About me and this blog

Hello!

I wanted to begin with some background and some answers.

First off, I am the mom of four wonderful kiddos - 2 boys and 2 girls. They are 13, 11, 9 and 2 years old. They are in girl-boy order (I planned that - really!) and they are all precious to me.I am 39 (yeah - it sure is different chasing after a toddler at 39 than it was at 29 - what the heck was I thinking???).

I am married to a wonderful man who is also 39. He is a disabled veteran and an ex-Marine (although I am being informed by the Hubby that there is no such thing as an “ex” Marine). (To which I answer, “Maybe not, but you don’t get deployed anymore, so that’s a plus. Those big paychecks don’t come anymore, either. And I am pretty sure if I tried shopping at the commissary they’d kick me out.” :-) )

I am also homeschooling. Wow. Now don’t get me wrong - I had originally majored in Chemistry in college with a minor in Education. (That sounds soooooo impressive, no?) But I ended up not being a teacher and teaching my own kiddos is a lot different than my student teaching experience. Plus I am pretty sure that if I were teaching high school chemistry I would not have a 2 year old running through the classroom several times an hour. (Partially clothed, at times - but that’s another story. I just loooove the stage when they learn to take off clothes.)

Why did I choose homeschooling? There are so many reasons, but they can all be summed up in one simple sentence: I can do a better job of teaching my kids than the schools can. Period.How can I say this? Easy.

The teachers at the schools where my kids went were too busy trying to referee fights and combat negative home influences to be able to teach effectively. How can they teach when the kids in the room are so apathetic or hostile? If everyone goes home intact, that’s a good day.

In addition, my kids were advanced academically for their grade levels, but they had to wait for the other kids to catch up before they could move on to something else. Now we can go as quickly or as slowly as we need to. I know my kids and what they want to be when they grow up. I know one is so interested in science it is not even funny and the other is a HUGE people-person. I know my 2 year-old is already taking stuff apart to see how things work (like my 11 year old did/does) and is already advanced. I can tailor the academics to each child, not to try to teach to the average children in a room of 20+ kids. I also have one child with learning disabilities and my heart aches when I see her struggle. (She is not my bio child, so I cannot homeschool her at this time. It breaks my heart.)

So I invite you to join me on this journey. It should be a wild ride!

-----Shay :o)