I felt the nudge at the beginning of the school year of the great pandemic...I felt a nudge to homeschool then. I thought it was crazy that I even had those thoughts...I have repeatedly said most of my parenting life or life in general that I was not a teacher because I did not have the patience nor the know how. So why in the world did I feel that nudge? When I started talking about it to a few people, I got the weird looks..you know the ones where their thoughts are running wild with all the reasons why I shouldn't but they contained their facial expressions..you know. So ultimately I let other people talk me out of it. I backed away from the nudge and put my kids into school.
Now where we live our school is absolutely amazing, everything is top notch and my kids are well taken care of with plenty of opportunities. We started the school year with positive attitudes despite a pandemic, we rode the bus each morning along with the chaos of a school morning, I picked them up from the end of our gravel road each afternoon as they bounced off the bus holding hands and we worked through homework for the four days they attended school. Thankfully the months went on with only a few weeks off with quarantines and holidays. During this time my husband started a new job in which he would be away for long periods of times without a set schedule. He worked in Florida for about 2 months towards the end of the year and then starting in February of the new year he was assigned to another job in Florida that would last around 4 months. It was a time of adjusting for our family...we made one trip driving down to surprise daddy but it started taking a toll on us. The kids missed their daddy tremendously and so did I. I would put my head down and just keep moving, never stopping to avoid feeling that void of him being away.
School was out for going on a couple weeks in Louisiana because of an ice storm and quarantine so we were stuck at home. During this time I worked with the kids at home on schoolwork as best I could but that nudge really started to work on me. I felt God leading me into something that I had no clue how to do. I knew how unequipped I was but I also felt Him so strongly leading us in this direction. I spoke with my husband and did our research on the laws of our state. I reached out to a local friend who took the homeschool leap at the beginning of the year and she helped guide me to the necessary paperwork. When my husband and I finally made that step of withdrawing our kids from public school I felt it in my heart that it was Gods plan. It was a feeling of assurance yet still no idea how I would do it, but He was leading so how could we go wrong, right?
Our kids were excited to start this journey and I was actually shocked at how eager they were to give this a shot, but I also knew how much they enjoyed traveling so I think that helped. When we went to the school to withdraw the kids we were greeted with such encouraging words on our new journey, it was truly comforting and once again I felt God saying..."See, it will be alright."
I think deciding on a curriculum was the biggest part for me. I researched all of our options and I knew at the time financially we could not commit to something so I decided on Easy Peasy. It was an online faith based curriculum and I was able to print worksheets off and also allow the kids to watch some videos. It helped us carry on with some basic skills the kids were already learning in first grade and preschool as we traveled to Florida. We stayed in our camper for around a month with my husband as he worked. We fell into a routine of working and I found myself loving all the teaching I was getting to do. At first I felt like I was going to completely fail my kids, I would not be patience enough, knowledgeable enough or just flat out not entertaining, but as I saw them learn it encouraged me to keep going. I decided to really dive into teaching math to my son, the basic addition and subtraction with the skills I was taught and not a common core approach. I loved watching him get it. The we started diving into money and telling time...I was having fun!
I started looking into more homeschool moms on social media and it turns out that Instagram is an amazing source for other moms like me and you can find sites created by other homeschool moms for curriculum. I saw how these moms really took control of their homeschool and taught real life skills with everything faith based. They encouraged you to let go of the idea of failing and embrace the idea of learning. I learned the importance of being lenient but being attentive to their needs. I found such confidence in myself as I continued to pray for our new adventure, this huge life change. I saw how God was equipping me as words came out of my mouth and ideas came to mind...how I felt so in-tuned to my kids for the first time like this. To be their teacher was an honor I had been given not just as a mom but as their guide through life. I am able to see the joy on their face when something clicks, when they recall an answer and it just warms my insides.
I stumbled upon the curriculum called Master Books on Instagram through a homeschool mom and as soon as I looked at it I was hooked. I had researched for awhile alll these different curriculums, some with a hefty price tag, some that required online work and I was even given a curriculum for free that was a well known faith based curriculum, but nothing felt right. When I discovered Master Books it instantly felt right. This was it, this is where God was leading us. The books were affordable for us and there were many options on what to teach for each grade. When we received our box of books and I started scrolling through the pages each lesson had a bible verse or a story from the Bible. Each lesson in each book taught the curriculum from the truth of the Bible. It's been one of the best decisions we could have made for our kids.
We usually start with Bible story time on our school days and then we branch out into our book lessons, some days we get all of our books done and some days we don't. I gauge our day by how our kids are handling things and I try not to force anything on them. There have been many talks about putting in hard work, coming to the table with the right mindset and letting go of any thoughts of "I can't"; we strive to stay connected to what we are learning and use each experience in the world as learning. As a mom and wife I have felt inadequate and unequipped many times in my life but the power of staying connected to Christ and praying about all the little things make all the difference. Nothing is too small to pray about, in fact I have found that praying through the small things and wading through to the bigger things make the bigger things shift. You find yourself immersed in His goodness, His guidance and His joy as you embrace what He has called you to do.
If you would like any resources such as social media accounts to follow to help you on your homeschool journey please reach out, I would love to help! Remember if God calls you to do something He will equip you! It may not be easy and homeschooling is not all rainbows but staying committed to His calling changes your spirit and you will be better for it in ways you never imagined.
Megan Taunton...unequipped homeschool mom.
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