonderful things I’ve just kind of “fallen into” by God’s leading in life. 
First Example -When I was younger, a friend encouraged me to apply to work at the drugstore he worked at.  He gushed about what a great place it was to work.  I applied there, but at a different store in the chain, and not the one in my hometown where he worked.  Eventually, the manager had me trained on the photo finishing machine.  And when it needed a repair, the technician really caught my eye.  Two and a half years later I prayed to God for a soul mate, for the man he had meant for me.  About a week or two later I admitted to a friend and co-worker of the photo technician that his friend had caught my eye.  They happened to be living together.  Within a week, I had a phone call from the technician that I liked.  We started to date, and we both knew that marriage was where we were headed.  About 5 months after the first date, we were married.  It was a big church wedding, and everything fell into place.  That was over 11 years ago, and he is still my soul mate!
Second Example -God keeps giving us what we need, not in our timing, but in His perfect timing!  It’s amazing, and I love it.  When our oldest son was 7 1/2 months old, we had this crazy thought that he was getting too big and we wanted another child.  Did I mention that he was only 7 1/2 months old people?!  We tried very briefly to have another child.  Suddenly I had a horrible realization . . . oh no.  I was to be the matron of honor at my baby sister’s wedding about 9 months from then.  We needed to wait before trying again, or else I might be as big as a house at my sister’s wedding!  I shuddered at the thought.  “Of course, you know what this means?”, I said to my husband.  “I’m probably already pregnant!” I said with a nervous laugh.  I was.  But, wouldn’t you know it, one of the other bridesmaids lost a bunch of weight from the time we ordered the dresses until the wedding neared.  We exchanged our dresses, and they fit!  Oh, and my aching back loved the fact that one of my sister’s wedding guests was a massage therapist the day of her wedding, let me tell you!  Now, in home school, our boys are in the same grade, which makes teaching a little easier, and they are best friends!  God’s timing ;) 
Third Example -Then we took a break in having kids.  My hubby wasn’t even allowed to look at me funny, for fear I’d get pregnant.  And then a friend said “You make such cute babies!  You need to have another.”  Enter our little girl.
Homeschooling - God brought at least two wonderful home school advocates into my life around the time we began our journey in the school classroom.  One was a good friend of mine from church before she started homeschooling, and the other had homeschooled before, but felt forced to give it up temporarily for personal reasons.  Both of them are awesome ladies, and very cool.  Yes, homeschooling moms (and dads) today can be very cool!  Really, trust me! 
They inspired me in a time in which I grew more and more resentful of our sons’ educational experience in school.  There are some awesome parochial schools out there.  We were not at one of them.  Sorry, we just weren’t.  We wanted a faith based education for our boys, but the faith lessons were watered down for our liking.  The school had never dealt with food allergies.  Both of our sons have them, and the way of the school handling them was both scary, and isolating for our children.  And we really couldn’t afford the tuition.  Public school was a very poor option for us.  We both had awful, awful experiences in public school.  And the things we saw our relatives’ kids learning in public school were not cool with us. 
So, after two years of “the classroom experience” I began an intense four month odyssey into researching just what homeschooling was all about.  I decided that I would research it thoroughly, and start homeschooling before the regular school year started.  If we liked it, great!  And if we didn’t, we could always send them to school if we had to.
Um, in case you hadn’t guessed already, we LOVED it!  (Figured the title of the blog might have given it away, or something though, LOL)
_________________________________________________________________-
And now, for your perusing pleasure, a direct link to a very cool comedic home school dad’s videos.  Click Here for Tim Hawkins Videos!  I love Tim Hawkins!  He rocks, and he is so humble about it!  Meeting him in person, is just like meeting the neighbor down the street . . . that rocks!  He laughs at the misconceptions of homeschooling in “A Homeschool Family”.  Enjoy!!