Back to Homeschool! Also: Why We Homeschool

So... we started back at school last week! We now have a 4th, 3rd, and 1st grader! The first grader would be traditionally going into Kindergarten, but he was absolutely insistent he must go into first grade this year. Of all the children, Caleb is our most rambunctious, high energy and loud one. Since the beginning of his life, his personality has made itself clear. Life is somewhere between a party and a show for that one!

Anyone with a child who has a wild personality knows what a blessing... and a challenge parenting this type can be. You want to encourage their love of life and bold attitude, but along the way there can be so many attitude issues to work through. You want to train them up and teach them the way to behave, without breaking their spirit! This is one of the instances where homeschooling has really helped us.

There are so many ways to teach and socialize, that's just the surface of homeschooling. The heart of homeschooling, for us, is the hearts of our children. Homeschooling helps us to get a good and personal look into the unique physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs of each of our children. As we learn those things, it helps us tailor the way we teach and educate each of our children. I love that, I love that so much! Of all the things we can do in this world, training our children to love the Lord and enter the world with a strong sense of self and a love for others is such an important thing we can do. There is so much more I can say on the subject, but for the sake of keeping this a blog post and not a book, I'll just leave it at that.

Also, our crazy little Caleb may be still doing a lot of kindergarten work this year, but he'll also be doing some first grade. We'll see how it goes. All I know is that if one of my children wants to reach higher, I'll stand by their side and help them.

It's only been a week, but the pride my son shows when sitting down to do "big boy school" has helped both during and after school time. I am excited to see the growth of all my children this coming year!