So this is really happening...

We're homeschooling.

It's a lot to wrap my head around.  Homeschooling.  I will be teaching my children at home.

I will be teaching my children at home.  Gulp.

This is a turn of events that I never would have predicted before becoming a mother.  I certainly never foresaw this as my future back when I was an wide-eyed, idealistic education major.  Sure, I was going to be teaching...but not my own children.  I was qualified to teach other people's children.  But not my own.  Never my own.

But as time passed, I found myself wondering...why?

Why would I be qualified - and trusted - to teach 20+ children completely unrelated to myself, but not my own?  Why would I be a better teacher to a classroom of 20+ little learners, each with their own individual strengths and weaknesses, experiences and backgrounds?  Children whom I'd have less than a year,  from September to June, to get to know and determine how to teach them best, how they learn best, before sending them off to their next teacher where the getting-to-know-them process begins all over again.  Why could I teach these children, but not my own?

 Why would someone else, who does not yet know my boys - each with their individual quirks and passions, struggles and strengths - be better suited to teach them than someone who has been with them every day of their lives to this point?

Since my children were born, I've met many families who homeschool or are planning to homeschool, as well as several adults who were homeschooled for at least part of their educational careers.  All have been intellegent, well-adjusted, creative, socially adept individuals who are passionate about learning, doing, living.

Homeschooling families are as varied as those who attend public schools.  They just made an educational choice for their children that is outside of the mainstream, but one that they feel is best for their children and for their families as a whole.

And isn't that what we all want, for our children, for our families, for ourselves?  To be able to make the best choice that we can, with the information and options that we have available to us at the time?

So here we are, ready to embark on a new adventure as a family.  And this blog will be a record of our educational journey.