Last school year, we homeschooled our children.  We are very fortunate, in the state of Texas, to be able to homeschool with no hassle from the school system or the government.

It was definitely an adventure, but the one thing my kids were never able to get past is the fact that just because they were home, it didn’t mean that it was Xbox or TV time.   The kids actually missed school, and the few groups and classes we attended didn’t really work out for us.

Braxton and Hawk are extremely close, and because Hawk (then 3-4) wasn’t quite ready to sit and do school, Braxton (then 1st grade) had a hard time focusing on his tasks at hand.  It wasn’t easy for him to watch his little brother do less challenging objectives and understand that his level of learning was far more advanced.

For a while, Kylie (then 6th grade) just wanted to lay around and watch TV until it finally clicked with her, one day, that she was behind the rest of her friends.  Once she came to grips with the fact that it was do, or fail, she was able to focus.

My kids did well with more of an adaptive learning type of homeschool.  It was the best choice for all of us to have an online curriculum.  Being a first time homeschool mom, I was able to find more of a guideline for lesson planning, and the kids actually liked not having to listen to me.

This year, both Braxton and Kylie decided that they wanted to go back to public school.  We thought that we’d have a hard time with transcripts from the past year and possible testing, but our district respected our wishes to homeschool previously, and they accepted all of the paperwork given, and rather than bombard the kids with tests to measure their grade level, the district allowed their grades to show their academic level.

Both boys still use various adaptive learning websites for additional Reading and Math time, and Braxton’s school has various online activities that are assigned to him daily.

Our homeschool experience, although short lived, was challenging, but even though we’re no longer doing it, I’m glad we took the time to at least try!  It gave me a new appreciation for teachers and the challenges they have with our children, and it helped us better understand our childrens’ learning styles.

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