Why We (Now) Homeschool

My background is in education; I taught in public schools for 11 years before I retired when my first baby was born. I had already decided I did not want to send our children to public schools after seeing the state of education first hand. When my two children were old enough, we enrolled them in a local private Christian school and  things were great for a while.  I began to notice, though, that we had no "family time" to speak of. Loads of homework for my older child kept her up until bedtime. I often found myself re-teaching what she didn't understand in the classroom. Soccer games and practices required time commitments each week. School expectations for parents to donate their time and money also cut into our schedule. Even in a "Christian" school, I noticed my daughter was very wrapped up in the values of her peers. Then I discovered that my son's kindergarten teacher fell far below my expectations. To make a long story longer, things did not improve and I was heartbroken that my little boy's first year at school was going to be a klunker! He is very bright, and it killed me to see him sitting in all that chaos around him and wondering if he was going to learn anything besides how to act inappropriately and play with blocks. Taking a step back and seeing all this in a new light, I decided to pull them both from the school and homeschool them. Afterall, no one loves them more and understands them more than God,  my husband and me, and we will always have their best interests at heart. I have been called to give my children the gift of a home education, and to the best of my ability, will see to it that they are brought up they way God intended. I am teaching them more than they will ever get in a traditional school setting, whether public or private. I was a bit nervous at first (last year being our first year to homeschool), but now well into our second year, I think it's wonderful to have them around all day. Plus, I am SO grateful that they will be learning their values from us and not their peers. Here are my darling little charges:

Cricket (she chirps a lot)

Crash (runs and falls frequently)