Home Schooling

I guess the biggest change for our family this year is not the normal big news that we have in our family - a new baby is usually the first thing people think of when we say we have news! (and we have no news of that sort, thank you very much!)

2016 is our first year of home schooling!

It's a common misconception that if you're a home schooling family, then you don't like mainstream schooling. That's just not true. We love our former school and are still members of the association there. We realise that home schooling is not for everyone - just the same way that mainstream schooling is not everyone's cup of tea, either.

My husband as Long-Service Leave (LSL) coming up and we're blessed to be able to take a fairly decent chunk of time off from his job. This led to a discussion between us about what to do with that time - what does one do to keep a highly intelligent, go-getter man satisfied and challenged during a four-to-six-month break of.....nothing?

Go around Australia, of course.

Well, that's the plan. That's OUR plan. It may not be God's plan, but we'll see.

The point being, we have to save our dollars to actually do something beyond gardening and bush walking during his LSL. Hence, the removal of school fees from our budget - the biggest thing we could remove to allow us to save enough for any big plans God has for us!

We were also finding that combining shift work and mainstream school was making us into tired, cranky and rushing parents - all. the. time.

We want to enjoy our children! Yes, a lot of the time we are challenged - but doesn't the Bible say that difficulties are designed to strengthen us?
 
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. - Romans 5:3-5
 
We want to relish the journey and learn from it - not shrink back from the day-to-day challenges and blessings of raising our children! God didn't give us a life to shrink back from it, but to strive for fullness:
 
I have come that they may have life and have life to the full - John 10:10
 
So, we made the choice to home school. The concept wasn't new to me - I've been wanting to home school for many years now, but God never allowed it. Now He has and I'm so grateful!
 
It hasn't been an easy transition - we no longer see our beloved school family very much. It's been difficult to leave behind the many wonderful friends we had all made at the school.
 
In my first week of home school, I was overwhelmed. It's to be expected, I guess, when you make such a big change. I loved home schooling when I was actually teaching and learning alongside my children. I missed my children's friends and my friends greatly at the same time.
 
The process is still ongoing, but we've had our first activity day with our distance education school and made some new friends. We are all enjoying being together a lot more with the added benefit of finishing work earlier sometimes, allowing the hard workers an early-mark!
 
It's refreshing to have a positive change for our family. We're looking forward to seeing where this journey will take us and the great learning along the way........even if it's challenging and exhausting at times!
 

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