the battle of homeschooling.

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it's been a battle for me deciding whether or not to homeschool ava. i've had so many mixed reviews from parents, friends, and family that made me feel as though i was being pulled by my wrists from each direction. is it a good choice? will i be able to teach her everything correctly? will she be missing out in the social aspect of things? a lot of parents say absolutely not, and she will be underdeveloped and socially awkward once she get's to high school, but then other parents tell me it's the best choice these days with how curriculums are changing and school's budgets are being cut leading to weakening education.

i wasn't homeschooled. i went to preschool, and then i went to public school. i never had a perspective on what it would be like to be home and learning from a parent. i had extra curricular activities, but to this day i'm socially awkward. it takes me either an alcoholic bev, or someone to spark up a conversation first in order to be normal around people i don't know. speaking in front of a crowd? forget it. i'm nervous as all get out and ready to puke the entire time. sooooo, can't say that being in public school helped with that.

my husband, however, was homeschooled. all the way up until his freshman year of high school. he was quiet, but never awkward when i met him MY freshman year (he was a senior when i was a freshman). he was funny, he laughed and he always went out of his way to talk to me. the whole ten years i've known him, he's never had a problem with socialization. in fact, he does more out of his comfort zone then i thought he ever would and i admire him for that. he effortlessly flew through school. never taking a book home and always excelling in classes. math? numbers? the guy knows peoples cars by memorizing their license plates. he knows all of his credit card numbers by heart. me? what's 2+2? he he. 

THAT FACE!

ava's four now and it's been time for pre-school for awhile. while i was still working she was homeschooled by my mother in-law, and since i've been home i've tried to collaborate and figure out fun homeschooling activities for us to do. needless to say, i've failed. so, recently we went to look around our town for preschools again. i really can't help but to think that i would be paying someone who doesn't even have teaching credentials $400+ a month to basically babysit my kid. i mean, okay you have circle time for 30 mins and learn their abc's and to count to 20? ava knows her abc's. cripes, she can write her name, dog, cat, ham, and fish. she can count to 50. she knows every nursery rhyme known to man. she's a smart cookie! 

i expressed this frustration to my mother in-law recently and she turned me to the homeschool series she did with the boys by ann ward. it's a christian based, day-by-day learning guide teaching your kids from home. waaaay old school, but totally my style. i've given it a lot of thought and i just can't budge to put her in preschool when i have the golden opportunity to be my child's teacher, and leader. i know in the long run seeing her success hands on will light up my life! i want her to be able to have interaction with other kids, and she does. we have plenty of day trips to the park where she is not timid whatsoever to walk up to another little girl and ask if she wants to play. she's in dance, and we hope to get her into soccer and t-ball when she's old enough. plus, guess what? i found out that we locally have homeschooling groups that brings other parents of homeschooled children together for field trips and tutoring classes. i'm pretty excited about it all. 

book is ordered and i can't wait for it to show up on my door step. any homeschooling mama's want to give this mama some tips?!