and Mary (8). We began homeschooling in 1985 when Nathan was entering the third grade and Christopher first.
Always convinced that we did not want our children attending public school,
they went to a Christian school those first few years. We had never heard
of homeschooling until a friend at church began homeschooling her girls.
Even then it seemed that homeschooling would never be a possibility for
a mother who was struggling with the three children she had and looked forward
to when they would all be in school most of the day.
But God works in hearts and not even a year later we were looking into homeschooling, not for the reasons we would today say we were homeschooling for, though. To get to the school we wanted the boys in, they had to ride on the bus for an hour each way plus Mom had to drive them ten minutes to the bus stop. When they would arrive home at night, the second grader had a good portion of the night that had to be devoted to homework. On top of that he was falling behind in reading and math.
God began to work in Mom's thinking. He encouraged her that she could accomplish as much teaching her children at home; they would at a minimum gain the commute time and the homework time to just be little boys and play. We made a trial a couple of weeks during the summer and were very pleased. We became homeschoolers. Before very long went by the basic math facts were learned and reading was coming easily.
Since that start in 1985, we have seen so many benefits in keeping our children at home for school that we could not envision any other way. The Lord has blessed and challenged our family through these years. We are so grateful for His direction in our lives.
The very first year of homeschooling, Dad decided we would invest in a computer as an educational tool, using the money we would save by not paying tuition. That computer has led to a home business that is supporting our family and our two older sons. It has also been a valuable tool as our time has become more taken up by homeschooling and younger children. We have found ways to use the computer to simplify tasks relating to organization, scheduling, school planning and assignments, and record keeping. This in turn frees our time for other needs.
We delight in sharing some of these ideas with you so that you too can be encouraged to find areas to use your computer to help you in similar ways in your home and homeschooling.