They Call Him, Chunky, Our Homeschool Friend

(They make me melt)

My children have found themselves a few friends in nature. One in particular is a squirrel that’s always following my oldest prince around. At least once a day it’ll be outside our door waiting to be fed some bread. We all get a kick out of watching it sit down, hold the bread with its claws and eat like it’s at the dinner table, no joke. (We would be the family with a pet squirrel ;) 

Their respect for nature continues to grow as moments like these continue to take place in their lives, as moments like these are encouraged by us. 

These moments encourage my decision to continue to educate our children at home. I couldn't say that some years ago. As a matter of fact, a few years before that, saying that I homeschooled my children at all was met with funny looks on many faces. And, not to mention the myriad of questions that came along with that. "Why did you choose to homeschool, do you not like our school system? Are you certified? Is that legal to school your children at home if you don't have a college degree? What about their socialization skills, will they get along with children their age? What about extra curricular activities, don't they need that? And on and on and ON. Sometimes I felt like I was the only one educating my children at home. 

At the time I was young and very impatient with ignorance so I didn't always respond in the nicest way. I mean, can you imagine, a young black girl with already way too many children (other people thought I should have), choosing to homeschool? when it was rarely heard of and, only done so by caucasians. It was tough and I knew it was going to be tough I just got tired of the questions, stares, and all the fighting I had to do with my own family about it. So I chose to keep to myself. I stopped trying to be a part of any support groups because the ones that existed back then were heavily christian based, and out of twenty families we were the only black family. We were in a field that was hardly touched by our race. It wasn't friendly. We were doing something against the grain.

(always kidding around on each other, lol)

(lol. Those two on the left, something else)

Nowadays, things are different. Even the shunned term of "unschooling" has become so popular. I laugh at it sometimes because "unschoolers" were definitely not the norm and the whole community was on the down low because of how our own homeschoolers viewed unschoolers, with me being one of them. It was a trip. I remember saying, "who me, I will not unschool my children. No, no, no." Well, lookie here, I've been an unschooling parent going on several years now and we made the switch unknowingly at the time. We followed the flow of our family and so it went. 

I'm still not that open about educating my children at home however, I do share with those who ask. I feel that my encouraging others to follow their heart and go for it also helps me in return. 

(Busy Daddy, works so much. We grab moments to be together with him any chance we get)

(This picture speaks loudly, if you listen you can hear)

It's been over 15 years and I still love it. It's not easy but that's to be expected. The main thing is that I still believe in it and I still believe that our children are better off because of it. My oldest has completed her years of schooling and is on to focusing on her real estate career. I'm very excited for her. My other children are continuing to pursue things of interest with focused studies on their music, language, reading, writing, and math. Our life is not rigid which works for us. Following a set schedule doesn't always happen, and actually would work against us for the most part. With so many different ages, interests, and learning levels things are always changing for us so to remain fluid and in peace with that helps. 

(I took these shots one night we went for a walk through the neighborhood. It was a warm night. Ducks swimming in the lake, frogs hoping about and, us, all smiles and warm fuzzy feelings. Swoon. My six reasons to smile, often)

If you are thinking about homeschooling or going the unschooling route, or are new to it, shoot me a message, a question, whatever you'd like. I love to chat with you.

In my "unschooling" tab you'll find resources and curriculum that we used and are currently using on our homeschooling journey. I'll continue to add more as they come back to me. Over the years we have tried many different things and they may work for you.