So... I'm one of those crazy homeschool moms. I stay up all hours of the night scouring the internet for great lesson ideas. I study three different curriculums for three different grade levels and no longer read books simply for pleasure. Every second of my day is called for before I even get up in the morning. My kids are with me always, and no, I don't have "quiet time." This all sounds pretty crazy and hectic and maybe you are wondering why I do it. To understand that you'll need to know the story...
These handsome fellas right here are my men, and that beautiful face to the right belongs to my oldest son, Brenden. Brenden IS the story. He is one of the happiest kids you'll ever meet. He believes that everyone is his friend. He's smart, funny, loyal, and pretty much awesome from every angle. However, in fourth grade he suddenly started getting F's in school. The kids began picking on him relentlessly. Brenden came home within his first month of fifth grade and told me that: "he wished that he was good at sports instead of drawing so that kids would like him." Well, that was just the beginning. My once happy kid who was full of life began to hate himself and compare himself to everyone else. We decided to change schools in order to get him into a bigger district that could offer more in the way of programs to help him. That was a terrible year. He was diagnosed with ADD "Inattentive" and was put on medication. The medication made him sick. So, then he became the weird kid who threw up on the bus... and in the classroom... and in the school hallway. So... we switched medications and then he became the weird kid who fell asleep at his desk. Because he couldn't stay completely seated during class he was put in the back of the room. Because he was at the back of the room he couldn't pay attention so he doodled. Because he doodled he was denied any recess and had to "sit on the wall." This was Brenden's life every day. My ADD child was trapped in a world that didn't understand him and certainly didn't care about him. So, that is how I began homeschooling my children.
At first I thought that this was going to be a short term experiment with just Brenden and my youngest daughter Sophia (who was entering fourth grade and having some of the same academic signs of ADD). Within one month of homeschooling I was hooked. I fell head over heels in love with this new life. I pulled my oldest daughter Paris out of the public junior high and brought her home to join us.
My oh my. What a stroke of GENUIS that was!
I am in my second year of homeschooling and I can honestly say that it is the most rewarding experience of my life. My kids are best friends. We laugh and learn together every single day. I threw away all of the medications, and my son likes himself again. His grades are great. Now he is allowed to learn his own way. He draws pictures to help himself figure out math concepts. He stands up at his desk while working, and that's just fine by me. I go through a wonderful charter school and so the kids are in a classroom once a week where they get to be with friends and I sign them up for all kinds of workshops and other classes too. They have participated in Lego Robotics competitions, choirs, computer coding courses, and art workshops; as well as having attended countless plays, fairs, and festivals.
Now tell me, what better classroom is there than this?
So... why do I do what I do?
I choose this life because my kids are worth it. Plain and simple.
I choose this life because no one loves my kids more than I do and they need to KNOW just how CRAZY awesome they are. Yes, I am always tired, and there are days that I wonder if I am doing this right. I fear failing them. But... I press forward always because they deserve my efforts and because when I am old and ready to leave this Earth I won't care what degrees I earned or what jobs I had. I won't care if my kitchen is clean.
I will be surrounded by my children and their children because I invested in them. They are my legacy, they are my crown jewels.
Love you like crazy,
Amazeber
