So, I've been pondering and praying about just thinking about homeschooling, and now I think I'm ready to talk about it and write about it. In fact, I'm thinking of doing a (weekly?) series on this discernment process/fact-finding mission. Would anyone be interested in hearing my thoughts?
(Silence)
Bueller? Bueller?
Hmm.
Well, my plan is to continue to do research, compile a list of Catholic/Christian homeschooling blogs, and interview homeschooling mothers.
That's as far as I've gotten for now.
Whew.
However, I feel it necessary to refer you back to THIS post.
Think what you will.
Halloween Porch
5 days ago
WOW! THat's huge to consider it! You know how I feel about it and with every day I'm MORE set in our plans and thrilled to be out of the system. In regards to college costs- this is a huge benefit. Instead of paying for Catholic school, you'll pay maybe $1000 / family (depends on the curriculum and level of need for assistance from the company)! You can save that money you're saving and apply it towards college. Plus my mentor's daughters did two years at the junior college in high school and got dual credit, so they only had 2 years of college to pay for- so could afford a fancy Catholic school.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, my favorite curriculum ever is Our Lady of Divine Grace. I swear it's like the author went into my head to find out exactly what I value in education and created this curriculum! It's Catholic and Classical, and divided developmentally into 4 stages- learning, grammar, dialectical and rhetorical.
I could (very easily) go on. So I'm not the person to call if you want someone to talk you out of it. :) I'm planning on doing a post on this stuff, too! I have it saved in my drafts right now. Too much going on...
I'm excited for your journey of discernment. Honestly I don't know much about other curriculums- this is the first on in-depth that I looked at, but it had EVERYTHING I've ever dreamed of in it!! :) (and it's based on a program I am in love with!)
Is it called Mother of Divine Grace? I'm not seeing anything called Our Lady of Divine Grace associated with a homeschooling curriculum.
ReplyDeleteAnd while I'll write more about the financial side re: college, this would mean that I would NOT be teaching again when all of our children reach school-age. That's about $30K-$40K/year that we had planned to put toward college funds. Both M and I were blessed to have our college paid for and no debt post-degree. That's something we've really wanted to gift our children with, so this is a major issue for now, unless I can figure out a way to make my tutoring work into a part-time, more regular job.
ReplyDeleteOops!!! YES! It is Mother of Divine Grace! Just kidding! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't mean to undermine the financial concerns. I'm sorry if I came across like that. I simply meant to point out that there's an upside to the financial side of things, too. Two or more kids in private school (if that's what you chose) would be mighty pricey, too. So while you'd be able to work, there are extra costs associated as well. That's all I meant. :)
Good luck! I know from past experience that it can be a very difficult discernment process.
ReplyDeleteI sent you an email about this, but just wanted to pop in to let you know that I'd *love* to read this series!!
ReplyDeleteJen-- I got your e-mail and am writing back right now!
ReplyDeleteAngie-- I'd love to hear your thoughts as to how you made a final decision, and also what factors weighed heavily in your "pro" and "con" columns, and how these factors have remained the same or changed.
Lauren, my love-- I didn't take the comment as undermining the financial concerns at all. Here's one thing I'll mention in writing this: Let's pretend I'm able to have another child next year, with similar spacing to C and H (23 months). If I didn't have any more children (sad!) after that, the baby would be in Kindergarten when C is in 4th grade, giving me 9 years to teach before she goes to college. High school teacher salaries around here run between 38,000 and 45,000 with my level of experience. That's roughly $360,000 we could be putting directly into college funds. The public schools are ranked very highly, so we have to decide the cost/benefit of doing this. Does it make sense for us? Why homeschool when the schools are so good? Why NOT homeschool when we've heard of other benefits? I have a ton to write about this for later!!