Homeschool: Why and How We Started....Part I

Let's hop in our time capsule and go waaaaay back....to 2019! I know, so long ago right?! We're going to talk homeschool, Then vs. Now.

Background:

For my family, the beginning of 2019 started off less than emotionally sound then I'd care to admit, and the struggle was real! I worked 45 minutes (on a good day) away from my then corporate career, and let's just say getting there through Atlanta's rush hour is an ADVENTURE! to say the least. Add in two stops: one school, the other daycare, with differing times for early drop off BEFORE my final stop at the train station; my morning adventures started as early at 3:30am just "to get it all done, and get there". Either decision to drive or take public transportation to avoid the gridlock seemed to be unyielding in the results I wanted-to get to work on time, and get off on time, so I can get my kids from after school and daycare on time! Whew! A LOT!

From January to May, we muddled and chugged through the VERY early morning routines of get up (begrudgingly), get ready, get kids up, fuss, fight, cry, get going. Drop off, traffic jam, public transpo ride, break down, off load, wait for another crowded train, all to be late for your 8:30 agreed to arrival time when your day started at 4am (cuz you just wanted to sleep in that day).

Might I add, I had just started a tutoring side hustle in which I was, and still am, a contracted tutor to provide educational services to students and their families. BUT, I wasn't alone. I elicited my brother's help with the kids and we set up a system for me to tutor in the afternoons and evenings to bring in that extra cash flow. It was in May that I knew the hustle in the previous months wouldn't sustain me through the summer, so something had to go. Coporate J-O-B, or follow your side-hustling heart and make it your full-time "J-O-B"? I'll take follow my heart for $500 Alex! (Rest in peace sir).

So school's out, and we're moving along quite nicely. The kids were home with Grandma for the summer, and I was no longer a part of the rush hour commute game. I scheduled tutuoring sessions according our-mine and students' needs.

Then BOOM! In July, I get a phone call from my oldest son's school telling me they no longer feel he is a good fit for the magnet program, and that he will not have a spot in the Fall. He would need to go to his zoned school. OH, REALLY?!? I was a little heated. Something told me this was gonna happen. Remember the earlier part of the year? We were going through some major changes as a family, but the school didn't know that-or didn't care to ask. My younger son had been accepted into the program to start his Kindergarten year in the fall of 2019 where his big brother would be starting 5th grade, but now that big brother will no longer attend, I had to decide if I was going to go back to dropping off at two schools. NoPE!

So I started looking into other options, and homeschool was number 1 on the list. Why? Well, because the timing was right! I had done it before when my oldest was about 2 or 3, out of financial necessity, before I landed the career that I would eventually leave. I was now an entreprenuer, and my children had no ties to any school. If I'm already tutoring and teaching other students, why not my own? AND I have a DEGREE in education.

But I still had to have a "Get Your Mind Right" meeting with myself and this is what I concluded:

1. You have a degree in education

2. You do not need to be upset about the requirements someone else has for their school, when you can start your own

3. You do not have to stress about being less than impressed with the school your children are zoned for

4. You can teach your own

5. It's going to be very expensive to enroll the kids in a free public school when you have to account for uniforms (all new for both as they both GREW like weeds over the summer, and were going to be new students with different colored uniform requirements), school supplies, and classroom "dues".

6. Research, attend a summit or two, and decide to commit.

At the conclusion of that meeting, I had gone to the Department of Education website and enrolled my children into their mother's school! I now had two more students! And by August 2019, we were ready to embark on a journey that would be new to us all! Let the adventures begin......!