Yes, But WHY are you doing it??

Here we go, a brand new adventure!  It is true I have decided to home school Kevin and Adam this year.  I am super excited about it and love the program we have chosen so far.  I chose to go with CHEP, it stands for Community Home Education Program.  Kevin took a summer art course at the site through the program and loved it!  This program is done through the Orange County Department of Education.  Here are some of the guidelines.

1.  We meet with our teacher , Brigette, once a month to show her our progress and ask questions.  Of course, we can call anytime in between or come see her anytime if we have more questions or need help with anything. 

2.  There are 4 sites in OC and we are going to based at the Chep North site, although, we can attend workshops at any site.

3.  There are workshops that the boys can attend and these are optional.  They have classes with children of their own class group and could be in class once a week or twice a week depending on how many workshops they have signed up for.

4.  The curriculum is FREE that is awesome

5.  There are field trips put into place once a month for specific age groups such as K-2 or 3-6 and so on so that they can go someplace for the day with kids their own ages.  These are optional as well.

okay so I know you just want to know why on Earth is a mom of 4 boys 6 and under going to take on schooling them too.

well I have several reasons and some may be controversial and some are just because I am who I am.  so here goes

I had thought about homeschooling as an option years before my kiddos came to school age you can read a blog post here to see my thoughts back then.  Over the years my life has gotten MORE fun with more kiddos and  we moved and I too have gotten older and wiser (hopefully).  So I stand by my original feelings on the difficulties of sending very young children into the school system.  By very young I am speaking of 8-9 years old and younger. In my mind children under this age are still trying decided what is right and wrong and they are still not sure.  I am not sure I want right and wrong being taught to my children by California public schools.  Now that I said that, I did send my oldest to public school for Kindergarten.  I wanted to try it out.  I wanted to see if we minded the commute because the schools next to us lack diversity which I believe is important for all children.  Sadly, 2 hours a day in the car for 1 kid was a little crazy with 3 more still at home.  Lastly, I feel like learning and getting out to museums, zoos, aquariums and such have halted at home since we have to drop #1 off and then wait to pick him up with not quite enough time to do anything in the middle and not enough time to do it after school either. There are other miscellaneous pros for homeschooling for us as well, such as my husband has every other Friday off which means we can take 3 day weekend trips with no guilt (and really isn't getting out with your family and seeing new places some of the best learning of all).  On that same note we can take homeschooling on the road like this September we will be in Lake Tahoe for a week and we will be doing school there.  We can vacation in the off season making more traveling more achievable.  ( they will make up a special packet of things to learn about in Tahoe at the site if I would like them to, I LOVE THAT)

Here we are  today and have made the decision.  We start school on Monday.  I am a little scared, a little nervous, and very excited for this year.  I love my assigned teacher at CHEP and I feel like we are doing the right thing for our family at this time.  I don't believe I will do it past elementary.  I have no will to, but if my kids really love it and it works for us, I am willing to keep an open mind. It sure is a scary thought for me at this point, though. 

This blog is going to be a journal of our schooling, of the projects we do and my thoughts and feelings while I am in the middle of it.  Here is to embarking on a new Adventure!!