What is Life Like for a Post-Homeschooling Family?!

Lately, I'm enjoying reading about people's homeschooling days.  It makes me feel nostalgic and reminiscent.  For, just one year ago, I posted the same kind of blog post about one of our homeschooling days.  But, I'm also enjoying our post-homeschooling days.  We've come to the conclusion that homeschooling was definitely the choice for our family.  It really helped Penny's reading and writing skills take off.  She's also struggled with math.  But, by homeschooling, she could slowly trudge through until she got it, rather than being left behind.  Math was always my most challenging subject when I was in school, too.  So, by working on it together with her I learned along with her.  We also learned that if you search for tutorial videos on Youtube, there are really no math problems that you can't overcome, if you just don't give up!  This seems to have prepared her well for community college.  I'm really proud of her that she is overcoming and learning well, considering that we just came home from Thailand about 7 years ago, when she knew no English.  But, she has now completed her first semester of college getting all A's and B's!

I have found that my role now has been that of school counselor and a tutor, especially when it comes to writing.  That is still a challenging area for Penny.  But, she really excels when it comes to things like spelling and grammar.  In fact, she often ended up helping other kids in her English class last semester.  That was great practice, considering that she is thinking about teaching English as a second language overseas someday.

This past week we went to her community college...

to find all of her classes, buy books

and bus tickets.

It was definitely less intimidating for the start of the second semester vs. the first semester.  I'm really proud of her to see how she is gaining more confidence and blossoming more and more into a young lady.

While we were homeschooling, I did a better job of reading a wider variety of books.  Now that we've stopped, I don't want to stop reading.  So, I'm thankful for a friend's blog that introduced me to a website/app called  goodreads.com  During Penny's first semester in college I would drop her off and pick her up two days per week.  When I would wait for her I would read books.  This semester will end up being a little different.  She'll have to ride the bus each day, because I'm switching to days for my second part-time job.  So, I'm not sure, yet, how I'll adjust to these changes.  But, I'm thankful that we're gradually transitioning into a new normal.

Another great advantage of the homeschooling was that Penny learned to do a really good job at housekeeping and cooking skills.  Now that I'm working more she'll actually be home more than I will be.  I have full confidence that she will pitch in and help out when she gets home from school.  I'm so thankful that she learned these important life skills and is such a responsible young adult, helping contribute to the good of our family.

The best part about homeschooling was that Penny learned more about God.  She now loves Jesus with a passion and she is not afraid to share about her faith.  She does so in a very kind, compassionate and bold way.  She is truly happy to share about the joy that knowing Jesus makes in her life.  And she is not afraid of what others may think, if she seems different.

If you are a homeschooling family, keep your eyes set on the goal before you.  There is a whole new world out there.  You are building a great foundation for your kids to prepare them for that world.  Work now on what their goals are for the future and help prepare them for that transition and they will soar!