My name is Angela, and I am never sending my kids to school again! (I hope)

After about 5 years of praying, wishing, and rethinking myself, I am finally becoming a home school mom this fall to 2 awesome elementary age daughters. I will also continue to work full time as a Children's Ministry Director. This blog will be about my thoughts and experiences as we join the ranks of all the other questionably sane parents home schooling for the first time this fall. I look forward to this adventure so much. I love learning, and I want to see my daughters enjoy school more than I did (I always went to public school, albeit high-performing, well-thought-of schools).

Factoring into our plans (but only slightly): in our city, two separate - and NOT equal- public school systems are currently being merged for the upcoming school year. There has been sniping and fighting, and quite a bit of bad blood between both sides. Consequently, there are lots of families in upheaval, teachers and support staff being laid off left and right, and tons of people considering other options besides public school. I'm sure this will come up in other posts.

Right now, I am in the planning and getting excited phase of this adventure. Telling people about our decision to home school makes me cringe as much as it excites me.

When I tell people about home school plans, I get quite varied responses. Most  people think it's a fabulous idea and express a ton of confidence in my ability to someday churn out two contributing members of society. (I think my teaching experience has a lot to do with this.
Because I have a Master's degree in Elementary Education and experience as a teacher in public and private schools, some people reply with a variant of "Well, if ANYONE is qualified to teach their own kids, you are.")

Some people are not clued in about homeschooling and are politely curious.This type of person asks the standard questions about whether home schoolers are socially awkward, able to go to college, etc. They seem genuinely fascinated, non-judgmental, and I love talking to this type of person.

Luckily, I don't -yet-  run into those people who seem to be secretly dialing children's services as they listen to me talk, eyeing my children with sympathy over how their mother is planning to ruin their lives.

I DO get lots of questions about how I think I am going to manage teaching and working at the same time. Truthfully, I don't know. I plan on a lot of prayer, venting to my girlfriends, relying on awesome family, and counting on God to know what's best. I feel strongly that He brought my family to this place. I hope to meet and get to know lots of other parents on the same journey so that we can support one another!