I am a certified teacher and during one of my practicums I was faced with the sad reality of what the public school system had to offer students. I was working with a grade three class of 34 students! Yes, 34 students in one classroom with one teacher, and one teacher’s aide. It was deplorable. I stood at the front of the class and watched as students fell through the cracks of this faltering system.The brightest got bored while the strugglers barely managed to stay afloat.  And, there wasn’t a blessed thing I could do about it. There were only so many hours in the day and so many teachable moments. It was the first time that I really had to consider if this was the best way to educate children.

Once I was married and started my own family, I was faced with the evitable question: what will we do with/for our children? Would we be okay with public school? What about private school? I had also worked in the private system and while the class sizes were smaller, you were still faced with a lot of the same problems as public education. Children were still given lots of work at school and more to complete at home. While learning was encouraged, it was still taught for the purpose of testing. If the material wasn’t of interest to the child, they were not likely to perform very well.

I also had to consider that these were our children. What would we do?! Thankfully I heard about a homeschooling information session happening in my neighbourhood. Both my husband and I attended and were instantly connected with a beautiful community of homeschoolers in our area. They shared personal experience as well as the nuts and bolts of this lifestyle choice. I was inspired and excited to start my journey.

Now, I’m seven years in and what a journey it has been! There have been many ups and downs, including naysayers who questioned why we do what we do. One comment that stuck with me was about how isolated we must feel. Don’t we feel alone and out of touch? Nothing could be further from the truth. We have an amazing homeschool group that we connect with on a weekly basis. There are meetings for moms at least once a month which help you share your trials and triumphs. We have met so many great people and experienced some truly wonderful events. I always come away feeling inspired and ready for more!

This journey is not for the faint of heart, but I know I wouldn’t want to do life any other way.