Very long intro and some questions/advice needed

Well I’m finally getting around to introducing myself. I am a mom of four (9, 5, 4 and 19 months).

I feel like I need to explain our story before asking for advice. When my oldest was born, I was young and didn’t know much about taking care of babies. I’m not very talkative (out loud at least!) so I decided to read to her – every day for long periods. The result of this was that at 1 1/2 she was very fluent, at 2 years could quote back a small 8 page board book, at 3 years people were asking her if she was in Kindergarten and at 4 years could quote an entire long book. (Not trying to brag, just stating her story). I didn’t realize that all kids weren’t like this.

I had planned on homeschooling all my children so I did some research and talked to my homeschooling friends around town. When she was 5 I decided to start her on a phonics program and teach her to read. She has a late birthday which means that she wasn’t required by our county to start Kindergarten until she was almost 6. but I knew she was advanced on her verbal skills. So, I got a program and started teaching her and it all went downhill from there. She has a very different learning style than I do and we clashed hard. The result of these struggles were that at anytime that she did not immediately understand what I was trying to show her, she would break down emotionally and physically. She just couldn’t handle it (I’m sure this was my fault, but I wasn’t sure how to correct it.)

So, we decided to send her to private school – this is where she is currently. The school is AWESOME, it is run by a former pastor and is designed to teach to all learning styles. It mixes CM style teaching with a few classical approaches and is set up in a family setting (multiple grades in one room, small class size, the older students work with the younger students to foster cooperation instead of competition in school. Now, we are no longer able to afford to send her there, but she has built up a community of friends since kindergarten (she is in 3rd grade now).

My question to you is – do you have any ideas on how to talk to her about homeschooling without causing a her to hate it because we are taking her away from her friends? I want to tell her before the end of the school year so she has some time to adjust, but I really feel that she will have a hard time making the transition. i have been looking for homeschool material that will be appealing to her (I KNOW she’ll love the Pet Store math on here), but I don’t know that it will be enough.

I will admit that we have allowed a lot of things to happen in our family that is less than our ideal or what we had designed for or family (too much TV watching/ friends who do not have good character, etc) so we are trying to redeem our family, knowing that it won’t happen overnight.

So, if you made it through all this, I would love some insight or advice, comments or criticisms. We obviously will need lots of prayer to make this transition.

Thank you,

Keri