Homeschooling

Man is it tough to be informed about all of the educational opportunities out there for your children! Charter, Public, Private, Montessori, Homeschooling, etc. Phew…the list goes on!

As a first time momma to a schoolage child, I must say that I was very confused and uninformed about my options. Thank goodness for my past!!! Having been a former teacher, I knew that the options out there were endless (well…almost), but I also knew it certainly isn’t the “norm” to go against the grain. I did know one thing though, I wasn’t comfortable sending my little one to the public school around the corner that refused to let me observe in the kindergarten classroom (to see if that school was a good fit for my upcoming child).

It was tantrum city in our house this morning as Ben and I argued with Annora to get ready for her first day of school…EVER! She was clearly nervous and it oozed out of her as disrespect toward Ben and I. We tried to reason with her but she was clearly not ready for reasoning. After a LONG breakfast conversation and some coercing, we were able to get out the door on time and get to “school.”

Two years ago I started, ran and participated in a Busy Bag Exchange with 11 other local moms, and hit the busy bag JACKPOT! It was really very simple…I created a Facebook event page, invited all of my mommy friends, we met 3 weeks later and exchanged our homemade activity at my home. Prior to meeting, we all signed up with what type of busy bag we were going to make, then worked for about a month creating 11 identical bags. When we got together, we exchanged our bags, so we all got to take 11 different busy bags home with us for our kiddos!
There was a huge variety of bags included, some original ideas and some made from tutorials found on other great blogs and/or Pinterest. If you’d like some great busy bag inspiration, here are all 11 bags that I received from this swap.

Researching what options Ben and I have as far as Annora’s schooling goes is darn INTIMIDATING! There is homeschooling, private school, charter school, good ole fashioned public school, private tutors, Montessori, yada, yada, yada! Honestly, the list goes on…

Last year I found myself frantically struggling to figure out the BEST option for her. She has a heart of GOLD, gets easily intimidated by others, has a hard time with mathematical concepts, LOVES people and making new friends, can’t get enough books, and LOVES singing and acting out musicals.