Reluctant Homeschooling

I have never wanted to home school my children. 

Still don't.

But I believe that God often leads us to situations that we don't want, would never have chosen, but definitely need. 

Hello. My name is Shannon and I'm a reluctant homeschool mom. 

Other than the slightly untidy house, this looks pretty pleasant, doesn't it?

This close up is even better. Look at those tiny adorable people with their pencils, so focused.

Yeah, that's more like it.

Because we are moving to Thailand, because the local school system is just getting harder, because the commute to school was draining the whole family, because of a variety of factors, we pulled Josiah out of school after his first term of 3rd grade.

Last summer, while in the States, a very wise, very seasoned teacher who has spent significant time with our family advised me to never home school Josiah. And I agreed with her. I still do.

But actually, these few months of homeschool have been really good.

Now, since Josiah is already accepted into 4th grade at an international school in Thailand, and since he's not actually behind academically, and since my my homeschool mom attitude can still be categorized as "reluctant," P.E. class sometimes consists of making Josiah push my bike up the hill to our house.

And science class includes climbing the mulberry tree and picking berries to make jam.

But we've also managed to get his multiplication tables under control. And start learning to write in cursive. And read books.

He doesn't have to wake up at 6:15. He doesn't have to spend 3 hours a day commuting. He doesn't have to do ridiculous homework.

He plays more. We have more positive interactions. We've even had significant conversations, though always while out on a trail run.

And thankfully, I'm not doing this alone. I have a small team of family and friends helping with science (the kind that actually includes more than just making jam), history, and other fun activities that give him positive interaction with other adults. This home school experience would certainly be different with out other adults invested in his life!

I have no intention to continue homeschooling after this summer, but I'm thankful that it has been an overall positive experience so far!