Season of Change

Now at the end of my month long holiday I realize I have so much to share in fact, too much!  This break has been so refreshing and enlightening.  I left you for a month of homeschool planning, gardening & canning and loads of quality one on one time with my children and husband - 
Somehow, it always seems the best laid plans have a way of going awry. 

     Now, Not to say, I got nothing done, there is enough to speak of to fill up your whole afternoon and leave your eyes tired, but lets just say some things didn’t exactly go as planned.  Rather than go into all  the details…I’ll just summarize – There was lots of gardening, boating, swimming, canning, tending, playing, planning, sewing, knitting, hosting, pet farewell/burial ceremony, travelling and a surgery all quashed into our August!  The good news is that it’s September, we’ are all still here, healthy, happy and in the middle of a rather unexpected change in our day to day lives. 

    Truthfully, the change has been in our thoughts for the last year.   It is not an easy decision for me, I have my ‘Martha side’ to contend with, as you know.  But in humbleness and many moments of prayer, I realized that my time was being spread too thinly.  Keeping up with it all became near impossible - the garden, the animals, the cooking, the cleaning, my blog, showering (yes some days that is hard to come by), the children’s multiple lessons, activities & playdates, increasing the hours each day I help my husband with the business, spending one on one time with my husband and children, Homeschooling... 

       I wished and prayed I could be super woman sometimes,  but this was unrealistic, I’m not.  No matter what I do the day still ends after 24 hours.  I tried to rework the schedule, organize better but one thing was still lingering in my mind -  How in the world was I going to homeschool this year?  How could I manage all the subjects I taught last year and more?  Latin, French, History, Geography, Language Arts, Religion, Science, Math, Art, Music…. Trips to tutors to fill in the gaps in physics, Algebra, French…. Plus truck them to swim team, ski team, violin lessons, riding lessons, archery, math club and more…. 

Both the children are very bright, they love learning, they love their extra activities.  Naturally, eliminating some activities was our first thought, but the children enjoy each one of them and that was part of why we were homeschooling.  We wanted to get the best of both worlds, right? But the activities, tutors, school work, the hours in the car to try to fit it all in were draining all of us - 
Short sticks were showing up for everyone.  

The wind of change that we had been pushing away for months had arrived!

      The decision, even before spoke aloud, was mutual.  I was okay with it,  my husband was okay with it, the children were excited about it.  They wanted  to go to a private school.  We found a wonderful small private school nearby, the curriculum is much the same as what we had been doing at home,  the class sizes are very small.  It feels and looks more like a home than a school. They already knew several kids that went there.  The next week, we toured the school and at first sight, I knew.  It was right.  The classes were right, the staff lovely, the children happy.  The school was the kind I had only hoped existed should my children ever want to go to school!

      So in August, they both took their placement/entrance exams.  They both did well. They both skipped a grade.  They love the school, the kids, their teachers.   They have all the subjects we were trying to manage at home and more, they have new friends, art, music, lots of field trips, swimming, skiing - but all in one place.    

    Do I miss homeschooling them?  More than you know.  But, I have always homeschooled with the intent of it being right for that moment, knowing that when it wasn’t anymore, our family would find what was best for the children.  I feel blessed to have been able to teach my children at home each day over the last ten years.  To watch them grow and learn and to have learned so much from them.  But, I too see the blessing in this little private school because they have found the next phase of their educational journey in life. 

       So as the season outside changes,  our family too enters a new Season of Change and I ask you not to judge us for making and sharing this very tough, personal decision.  All parents want the best education for their children, no matter what type of education they choose for them.   And, even though we're no longer homeschooling, I still strongly believe that the method by which each family chooses to educate their children is the fundamental right and responsibility of the parents and should be free from government interference.  Will our educational choice be the same next year?  That, I cannot say, only time will tell.  
For now, I’m just striving to embrace each season of Change in our lives as they come.

 - Erin