I need to start out by telling you how our journey did not begin.  It did not begin with me wanting to homeschool. In fact, it did not even begin with me knowing that homeschooling was a viable option. This was in the late 1980’s in California. I would say nobody homeschooled back then, but that was not exactly true. A few people did. They just were not “normal” people. It was a very strange and fringy thing to do. This perception was compounded by the fact that I had been trained and certified as an elementary school teacher. Although I had opted to stay home with my kids rather than pursue a teaching career, public school was the only option I was prepared to consider for my children. 

By 1988, I had six children. My oldest was in 5th grade, followed by a 4th grader, a 2nd grader, a kindergartener, a toddler, and a little nursing baby. I loved the elementary school my kids attended and I was a very involved parent, volunteering in the classroom and teaching in the reading lab two days a week. I knew that the key to your children getting the best possible treatment was to stay visible and connected with the school staff and I did that very well. We might have lived happily ever after in the public school system had all my children been like the first two. However, child number three threw a wrench in our plans. 

Space does not permit me to share all the details of my son’s story (I’ll share them in a separate post), but suffice it to say he is a living miracle. However, the early trauma caused by health problems had some long-lasting effects which were obvious early on. We worked very hard during my son’s preschool years to help him stabilize and fit in and he was making remarkable progress. Then he turned five and we enrolled him in kindergarten, just as we had done with our previous children.  Things went radically downhill from that time on.  

To understand just how far downhill they went, you’ll have to read my son’s story, Every Child Is Gifted.  However, by the time he reached second grade, we had a crisis on our hands. To say we were praying for some kind of an answer is an understatement, but we never expected the answer to come over punch and cookies. After a meeting, I was venting a bit to some of the ladies nearby when the words, “I have had it!  I feel like just pulling all my kids out of school and giving the whole thing up!” flew out of my mouth.  Prior to that moment, the thought of pulling my kids out of school had never even entered my mind. Very innocently, a lady said, “that is not such a bad idea. My sister, with eleven children, pulled all of her kids out of school last year.” 

She had no idea how that comment would change my life.  I asked first if her sister was still alive to tell about it.  (Yes.)  Then I asked if she was a normal person.  (My exposure to homeschooling was still quite limited and pretty much unfavorable.)  My last question was to ask if she was still of sound mind.  (Yes, indeed, and she was enjoying it.)  That clinched it.  I had to get her phone number.   

That hour-long telephone call to San Diego opened a menu of options that I had never really considered before.  It started a chain of events that would literally change the life—I believe, save the life—of my son.  All my children came home that next fall and we began the healing process for my son that had been experiencing problems. It never occurred to me at that point in time that we were actually beginning the healing process for all of us.  

I only planned on homeschooling for a year. Before I knew it, we were homeschooling through high school and sending kids off to college. Those years were times of amazing growth for our family. We changed in ways that I could not have imagined.  The greatest change we saw as a family was a shift in priorities. Academics were very important, but not as important as emotional and spiritual growth. The connection we had as a family, the ability to communicate about difficult things, and the ability to work as a team were at the forefront of our family experience. For us, homeschooling started as an emergency plan I thought we would use for a year or two until we had solved the immediate crisis at hand. It ended up being a delightful journey and a way of life that lasted until all my children had left home and were out on their own—a journey I consider to be one of the great blessings of my life.