How Did I Get Here? Part I

The truth is I'm not really sure. I grew up in a VERY mainstream, middle class family. I was a change of life baby. My father was a retired Navy Commander and my mother a stay-at-home mom. I went to parochial schools in Charleston, SC, went to college in state, and came home to find a job. After several years working in the import/export business I decided to return to school to get a degree in nursing. After completing that degree I started working in nursing and within a very short time I was promoted to a Supervisory position and I have been there ever since. Can you get more normal than that??? Then how did I get to this position of homeschooling, drinking raw milk, eating only grass fed, free range beef, lamb, pork, and pastured chicken and eggs?

It's really easy to understand the evolution to homeschooling. My two children originally went to the same parochial schools I had attended and we were generally happy with the quality of education. However, one day while picking up my children from the after-school program I was told that my 6 year old had been exposed to the "f-word" by a classmate. Now we are a family where the "s-word" is stupid and the "f-word" is fart - I was shocked and disappointed. I knew that my son would eventually hear that word - and say it I'm sure, but at 6!!! I had already lost the ability to regulate what my children were learning and when. That experience planted the seed for our future choices.

In January of that year we moved to a small rural community 50 miles north of Charleston. I registered my children in the area private school. The quality of the public schools in the area eliminated that as a choice. We were pleased with the program originally, but the school was barely integrated. I'm not sure there were a dozen non-white students in the entire school. This made us a bit uncomfortable, but still the public schools were not an option. After a year and a half in this school my son received the results of his standardized tests from the second grade. To our great disappointment his scores had dropped significantly since enrolling in this school that was costing us $3500 a year. The following year we would be enrolling our daughter bringing the grand total to $7000 plus books and other costs. We just could not justify the expense based on the quality of the education the children were receiving. After much prayer and research we decided to pull the children out and begin homeschooling. That was four years ago and I have not regreted the decision for one minute. OK that's not true. A day does not go by that I don't wonder if we made the right choice for our children. During moments of frustration I am tempted to put the children in the car and drive them straight to the closest school and drop them off. However, the majority of the time, I feel blessed to be able to spend all day every day with my children. Having been a working mom when my children were young I missed the majority of their early years. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to guide them into young adulthood.