Why we chose to switch to homeschooling Part III

“I’m going to tell you something, because I think I should, but I’m not ready to discuss it yet.”

This was how I first brought up the topic to my husband.

“Okay…?” Nick’s eyes widened in curiosity.

“I think maybe we should consider homeschooling.”

Clear shock on his face.

“What?”

“I told you, I’m not ready to discuss it yet.”

“Do you know what homeschooling would mean? How it would change things?”

“I said I’m not ready to discuss it yet. I just felt like I was supposed to tell you. I wouldn’t bring it up unless I really felt like the Lord might be leading us that way. But I’m not ready to talk about it yet.”

There, I’d completed step one. But trust me – I was still terrified! I had so many objections, fears and hesitancies.

So how did God take me, in literally one week, from being hesitant and fearful of homeschooling to being confident and passionate that it is what we are supposed to be doing? Only God, friend. He totally shocked me in the process.

So here’s the journey I took after that first confession to my husband. Again, this is not prescriptive, it’s simply how the Spirit led us.

Church Community. God has impressed upon us since early in our marriage to bring decisions to our deepest church community, and to consider heavily what the people of God have to say regarding our lives. We have a specific family we have walked closely with for years, whose values align with ours, and whose judgment we highly value. Curious as to my friend’s thoughts regarding homeschooling (knowing she was currently public schooling), I sent her a simple text shortly after I brought up the topic to Nick. I recalled her casually mentioning a few years back that, after entering her son in kindergarten in public school, they’d considered homeschooling on and off briefly just due to scheduling and time issues. Now her son was in second grade and I’d never heard her mention it again, so I simply texted and asked if homeschooling was anything they’d reconsidered since that time.

Her response shocked me. Apparently they’d been praying about it and talking about homeschooling for several months! This began such an affirming conversation where she shared their reasoning for considering it, and I felt like we were experiencing similar thoughts. I related to all she said and was grateful for similar reasons that seemed to align with our family’s values.

Another step forward.

Distant Inspiration. I’ve been immersed in the social media world for about five years now, and have learned a lot (through failing and trying again, ha) about navigating that world of comparison while running an online health and fitness business, and connecting with other moms. If you’re on social media at all, I don’t have to tell you that the temptation to compare is pretty high in that world.

So I initially connected with my friend, Bethany (@heart_full_homeschool) as a result of my online business, but something about her homeschool intrigued me. I silently watched her posts on Instagram (for two years) as she shared about homeschooling her three girls and one son. Several times I turned away from one of her posts and declared, “That would never work for our family,” but my thoughts were more of an excuse to deflect conviction, I think, than a true evaluation of what might be a good fit for us.

So when the Lord placed homeschooling more into the forefront of my mind, I recalled so much about my friend’s life that I wondered about being possible for us. I was intrigued. So I texted her and asked why they choose to homeschool. She responded with probably an hour worth of voice messages, and every single message she sent seemed to resonate with my heart and helped me put words to the tension I was feeling, and the way I desired our home to change. I finally allowed myself to be inspired by her rather than intimidated by her.

Another step forward.

By this point I was pretty convinced regarding my reasoning and motivation for wanting to switch to homeschooling.

But the actual task itself seemed daunting. What would it look like? How would it affect my schedule? My other responsibilities? What curriculum would we use? Could I really educate my children how they needed? Could this really work?

I knew WHY I wanted it to work, but I didn’t yet know HOW.

But I kept moving forward and taking another small step. And as he does, God directed even my google search.

But more on that next time.

What steps did you take when you chose to homeschool? How did God use your church community to confirm your decision? I’d love to hear your story, too! It’s neat to see how God directs each of us on our own journeys!