Homeschooling

For a long time Brian and I have been mulling over the question of whether or not to homeschool our children or to send them to public school.  For some this question may have a easy answer but that was not the case for us.  It has literally been years that we have been in conversation about this.  Ewan is only 4-1/2 which tells you that we started the conversation when he was young.  Ewan is about to finish up his first year of preschool and then next year he will do his 2nd year of preschool.  Before Ewan is done with preschool though we will have to have applied to schools for kindergarten, that has to be done by this Dec.  With Dec. now a matter of months away and not years I felt the need to really figure out what we wanted to do.  So this is what has been on my brian for a few months, homeschool or not?  In an effort to help make a decision I started teaching Ewan to read.  This was two fold, I want Ewan to learn how to read and he has a wonderful love of books, and I wanted to start a routine for myself that might help me get an idea of what home schooling might be like.  What I have found is that I love being apart of Ewan's learning, and I love that I am a part of that in an environment that is relaxed for him and for me.  I have found myself thinking about how fast time goes by when you have children and how one minute they are in your arms for the first time and the next they are going to college.  I want to spend as much time with my children as I can before they are ready to leave the nest and am hoping that homeschooling will be a way to facilitate that.  I am also hoping that homeschooling will alleviate what I see many parents goes through with their kids after school, battles over homework.  I don't want to be away from my children all day and then when I do get to be with them they are tired and crabby and frustrated with homework.  I would rather see us do our school work during the day and then have the evening to do other things and not more school work.  So I guess that is what I have come to in my thinking over these past few years.  I have decided to give homeschooling a try and more then anything am hoping that it becomes a blessing to our family and that we look back on it and cherish the time we had together as a family.