Tales of an Unexpected Homeschool Mom

If you would have asked me several years ago about homeschooling I would have told you that I have a lot of respect for moms that homeschool but it wasn't for me. I enjoy working out of the home and I feel like both my kids and I are better with a break from each other sometimes. But, here I am homeschooling 3 of my 4 kids as they enter 12th, 10th, and 1st grade.

1st Grade

10th Grade

12th Grade

This is a year of transition for the Brown family. Brennan started college a couple weeks ago at NDSU and moved into the dorms. Our house sure feels different with only 3 kids in it.

College Freshman

In June, Nate started a new job that is location independent. This led us to explore where do we want to live? We came to Fargo, ND for Nate's job 2 years ago. We could stay here but we no longer had to. There are lots of great things about Fargo and they kids truly have great friends here but for Nate and I we didn't feel like Fargo was our long term home. We considered going back to Fort Collins but once we looked at homes online and realized we would have to have a $300,000+ mortgage to move back and we decided that didn't make financial sense.

So where did this leave us? We prayed, talked about, and weighed pros and cons, but we decided to sell our home in favor of a 5th wheel and be truly location independent. Traveling full time in an RV has been a dream of Nate and mine but it always felt like a far off dream. Maybe once the big kids are out of the house. Maybe after all the kids are out of the house. We knew we could save up enough money to live this way for awhile but we never quite figured out how to afford health insurance or other things covered by a full time job. Once Nate was presented with this job opportunity we felt like the Lord was leading us to take a step out in faith and follow our dreams.

A big motivating factor was the ability to spend some extended time with our family who are spread across the country. My dad is in North Carolina and has been ill for awhile, spending time with him is a top priority. My sister is in Florida and just had a new baby. Spending time with our new nephew is another priority. We also have close famiy and friends in Colorado that we will spend time with too. We will also spend time each year back in ND with Brennan.

So here I am homeschooling the kids! I have two weeks under my belt and I am not going to lie. It is hard, a lot harder than I thought it would be. I constantly feel like I have so much to learn and I have to keep stopping to figure out things that are not inuitive. I am a perfectionist and a planner and like to do everything perfectly the first time and have everything planned out far in advance. I am learning with homechooling this isn't the case. I know we will get into our routine and things will get easier but right now it's still hard.

The girls are doing an accredited program where they watch video lessons filmed during live classes and we work at our own pace. They have 170 lessons to get through and take quizzes and tests online. I supervise, check homework, and help if needed but they are fairly independent. Phoenix has the heaviest class load so we have to make sure we start early enough in the morning so we are done by 3pm each day. The girls are still working and then have homework after their lessons to get through. It is a lot of material to cover.

Orion is doing Abeka as well but parent led so I can teach to his level. I bought a complete 1st grade set of teacher and student materials but can teach at his level. He is already on lesson 81 in math and 88 in reading. He is very active and wiggly and not in love with homeschool but I hope to incorporate more and more hands on activities now that I have honed in what level he is at in each subject area.

So my question to you is do you homeschool? If not, have you ever considered homeschooling? Why or why not?