Time to Change

I have this theory that pretty much any monumental moment in life can somehow be related either directly or indirectly to an episode of my favorite television show ever...The Brady Bunch. If you are around my age...ahem...43, then you grew up watching reruns of this amazing show every afternoon on TBS. At 4:35 to be exact. If you are too young to have watched it then, please invest in the DVDs...you won't be sorry! Anyway...I digress. When I was thinking of a title for this post, a song from one of the episodes came to mind at once. "When it's time to change, you've got to rearrange..."

Our family is making a major change, and we are very excited about it. This fall, my sweet children will not be returning to school. We have decided to take them out of the school system and begin cyber school. Let me first state that Steve and I have nothing against the public school system...I attended and graduated from public school, and spent five wonderful years teaching in a public school as well. We have nothing against the Catholic school system either. Steve attend Catholic school, and our children have been a part of the Catholic school system here for the past eleven years.

Our reasons for changing are diverse, but a dear friend told me after I confided in her about all the things we considered, that the one thing that stuck out to her was when I said the school system just wasn't a fit for our family. And that is just about it. I will never say anything negative about our school, just suffice it to say that we feel we will learn, grow, experience, celebrate, and love better at home as a family.

I also want to add that this wonderful world of Blogger has helped me embrace this decision with confidence and excitement. So many of you are models of homeschool success and inspire me with so many ideas of curriculum and faith that I can't wait to begin! I am not going the traditional homeschool route, however, as I know that would be a bit more than I could successfully accomplish as a first timer. We have researched thoroughly and have found a wonderful cyber school that offers K-12, and has an extensive curriculum that the kids are very excited about. We traveled to the city last week for orientation, and left very excited and anxious to start our new adventure. I am excited to dust off the teacher in me, and will be teaching the religion to the kids myself. I can't wait! Be waiting for the emails, ladies!

We will be deconstructing our seldom used formal dining room soon, and will be setting up the learning room so we will be all ready come September. I am so excited to have my children here with me. I am excited to be a bigger part of their education. I am excited to have more family time for simple things like baking and playing games and going on nature walks. I am thankful that this is possible for us, and that my children are excited about it as well.

I humbly ask your prayers as we begin this new adventure in our lives...as we realize that it's time to change, and that we've got to rearrange...And please feel free to offer any advice! You know I'm listening!