kidsraisingkids:

It’s been a crazy few weeks around our house as we prepare for some major life changes. We recently made the decision to sell our home in the city and purchase an amazing plot of land to begin our own little homestead. It turns out that the road to the simple life is anything but. 

The process of selling, buying, permitting, and building is time consuming, tiring, and enough to give anyone a serious headache. I wish I could just snap my fingers and teleport to a perfect little farmhouse in the woods, but until then weekend trips to the farm are enough to satiate my thirst for a slower paced life amongst the tress. 

Our largest motivating factor for the move is to provide a different upbringing for our girls. We want to create a life that is purposeful, sustainable, and connected with nature. A large part of that has been identifying a plan for their education, which has been leading me to explore a whole new world of homeschooling philosophies. 

If you had asked me five years ago if I would ever homeschool my girls, I probably would have laughed. At the start of my career, I believed wholeheartedly in the public education system. After teaching everything from remedial to advanced placement courses in one of the most celebrated school districts around, I’ve developed some serious issues with how educational policy is handled in America. 

Don’t get me wrong – I can name plenty of phenomenal, dedicated teachers off the top of my head, and I can list an equal amount of students that I have seen grow, learn, and mature under the guidance of well-trained educators. But I’ve also seen so many fall through the cracks. To no discredit of the teachers, the demands of our public schools and the government agencies running them are simply overwhelming. The continued slicing of funding and increasing of achievement standards are a recipe for failure and I want my children to have no part of that convoluted system. *steps off soapbox*

In making this huge decision, I’ve had to consider the individual needs of my babies, and weigh who is best equipped to provide for those needs and how. Ashtyn in particular is the gentlest, most sensitive soul that the world has ever seen. She is introspective and contemplative in a way that I’ve never witnessed in a toddler her age. She feels emotion in such deep and genuine ways that it’s almost hard to believe. While these qualities make her the sweetest sister and most compassionate friend, they also make her susceptible to some pretty serious anxiety. 

Having been home for a year and able to observe her learning style, social habits, and general personality, I think that she would benefit greatly from home learning. While I’ve had professional training as an educator (both in preschool and high school) this really is a new realm for me. Teaching a classroom of 30 students for 90 minute incriments is infinitely different from being solely responsible for the entire education of a single child (or pair of children in my case!)

I’ve started to do a lot of research about different philosophies and curriculums, and I’m finally starting to get a sense for what direction I hope to move in in the coming months. I’m currently reading Home Grown by Ben Hewitt and I’m finding affirmation in a lot of his ideas about nontraditional approaches to education. One of the things that has stuck with me most is “to call into question the wisdom of convention requires a degree of self-assuredness that rarely survives the eroding impact of standardized, hierarchal education. Such questioning also places one in the uncomfortable position of cutting against the cultural grain, of being perceived as arrogant, eccentric, perhaps even dangerous,” While Jeff and I have gotten a lot of support for our new venture, we also have plenty of people in our lives that are doubtful of the journey we are undertaking. I hope to be an example to our girls of bravery in the face of stifling convention  and show them through our actions that the world is full of beautiful possibility if you’re willing to take risks and work hard.

I plan to blog more frequently about our adventures in homeschooling, homesteading, and just everyday living. While the road ahead seems daunting at times, I’m finding strength in the fact that I truly 100% believe this is what’s best for my girls. I’m sure that the coming weeks, months, and years will hold a lot of incredible memories and  hilarious misadventures for our little family. I’m looking forward to sharing a little insight into those moments with this amazing community that we’ve found through the blog. 

I’d love to hear from other families working through these same choices, any questions that people have, or just a “hello” from you amazing people out in in the internet world. I so appreciate having this blog as a sounding board and am looking forward to sharing more soon!

– Lindy