Several of you have asked, so here it is: the story behind our homeschool. This is the short version. In the coming weeks, I plan to write more about Christian classical homeschooling and how our family makes it work.
I’d never heard of homeschooling until several years after my children were born. When my oldest was just 3, we moved to a new town and the small church we attended had 5 or 6 homeschooling families. The other moms nurtured me along, lent me books, and invited me to homeschooling outings and events until it seemed the most natural thing to teach my oldest how to read. By then, my husband and I, through much prayer and thought, decided that God was calling us to homeschool. My parents (a pastor) were all for it. My husband’s family thought we were going to permanently damage our children.
Very early on, I received a copy of the Veritas Press catalog with several articles about Christian classical homeschooling. Then I read The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer & Jessie Bauer. The methodicalness and orderliness of classical homeschooling attracted me at first, then I realized how much it made sense to study historically and how many benefits would be gained by learning Latin and studying logic. We enjoy discussing worldviews from a biblical perspective and watching God’s hand work through history. I also liked that I could do some things my own way (cheap and easy spelling and handwriting booklets, skipping some books I didn’t like, and throwing in plenty of fun activities), but yet have a framework to follow. Ten years later, we still homeschool classically, and I still do it my own way.
We used mostly Veritas Press materials for the first 8 or 9 years, but have branched off somewhat in the past year or two. My first child is my guinea pig; my second child definitely gets the better end of the deal (I’m more relaxed!). My favorite grammar program is Shurley English, and we’ve always used Apologia Science. We’ve gone through several different math programs, but are currently using Math-U-See. My 10th grader’s favorite class this year is the One Year Adventure Novel curriculum.
High school has been a challenge, but I can’t imagine sending my girls to school. We are, however, going to try to take advantage of a few dual-enrollment classes at our local community college next year. Our homeschooling journey has had its ups and downs, but perseverance to God’s calling for our family is the key.
Q4U: Leave me a short message on how/why your family started homeschooling. I love reading others’ stories!
Bethany LaShell 
I admire families who start homeschooling from the beginning either because of conviction or circumstance. You've been lucky to have had a support group to carry you along and get you pointed in the right direction.We started homeschooling in the middle of a school year. My son was in 5th grade and my daughter in 6th. My son was going to be expelled from school at 10 years old and in spite of my self-taught degree in special ed law, I wasn't getting anywhere. We finally reached an agreement to withdraw him to homeschool. A few week later we pulled out daughter out too – if that school wasn't good enough for our son it wasn't good enough for her either.Pulling your kids out in the middle of a school year with no \”real\” knowledge of homeschooling is pretty intimidating. We took a few weeks off while I figured out what to do (I was working full time too) and then jumped in with both feet. We had some hiccups but in hindsight, it was the best thing we've ever done for our children and our family.
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I have always wanted to homeschool my children. It began when I was in college and I saw my campus pastor's wife homeschooling their two girls. It seemed like such a nice way to grow up–at home, learning at your family's table, reading curled up on the couch. Now I finally get to start. My oldest is in kindergarten. This was going to be my 'trial' year to see if I would be able to maintain the structure and discipline to actually DO school. My only goal was to do some amount of 'schooling' most days. My son has been reading for some time now so that pressure was lifted off of me.We've been using Sonlight's K program this year with the level 2 readers. There's not a lot to it. We do science on Fridays and math every day. There is, of course, a lot of read aloud time. Next year, though, we begin in earnest! I'm still trying to plan our year. I think we'll use Sonlight again with some other materials I found in that 100 top Homschooling Picks book.
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This sounds like what I am attempting to do. I have \”The Well-Trained Mind\” on order at our local library and am very anxious to read it. It was very encouraging to read your post. We currently have 4 in school, 2 in preschool and our almost 3 year old to entertain us all day long.
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