HOMESCHOOLING: The Final Year

After 24 years of homeschooling, it is hard to believe this year has finally arrived.

The final year.

When I started homeschooling, I took it one year at a time.

I didn’t look ahead
to high school and wonder if I could teach it when I only had a first grader.

I didn’t concern myself with college admissions before I had students in high school.

I didn’t get too worried about how to teach multiple children in multiple grades, either.  I just found what worked best for us, made a schedule, and stuck to it as best I could.

And now, it is the beginning of the end.

What does that look like for us?

My youngest left for community college this morning (and every morning this week).  She is taking all her classes there as dual-credit courses.

I didn’t think I would ever choose to homeschool this way, but it makes sense this year. 

As the youngest of 7 children, she is used to being around people and we just could not envision homeschooling one student, after years of having multiple children to educate.

So, now I am home alone instead of her being home ‘alone’ with me.

She took several classes as dual credit last year, so this will not be a problem for her.

It might be a problem for me -- adjusting to a quiet house, not lesson planning, changing direction.

I do still direct her education by making sure she has enough of the right credits to graduate and helping her plan for life after high school.

What about you?  How did you transition after your last year of homeschooling?   

It is a little bitter-sweet.  I find myself "looking ahead and looking behind", as Gandalf said.

I have been culling the books from shelves and my next post will be about which books make the cut and get to stay on my shelves!
Follow me by email to find out which books earned top honors.