Defying Gravity.

When I met my husband back in 2006, I hadn't thought much about getting married to him, raising his babies, and living happily ever after, let alone figuring out how to educate his babies. I had always assumed my kids would go to a private Catholic grade school and a private Catholic high school. When I was 20, I was in charge of a youth ministry program at a local church. I met many parents through the years as a youth minister. One mom, I remember to this day because she homeschooled her sons. It's kinda funny. She was my second experience with a person who homeschooled their kids. I'll come back to her later.

When I was in the 7th grade, a classmate of mine was pulled out of our class mid-school year because our religious education program began offering sexual education in the classroom and her parents didn't like that. I thought that was downright weird. My parents thought that was weird. I mean, how *weird*, right? I thought all homeschoolers were weird. They dressed weird, they were a little *too* nice, you know? *Too* religious, for sure! Their parents dressed *funny* and that made me uncomfortable. Actually, I hadn't thought passed the weirdness. I had not considered what actually goes on at their house every day. I just knew how I *felt* and I made that my truth. *The* truth.

I was wrong. Mostly. Luckily, or some may say (I certainly do), blessedly, love is a choice, not a feeling.

Shortly after meeting and proposing, my husband and I talked seriously about all aspects of life (we kind of had to catch up). We had only known each other for three months before meeting in real life and then getting engaged (but that's a different story for a different blog) so we only had a year to really hash out our future together before tying the knot. We talked money, and kids, and thank GOD we saw eye to eye on faith and values, and we talked about schooling. At that point in my life, I had come back to the Church fully and I was looking forward to educating my children in the faith and raising them while I stayed at home with them. It all sounded natural to me, and I liked that. John is such a wonderfully strong, encouraging man. He made me feel that anything was possible. I think it was really when I met him that I saw that educating my children on my own with his full help and love (and with God's grace) was possible! Plus, in the back of my head, I knew I had a few years to go. We weren't even married yet. It was also then that I found some wonderful (and totally *normal* GASP) women who were moms and who were also homeschooling their children. We became great friends and when John and I got married and had our first child, it was a no-brainer. I was going to homeschool my kids. Of course, I didn't have to worry about that until my little baby was much older.

We moved away from those wonderful mommas( who I still get emotional thinking about because they are true gifts to their families, and their church communities and friends)and I made a new group of mom friends were we live now. Equally wonderful, these moms have lifted me up in stressful times, and have given me goals to aspire to. I just love them. Oddly enough, they all homeschool their kids as well. I feel at home. Within that group of ladies was Sue.

Sue remembered me from when I was 20. A lot more naïve then, a lot more headstrong and disobedient. I distinctly remember telling my co-worker at the time how I disagreed with homeschooling and thought her children were nice enough but yeah, the whole thing was just "weird". HAH! Sue and I had a good laugh at my expense. She's older now, too, obviously, and her children are in late middle school, high school and college now. The high schooler is homeschooled, her college student is not (WHAT? You mean homeschoolers go to *college*?) and she is doing it. Going against the norm. Defying gravity. I love that.

So, my little baby is 4. Eager to start some kind of formal education. So, we went for it. Dove right in! We researched of course and chose the path we wanted (classical curriculum) for him and us and we are still learning. That's part of what I love about homeschooling. I am relearning everything along with him and I can appreciate it all the more now. Even simple things. Truly. It's awesome.

We started Kinder a few weeks ago and my little guy has already memorized a poem and recited it in front of people, recites the Pledge of Allegiance without assistance and is learning to read. Of course he's doing other subjects. Art appreciation, music, math, handwriting among them. I'm confident that right now, at least, I'm a competent teacher. LOL! That may change come high school. A valuable lesson I learned from a mom who homeschooled as well as put her kids in traditional school(public and private), is that you must always evaluate. Is this for us? is this for him/her? Is this working?

And there you have it. We homeschool.

My little girl seems even more eager than my boy to start school and she's only 20 months! I fear how eager she is. LOL. I am pretty adamant about not starting school too soon (even 4 years old is kind of early in my opinion) if they are staying home with mom. We shall see how that all goes!

We also started a mommy and me class for both kids that meets once a week. Those are proving to be valuable in that it gets us all out of the house and exposes them to different kids and those kids' personalities. *That socializing thing is SO important*. Wink, wink. I must say, I do have egg on face when it comes to homeschooler first impressions. I look back and chuckle at the closed-mindedness of it all and look forward to the future!

Especially the future of my children.