Big Changes

Well if you follow this blog you know that I've been a homeschooling moma! Years ago when Jeff and I knew we wanted a big family we knew that ECS wouldn't be an option. 4 kids at ECS would be way more than we could ever afford. Jeff and I both felt for our family that homeschooling was going to be the only option! We both became very passionate about it. Last year we did kindergarten with Avin and he did great and I can say my heart was set on homeschooling!!

There is a new Indiana State Funding to help families send their kids to private schools. There are a couple criteria's you have to meet. One- you must be going into kindergarten or be coming from a public school going into 2nd grade. Two- fit into a family income bracket. Even though I did K with Avin last year, we said all along if he went into the school system we would send him a year later because of where their birthday falls. We feel that if he is the oldest in the class it will help him in the long run. So we applied and found out last week that he got accepted. This doesn't pay for all of his schooling but it sure does make it do-able for our family.

I will say this was one of the hardest decision Jeff and I have had to make in a long time. In just a matter of weeks our lives were changed completely. My heart has been 100% homeschooling and the thought of sending him make me sick. But the more we thought and prayed about it I started to see more and more positives things. We went through many ups and downs through this decision process. But in the end we decided this was an opportunity that we couldn't pass up! We will take one year at a time and if we feel that any of the kids need to be at home we will not hesitate to pull them out and homeschool them. We had to tell ourselves we aren't giving up we are just going into a parternship with ECS.

I will not lie there are things that scares me about this whole thing. Family unity is so important to me and the last thing I want is for our family time to be stripped away from me. I don't think we will notice a big difference this year but as the kids get older and older I can see some things that we will have to be careful with. Extra circular activity in my mind can be dangerous. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we will not let our kids to extra things I'm just saying I don't want to be a family of 6 where every night we have a different practice and 8 different games that Jeff and I need to pick which one we will attend. I'm not sure what guide lines Jeff and I will use but I do know we will strive to have a balance. We will have to take one year at a time.

So stayed tuned to Avin's first year at school. And please keep our family in your prayers as we go down this new path!