Before making the decision to homeschool I researched for about a year. I looked into private schools, but they were too expensive for us. I made pro and con lists of staying in public school versus schooling at home. Although the pros of home schooling far outweighed the cons for us there are still a couple of things that I don't want my kids to miss out on. Seeing their friends regularly, camaraderie with peers their age, participating in Christmas programs, learning and participating in different physical activities in P.E are just a few things on the cons list. So what if we had the opportunity to home school with all the amazing pros, but we were still able to take advantage of some of the pros of public school as well. Would you take advantage if you had the opportunity? Well we decided to take the jump and try it out!

Our state (Illinois) is a very relaxed state to home school in. Thankfully there are not many rules and regulations in regards to home schooling and school districts are able to decide for themselves if they are willing to work with home school families. Luckily for us our district is willing to work with us. Today I enrolled my two homeschoolers part-time for Music and P.E classes only in our local public school. They will both attend together for 45 minutes a day 4 days a week (one class a day alternating days).

The Best of Both Worlds!

This is not an option for everyone. There are also several opportunities for homeschoolers to come together to create their own events and opportunities such as co-ops, YMCA and other similar facilities as well as church groups and activities. We happen to be in a small community with a practically non existent home school community. The closest co-op is 40-60 minutes away and it just wasn't a practical option for us.

My kids are excited to see their friends regularly. They love music and are eager to learn and explore opportunities in that class. I am also glad they will be able to be active regularly through the Winter months with P.E twice a week.

This will be an interesting situation for our family, but we are all eager to try it and hope it works well.

Schooling as We Grow and loving every minute!