Our Journey to Homeschooling

 I know that we just completed our first year of homeschool! 

Chasity has finished 9th grade. Since she completed 3 credits in middle school (public, before we pulled her to homeschool) and she did 9 classes this year.  She TECHNICALLY has enough credits to be considered a JUNIOR! 

NO... I'm not trying to get her out of the house any sooner.  We are leaving her as a SOPHOMORE for next year.  She will have her classes at home, and she will do dual enrollment for 11th and 12th grade... but... that's a different story.

So....  We had an interesting journey to start homeschooling. As most of you know, I worked in the public school system as a Sign Language Interpreter for 4 years. I also taught high school English for 4 years. I'm currently (well, when school's in session) a substitute teacher. I love working in the school system. 

The system just wasn't working for Chasity!  (And no, I don't have a sob story with a list of people to blame....)

What were the reasons we decided to homeschool?

--Chasity was bullied.
                She has been bullied since she was in 4th grade. In 4th grade, it was the teacher.  (YES! I took care of that situation!) The rest of the time, it was students. It was usually little things, like name calling or taking her stuff, but in middle school, it changed. There were a couple of boys who had lockers right by hers. Every day they were cussing at her, kicking her stuff, and slamming her locker shut. One day, they slammed her finger in her locker. After nothing was done to the boys about it, we made the final decision to homeschool. Why?  She would have been in high school for 4 more years with the same people. 


 --The education is more individualized.
                That one is basically a no-brainer, right?  If you have ONE kid in class, you can  plan the lessons and curriculum around her.  You don't have to worry about other students when choosing.


--The atmosphere is more relaxed.
                There is no one saying "You have to do this!" or "You have to finish that!"  She gets to complete things in the order she chooses. 


--She can achieve more.
                If we play our cards right, Chasity will finish an Associate of Arts degree by the time she finishes high school.  That means she will not have to pay to take her General Education classes at whatever school she lands at for college.


--AYOP (At Your Own Pace)
                She gets to work at her own pace. If she finishes all of her math for the day in 30 minutes (and is successful in getting them correct), then she can move on. If she needs more time to complete something, she gets it.  There isn't a set time to be finished every day.  Plus, if she finishes something early, she can work on the next day's work, or just move on to the next subject and have a short day.



What did we need to know to homeschool?

I looked up what was required by NC.  I did it all!  I submitted our Notice of Intent with our school name. I decided what yearly tests we needed. Then I started keeping track of attendance for her as she worked.


 I looked at what NC recommends. We did most of those things as well. However, NC is very friendly to homeschoolers, so we don't have a lot of rules and regulations.


How did we decide on Curriculum?

There are so many different options.  Box-sets or mix and match? Parent led or student led? Online or hard copy? Co-op or fully at home? Chrisitan or Secular?

We went with mostly Christion, student-led, at-home books. There were a couple of things that were done online. In the end, we ended up doing about 75% hard copy and 25% online.

Our decision of WHAT topics to cover was made by the UNC system.  Chasity wants to go to college.  She has been looking at NC State.  So we use the UNC System requirements as our guide of what classes she needs. 


For her electives, we let her have some freedom.  This past year, she finished Spanish II, Astronomy, Bible, and Chorus.

She has already chosen the classes she wants for 10th grade....that's a different post all together! 

What are other considerations for homeschooling?

For us, I did a lot of research. I had wanted to homeschool her every year since 4th grade, but we never thought we could. I researched EVERYTHING.... and ANYTHING I could!  I asked a million (maybe a million and one) questions on all the homeschooling Facebook pages I'm on.

Money was a big thing.  We chose the courses and the curriculum we wanted for each course, but we had to find it..... and not go bankrupt in the process!  I think I can, honestly, say that everything she used last year (except Astronomy) was purchased USED!  (Now, I'm reselling it to try to buy this year's stuff!) 

We went to the NCHE Homeschool Conference last year.  I think that's when Tony got on board with the idea completely.  I was able to show him the things I had been talking about. 

I watched webinars about dual-enrollment and transcripts.  (More research!)

I also had to think of the school calendar and our personal calendar. I printed a calendar and marked off days we wouldn't do school, like Labor Day and over a week at Christmas and Spring Break!  I also had to put in all the events and activities, like bowling, Girl Scouts, my job,  and Chorus.


We put a lot of thought, prayer, "blood, sweat, and tears" into deciding to homeschool.  It wasn't an easy decision, but it was definitely the best decision we've made for Chasity's education!

How did you decide to homeschool?
How did you prepare yourself, your spouse, your child(ren) for homeschooling?
How old was your child when you started? 

Hit up the comments with answers to those! 

If you have any questions for us about homeschooling, and how we do it,  let me now!  I'd love to work with you to help you find what's best for YOU!