High school. These words seem so harmless don't they? Now, I know they are not harmful words, they are just intimidating to some. What does high school mean? For me it is a pivotal time in a child's life. It is these years that really shape a child. I think that high school is the time that can make or break a child's chance to be a successful adult. These years are not to be taken lightly by any means. As we are quickly approaching the high school years I am scared, excited, nervous and a whole ball of other emotions. It is hard for me to believe that starting with next school year I will be the mother of a high schooler! I do not know where all the time has gone. It seems like yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital (as it does for all of the caddies). I am sure that you all feel the same about your children. Time just flies so fast. As I look back on the time that we have had I feel so blessed. In being called to be a mother and a homeschooling I am honored. I have been given these 4 children to raise. To be trusted to raise these children to know and love our amazing Lord and savior. What an amazing thing! With homeschooling our "little" ones I truly get to share in each of my children's moments... when they realized they could read all by themselves, when they get it (and when they don't), when they don't want to do another day of learning about Egypt (or whatever the topic is at the time), when their face lights up because they did a lot better on their test than they thought..just to name a few. I taught 3 of them to read on my own! As life continues to go on we are constantly learning, changing and growing. That is just the one of the realities of life.
High school is a different element for so many people. As parents we are all proud of our children. We all want what is best for our children and we all have opinions of what that looks like to us. In talking with many different parents (homeschooling and not) I have heard many reasons why we choose to have our children educated the way we have chosen. "I wanted my child to have the same social experiences that I had...I want my child to be away from home before college, I want my child to learn to listen to other people and be able to "take orders" from others".. are some reasons that I have heard in my homeschooling career that other families ended their homeschooling journey at high school. The pro and I are at a loss for what to do. The options are just endless, it seems. We can enroll in the brick and mortar school, our district is rolling out a new virtual academy next year where we can either do all classes at home or pick and choose which we wanted to do, we can do post secondary, we can enroll in an academy (which would be like the virtual school at home I believe), or we can just do what we are doing now at the high school levels.
All of these options leave me feeling exhausted. I recently contacted our schools to discuss our options that involved the school. First off, they were not the most open about the homeschooling, needless to say. Researching our options is very time consuming. I am completely on board with this as we are looking for the best option for our child.
The oldest caddie wants to be a mechanical engineer when he graduates. This leaves me searching for the best program for him to get him into a good college that offers this course of study. We want him, a well as all of the caddies to succeed. I believe that they will all take different courses in their lives. However, what ever that course be we want the best for them. We all have different ways or reasons for doing what we do in our lives. I have been in constant prayer asking for the Lord's guidance in this very important time in our child's life. We will be taking a lot of time over the next few weeks (probably months) to decide what we feel is best. I ask that you pray with us and for us that we make the best decision for our child (not just what we want or what is easier). I will be sharing in the future our journey as we enter into this uncharted territory.
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