Our Homeschool Life

The one thing I totally understood was that not everything was a one size fits all right? Well, that’s what makes the fact that there a like a million choices for curriculum and at home learning options that make it extremely overwhelming. I knew I wanted something easy for mom. I knew that I was all in, but I also know myself and my children. I knew that if it was too complicated or involved, it wasn’t going to work for us. For my daughter sure. My son, not so much. I knew sitting down and teaching my son was going to be tricky. He and I are too much alike and I believe the sentiment is “oil and water.” He also leans towards impulsive and hyperactive.

I researched and read what other moms had to say. I looked at prices. OMG! The Good and The Beautiful, Abeka, Master Books, IXL, Accelus, Miacademy, BJU, All in One, Time4Learning, TPT, etc. Not one I liked wholly. I went to my local used book store and they have an education section in which I bought lots of second hand material. I began to piece my own curriculum together. I bought level readers and workbooks for every subject, specifically the ones I thought would work for my kids.

By the time I had pieced everything together, I realized, I did just the opposite of what my family needed. I knew we didn’t need complicated, we needed simple, especially to start. What was I thinking. I was just trying to do the best for my kids, and what I was putting together was looking like traditional school. I was so stressed out. I had stuff everywhere. I had bought so much stuff, supplies, furniture, books, etc. I was at meltdown level, I didn’t like this and didn’t want to do this anymore. I needed to take a step back.

I took a breath and started reflecting on not only what I wanted for my kids but for myself out of everyday. What is truly important? Priorities? Non-negotiables? How much time really are we going to spend/need for things? Me doing the opposite of what I knew we needed was ridiculous, but so me. We finally decided I didn’t want to be the lesson planner for the core subjects. So we compared and signed up for Miacademy.