Tiffini,
I'm so glad that you popped in to ask for encouragement here.
The ladies on the board are wonderful at helping and encouraging one another!
So far for us, we have honestly found the high school years to be the most rewarding! It is as if we are reaping the benefits of years of training and are now seeing the fruit of that training in so many areas with our oldest son.
I wouldn't trade the high school experience for the world and encourage you with all my heart to stay the course and reap the rewards for the years of sacrifice you have made up until now!
It is definitely true that as your children get older and into high school that many families begin to look toward putting their kiddos in school. This can be a bit disconcerting. My own older sister did this quite unexpectedly with her oldest three kiddos, and while their children are truly Christ-centered and family focused children my sister maintains that the public school experience is not without its own set of challenges.
When my older sister put her oldest three in school, my younger sister and I both immediately took a good hard look at our own homeschooling journey and where we were headed. This is because my oldest sister never mentioned any possibility of putting her kids in school, yet it seemed to literally happen overnight. We asked ourselves routinely throughout that year (and we still continue to ponder) what precipitated the decision. We've come to know that in our sister's case it came down to three main things: feeling overwhelmed and tired, feeling burnt out, and feeling like she could not provide an education equal to that of the school system. These areas are each true joy stealers and are not coming from our Father in heaven, who only wants good things for us. So, my younger sister and I set out to keep these things in mind in order that we would be able to follow our heart's desire to homeschool through high school.
I will hasten to add that my younger sister and I have never judged my oldest sister in her decision, as we love and respect her so much. We know that each family must find it's own path and that in seeking to glorify the Lord that path may look different from family to family.
The experience though has strengthened our desire to help and encourage any family who wishes to homeschool through high school to answer that call on their lives.
I do believe that we can learn and take things from each person's experiences. So, from my older sister, I have learned that it is important for me to work to try not to be overwhelmed and tired all of the time. If this is where you are in your life right now, I would seek steps to correct this area in any possible way, or it will continue to steal your joy. This will likely mean saying, "No" to good things.
I know this is hard to do, but it is also something that can be a sanity saver. My husband and I have had to learn to do this, and hard as it is, it makes our life more in balance. Sleep is often connected to how busy you are, so when you say, "No" to good things, you often say, "Yes" to a bit more sleep.
Exhaustion can cause us to be overwhelmed and can keep us from thinking clearly. So, addressing the root of these areas is so important! This is advice I deeply needed to hear not so long ago, so I post it in hopes that it may help you too as much as it helped me!
Next, if you are feeling burnt out as far as homeschooling goes, it may be important to pace yourself a bit more and to find joy in homeschooling as a lifestyle rather than a race.
Perhaps a 4 day week would be a good thing to ponder, leaving you 3 days off each week. Or, maybe you have a really busy season each year that you need free and a more compressed school year would fit your lifestyle. In this scenario, you could do a 4 day guide but do it 5 days a week (compressing your school year a bit, so you have more time off in the needed season). Perhaps you are mentoring other homeschoolers right now and need a break from that to focus on your family. Or, maybe you are mentoring people in another area that leaves you weary at home. Maybe your new little blessings are causing the wear down, and you need to pull their schooling to half-speed for awhile or need to have a "sitter" come and help out a couple of times a week during the day. Whatever the situation, remember that for this season it may be needed to set aside some tasks to keep you from becoming burnt out and to look for creative ways to solve your worries. Too many tasks, often many of which are outside the home, lend themselves to a frantic/frenzied feeling. This can definitely hasten burnout as there is not enough time to "do it all". As I'm now in my 23rd year as a teacher (with 11 years in the public school and then 12 years of schooling at home now so far), it is so important to minimize that frenzied/frantic feeling and to pace myself for the long rewarding job still ahead!
With my youngest being only 5, we have another 13 years of schooling to go!
Now we come to the last joy stealer we saw in my sister's situation...not feeling like she could provide an education equal to that of the school system. This is a true worry for many homeschool families and can be the final reason that pushes families to enroll their children in school. In truth, there may be areas in which your children could receive a more academic education than you are able to provide at home. But it is so important to remember that your child's education is about so much more than academics.
So, for example while the area of science may be considered more academic, more "rigorous", more lab-oriented etc. in the school system, it will also likely carry with it the baggage of being taught without God in the picture. To teach science devoid of God is an academic deficiency to be sure, since He is the Creator of the universe (and of everything we study in science)!
This is true in many areas so that while your child may receive a more academic education in the school system, each subject will carry its own baggage for you to combat in your diminished time at home.
We need to believe that God will honor our homeschool efforts and provide our children with the skills and knowledge they need to carryout His call on their lives.
This is a burden He will bear if we only let Him, and He is always faithful.
As we now have a sophomore this year at home, we are finding the high school years to be the time when we really begin to see the fruit in our son's life. We have so many spur of the moment discussions, and we have much opportunity to get to know him personally each and every day. I won't paint an unrealistic picture of the time we have available to devote to our each of our kiddos individually each day, as we are a VERY busy family (just like you).
However, I am thankful for all of the little moments throughout the week that add up to making each of our children feel loved and feel connected to us.
If my oldest son was in school, I would miss these moments and miss seeing the fruit in his life this year (as a teacher other than me would be reaping the benefits of our years of homeschooling)! So, I encourage you to stay the course.
As far as counting credits for Revival to Revolution goes, I'll link you to a past thread that will be of help to you in this area. If you have other questions on how to count credits based on what you are currently thinking, simply post and we'll be glad to help. Don't let the counting credits question steal your joy either!
Link:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8208&p=59715
One book that will be of help to you as you work toward a transcript would be Transcripts Made Easy by Janice Campbell. Truly though, if you just write down your coursework for each subject area and the credit awarded for each and keep a booklist of the classic/literary type works your child reads each year for literature study that will be enough for each year of tracking until you put it in the final transcript form.
Blessings,
Carrie
I can't WAIT to see Carrie and Julie at the Cincy convention again this year. Last year, they encouraged me so very much! And I can't wait to get my hands on next year's curriculum!!