Welcome "Home"

oThe first post is always the hardest.

This domain has reinvented itself a few times.. first as a renovation space, then as a new mothers blog, then as a short lived travel advice space... and now, as a place for us to share our journey - whatever that might be in overall learning, life, traveling, tips, ideas, websites, curriculum, and whatever else feels right. 

Let me begin by saying, I’ve wanted to homeschool my girls since before I had my girls. I followed a couple from Ohio who like myself were photographers and they homeschooled their 4 children and I always loved and admired what they did, how they did it, how effortless they made it look... the closeness their family had and the flexibility it gave them as a family to travel and explore and so much more. However, when it came my turn for my babies to go to school- I let the social norm sweep over me... I felt I *had* to do what everyone else was doing - I didn’t know what else was out there... and honestly in the last 8 years since my big love was born SO much has changed! I continued to have my reservations as my 1st went through the early years of public school - even preschool something was amiss with her learning experience. As my free thinking, wiggly -moving, hopping and bopping little one entered kindergarten I started to really feel that maybe this isn’t for us, that there was something more for us. About half way through the school year I had made the mental decision that maybe this really wasn’t what I wanted to my family, maybe there was something we could do differently. I was scared because my big girl loves her school friends and at times the sense of community he school brings us is lovely but it still didn’t sit right for me . I started to really dig into homeschooling - what was out there, the different styles, curriculum, what was available for my kids in my area in way of activities, classes, how to find a co-op, other homeschoolers and so much more. I have a lovely local friend who homeschools and gave me so much insight as well as all my virtual friends across the globe who have given me confidence and ideas... I KNEW I could do this! I spent this entire year educating myself, my husband, opening my family up to the idea and gaining their support... I just had to wait out the school year to pull the plug.

Fast forward to today we are living in a world of stay-at-home orders and virtual learning - I spent 3 weeks in turmoil... do I do this, do I wait , I learned SO MUCH more about my kids in these 3 weeks then I ever had the opportunity to do before. I’ve realized that my big love might have some bigger issues going on that were overlooked at school, she just isn’t an “in your face” issue to the school system... So I’m taking matters into my own hands and we will get it sorted. My baby bear has a speech thing going on (they both do actually) and the school told me - she “didn’t qualify at this point” cause she was a late June birthday... 🤔however, it is proven that if speech is an issue to start early - not wait... but I had to wait to see if she would grow out of it — she’s not. She most likely won’t either. I also came to the strong realization that collectively we as a group, and that I, put too much faith into the schools to tell me about my children rather then really learning about them for myself. I knew stuff wasn’t sitting right with me and that something was up, but I was rolling with it. I was listening to everyone else tell me “if it was a problem wouldn’t the school tell you?” mentality... um, say what?! Why did I do that? Why did I let myself be led so blindly.. put all my faith into people who don’t (and shouldn’t) know my kids as well as I should know them. How could they?! Most schools/teachers have 20+ kids in a class some have families of their own with the own kids to worry about, how can they give my kids the attention they might need if there is something more going on... this is not to say our teachers aren’t wonderful, hard working, dedicated people - they just have too much going on, they have too many kids, guidelines to adhere to, red tape not to be crossed.. it’s not entirely their fault - it’s just the way it is. That’s ok. I just don’t have to do it if it doesn’t work for us.

So, I did what any “crazy” home bound parent would do... I withdrew my kids from school.​