So, I have homeschooled for a week now.... It has been very interesting. Our goal this week was to do school three days, working on writing his name and doing some math work. We have just wanted to get into a routine and see how it was going to go. We will add our phonics program next week; add a fourth day of school in September (and start going into more depth with things) along with Thursdays at Home School Academy.

It has been a good week. The girls have done a good job of entertaining themselves. It seems like as long as they know that they will have "school" after Bowden is done, they are contented to play together.

Teaching a child to write is VERY difficult. If I have to say, "Bowden hold the pencil the proper way" one more time I may kill myself. At one point I could tell he and I were both about to lose it so I said "Let's go run around the house and have fun for a minute!" That eased the stress and we started right back at it.

My journey to this point has been a long one, which involved my poor friends listening to me moan about school for about four years (I am so sorry D & J) and now that I have begun, it seems sort of anticlimactic. We just woke up one morning and started doing school!

My focus is to make things as simple as possible. I think we, homeschooling moms (and remember I have only been one of these for five days!) tend to make things more difficult than they need to be. Perhaps we are trying to ensure our children will not "lose out" or we are just certain that we are just not good enough to educate our children.... I know these thoughts have been in my mind ever since we decided this was the way to go. But here is the thing, God has called me to this. I know this as surely as I know He called me to marry my husband and He called me to trust Him with the size of my family. He has called me to this and He is faithful. He will make sure that - as long as I am seeking Him - my children will get the education they need to accomplish the goals God has for them. This homeschooling thing is not about me, nor is it even about my children, it is about obedience to God and what He has called me to and it is about my children becoming the men and women God designed them to be - fulfilling the purpose He has set before them.

So, one week down... many ...many ... many left to go.... I am excited to see all that God is going to do here in our home!