Alysia Gonzalez’s Blog

I can’t believe that we did it. I have been reading and thinking and going back and forth about whether or not to do it, and about a month ago, when push finally came to shove, we did it. We unplugged. I have twin daughters in the 7th grade, and they have been in regular school their entire life, so it was a hard transition to make. I am still not sure how long I am going to do this. The day we went to the school to withdraw the girls was very sad, for all of us. We knew it would be hard to say goodbye to good friends and good teachers, but we made it through the tears, the hugs and the keep in touches, and we pulled the plug on the system.
It feels very liberating in so many ways. Of course, people always ask about how they will make friends and “What about their social life?” but they never seem to question the level of education that they will be getting at home vs. school. I think that is ironic. My major concern for homeschooling was that they would not be involved in choir at school, no competitions, no concerts, no choir trips, etc. I decided that if that was my major hang-up, then coming home was the right thing to do. The girls sing in our church choir, and we have a fabulous director. In fact, we just performed yesterday for Easter Sunday and it sounded beautiful.
So, after a month of this homeschool business, I am finding myself starting to settle into it a bit more, but still questioning whether we are going to keep this up for the long haul. I am encouraged by how well they seem to be adjusting to the daily routine and how voraciously they read. The oldest of the twins in reading at least a book a day right now. They have both read all the Harry Potter books, all the Chronicles of Narnia and a slew of Dear America books and Royal Diaries books. I had them write journal entries for a cowboy unit that we did and their writing was quite creative. I am really pleased with the quality of their work.
Well, I guess we will keep working and reading and praying to know whether we continue homeschooling for next year or not. In the mean time, hats off to all you homeschool moms! It’s a full time job, but so rewarding.