Our homeschool story

I never dreamed we would decide to homeschool our children. It started seemingly by accident. It was December 2007 and I had just felt God calling me out of work as a paediatric nurse. It made no sense. We wouldn't have enough money. I had a good job and Jay was studying full-time at University with only his scholarship money coming in. God has a way of getting his point across and He made it clear and unmistakable that I was to be promoted to stay at home with our two children whether it made sense to me or not.

As the months began to roll in, I grew accustomed to spending more time with my very smart 3 year old and very cute baby girl! I decided not to send Caleb to nursery school. I had just started spending all this time with them and I didn't want to send one to be looked after by someone else while his sister and I were right there at home!

There are people who we have had the privilege of wandering into our lives and impressing us with their parenting long before we were parents ourselves. Some of these wonderful people were homeschooling families. At the time I assumed it was an American thing to do because all three were American. Jason (who himself was homeschooled until age 9) did some research with me and we were pleasantly surprised to find out there were some families in Northern Ireland 'home educating' as they call it. I had the opportunity to meet with some of these mothers and the possibility of schooling my eldest child for his first year sounded reasonable. So we did it.

Caleb flourished in this environment, learning quickly and enthusiastically. He read in no time and had a passion for all things maths and science. I found it easy balancing time with baby Grace and schooling with Caleb.

What I did not expect, somewhat naively perhaps, was the criticism! I'm still not sure what fuels it. I suppose it strikes fear in some that I'm damaging my children by not doing what everyone else does. Perhaps they think I'm not up to the job and will eventually mess it up. I imagine some must believe that my actions are a direct judgement on their choices for their children. Whatever it was, the impression they left was that we were starting something terrible awful, and this was sometimes discouraging.

I should add at this point that there were some who fully supported us and their kindness has not been forgotten. There were also a few who weren't sure we were right in the head but they had the grace to stand with us anyway.

I felt (and still feel) that God led us gently to the path we're now on from day one of calling me out of work. On that particular day one we were in Florida. Next door to the condo we were saying in came a homeschooling family who were good friends with Jason's aunt. They only stayed a few days but as they read scripture and prayed with us they sealed the truth firmly that it was our responsibility to train our children in the way that they should go and for us it fit with this idea of schooling at home.

Two years passed and in September 2011, while travelling on a Ferry, our class gained another pupil, miss Grace! She is a delight to teach. She's smart and eager to do well. A little praise goes a long way with her. She's also easily distracted, so regular twirling breaks are needed (for us both) but she gets the work done and thrives. Caleb regularly has to take himself to another room to read because she does her best and most fanciest writing while singing (her own songs!) She is quite the artist, enjoying every art challenge I set and plenty more that she sets herself in her spare time. Her favourite lessons at the minute are learning to read with daddy.

This September, the rambunctious whirlwind that is Judah will storm the class adding another personality and teaching challenge to the mix while the sweet and determined Sophia Hope tries her best to get involved in whatever the big kids are up to.

Our kids are friends, they like each other! Yes, they still argue sometimes, but then come the moments to treasure where you can see how close they really are, with a random hug/kiss or random act of kindness. Our kids are happy! They have travelled a lot. They have seen poverty first hand so are learning the value of what they do have. They demonstrate better than some adults (myself included) a passion for making a difference for the poor. They are compassionate. They are not embarrassed to pray. They've talked to people of all skin colours, ages, walks of life without apprehension. They are confident. We encourage them to think for themselves, not just do what we do.

You could say they are sheltered...if you mean that they don't know swear words or questionable songs. They don't know what they're supposed to be watching on tv or what the latest 'must-possess-or-you're-not-cool' gadget is. I can live with that.

They don't have 30+ friends of the same age that they see everyday, but they do have friends. In fact they have great close friends. They are learning now what I didn't learn until much later that having a handful of close friends, the kind you keep your whole life is better than having 200 acquaintances. More than this, they are learning how to BE a friend.

They are not your definition of 'normal.' Every child is created extraordinary and we intend to keep them that way.