This facinating community

[Kara]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to say how much I am getting out of the honest and generous sharing of ideas and experiences that takes place in this community.

This community really facinates me. I am not a Christian and have been drawn to this community because I really like the cm approach to teaching and learning (narration, nature study, etc).

I feel like I must be living on another planet down here in Sydney, Australia. I have never heard people speak of mothering, educating their children, and relating to their husbands with the kind of reverence that I do on this forum. It is mind-blowing. I wish I could meet some of you people!

Through this forum I am learning that there is so much more to educating my children than giving them opportunities to develop academically. I am not homeschooling my children yet, I am researching the idea. But the more I read here, the more I feel that I want to homeschool so that I have time to do things like teach life skills, talk about spirituality with my children, develop good habits. I’ve never heard people talk about taking the time to teach children these things before (and didn’t grow up learning them from my parents), and yet now it seems so obvious that we should take the time to help our children learn these things.

I spend time reading here and I get all fired-up and excited about what I can do, and then I walk away from the computer and am confronted with my day-to-day culture, with its emphasis in attaining all of those things that you can see and measure.

This forum has given me a view of a whole different way of living with my family.

The difficult thing is that my children enjoy their school and like being there (most of the time), so there doesn’t seem any great need to homeschool. That said, my 6 six year old comes home and plays school, and talks with incredible anger to her ‘students’. When I asked her if her teachers really speak to the children like that, she said “some of them do”.

Part of me is desperate to homeschool, another part of me is scared of the changes it must involve (quiting my excellent job that I love, moving house to a cheaper area, making a decision that well-meaning relatives and friends will not understand).

Btw, does anyone know of any cm homeschoolers in Sydney Australia?

Warm wishes,

Kara

[hvfth99]

Kara, I’m so glad that you are enjoying this forum–especially since you don’t even homeschool! I have learned so much from the ladies here. It has been a source of comfort and relief for me–in fact, it was this website that convinced me to homeschool the CM way in the first place!

The decision to homeschool is a big one. I, too, had to decide whether to stay home or to return to the workplace (as a teacher, btw!). My husband and I came to the decision with a lot of prayer and discussion and sacrifice. I can’t even begin to tell you the difference in my 7yo dd! She was so downtrodden in first grade that I often say, “The girl I sent to first grade is not the one I got back.” Praise God, my little girl has returned to me! She just needed the nurturing of her family, home, and one-on-one with her mother. It was a great decision for us!

If you are considering homeschooling, I suggest finding some people in your area who can counsel you in your decision-making. Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone in Sydney, Australia–I’m from the Chicago area in Illinois. But I’m sure with a little internet research, you could find someone to “talk” to Down Under.

I will keep you in my prayers, Kara. Keep visiting this forum–even though we may never be able to meet each other, we can still draw strength and wisdom from each other!

Faith 🙂

[LindaOz]

Hi Kara,

I like your statement that “there is so much more to educating my children than giving them opportunities to develop academically”. I find that homeschooling is a whole lifestyle, not just a ‘school day’. It isn’t always easy, but neither is anything worth doing, and it’s very rewarding 🙂

I agree with Faith that it would be great to try to meet with homeschoolers to just share thoughts and experiences. I don’t personally know anyone in Sydney, but I homeschool my children using a lot of CM methods and live in the Hunter Valley, NSW, about 2 hours from Sydney. I’d be happy to ‘chat’ with you by phone or email if you would like to. (I’m not sure how I can privately pass on my contact details to you through this forum, though.)

Anyway, I just thought I’d make contact.

Best wishes,

Linda

[BlessedMama]

Kara,

I just wanted to say, first of all, amen to what you said about this community! They are so supportive and helpful!

And secondly, welcome! How wonderful that you are willing to think “counter-culturally”, especially in nurturing your children! Homeschooling to me is more about relationships than academics. I have seen in 16 years of homeschooling that the academics are actually the “by-products”! Not to say I don’t make plans and all, but my best laid plans have been upset more than once! And there is always a “deeper lesson” for me and/or my children to learn.

My dc are truly my best friends! Oh, we have days….:) But overall, I really, really love being around them and the thought of them off doing their own thing not related to the family saddens me! Thankfully, they are all oriented around the family. In fact, the other day I was having one of those “give me some spaaaaaace” days when yet another dd (I have 7!) came in and sat down while I was trying to talk to dh. I was a bit exasperated and dh put things back into perspective for me. He said, “They *like* to be around you!” ::blush!:: Sometimes I don’t know why! But I wouldn’t trade having their hearts and guiding them through this journey called life for anything in the world.

My thoughts and prayers will be with you as you seek the best thing to do for your family!

Trisch

[cherylramirez]

Kara,

The Lord has brought you to this site! It’a a wonderful, gentle teaching tool. I have “met” a couple HS from Australia via the Internet. Log on to: thehomeschoollounge.com and you will find plenty of people from Australia there. I have a penpal from The Homeschool Lounge who lives in Queensland. You will be very pleased with this site. There’s even a Charlotte Mason group on there too!

[Kara]

Thank you to those of you who have posted here, offering me encouragement, I really appreciate it.

My husband and I have beome so keen on the idea of homeschooling our daughters that we have decided to try to move to a cheaper area here in Australia so that I can stop working to homeschool. We cannot afford Sydney on one income.

In a couple of weeks hubbie is going to start to approach people to see if he can move his work from Sydney to Queensland. Potentially huge changes ahead, but I am so excited about the prospect of leaving this rat race and beginning a new chapter with my family.

In the mean time, I continue to read as much as I can to get ideas about what to do when we homeschool.

Thanks again for your encouragement. This forum is such an inspiration to me.

Warm wishes,

Kara