About Beverly

A Little Background

Now, if anyone had told me fifteen years ago (when my husband and I married) that I would be homeschooling our THREE children right now, I probably would have laughed out loud! We had planned to send our children to my alma mater, which is a fine Christian academy. When our first child turned 3, off he went to preschool. I was staying at home, but for some reason I felt the need to send him off to preschool for three days a week. At age five, he started Kindergarten… and our second child began preschool. It was that year that our third child came along, and my mobility suddenly became very limited because of the pregnancy and then the addition of a third child. It broke my heart to miss out on things that my kids were doing at school! When my son had a field trip and came home telling how he had palled around all day with his friend’s mom, it was definitely a hard pill for me to swallow. I wanted to be the one there with him.

My firstborn child is also my most distractible child, and kindergarten was a struggle for him. He was as smart as a whip (which often got him into even more trouble!) and spent a large part of his year in the time-out chair or in the principal’s office. First grade was some better, but only because the teacher was much more lenient. By third grade, we knew that something had to change as we saw our son’s self-esteem and confidence level plummeting through the floor. His grades were excellent, but his spirit was fading fast as he grew more and more bored with the school work and less accepted by his peers.

Our daughter’s experience with private school was more pleasant than her brother’s. She has always been a social butterfly and a people-pleaser, so the classroom-full-of-kids setting was very comfortable for her. (The only real problem that she faced was when a squabble would break out between friends, and she would get her feelings hurt.) She was finishing her first grade year when we began to consider homeschooling, and I was afraid that she would resist the change.

Making the Decision

The hardest part for us in the beginning was making the decision to take our kids out of the private school and bring them home. We talked, prayed, read everything we could get our hands on about homeschooling, and met with homeschool parents that we knew and asked them lots of questions. And, eventually we came to the conclusion that homeschooling was what we needed to do. Once that decision was made – Whew! It was such a relief! It was difficult to face everyone at the school because we were met with a lot of disappointment, and even some disapproval of our choice to homeschool. But we knew then that it was what we had to do. To refuse would have been going against what we felt God had called us to do.

The Journey Begins

The fall of 2006 brought a new school year and a new way of life for us. It felt strange as the other schools started back after summer break, yet we remained at home! We dove right in, using a combination of workbooks and a unit study curriculum called “Konos”. It took us a few months to really get out of the traditional school mindset. You know, the thinking that you have to do everything at home as they would in a traditional school setting? We found out very quickly that it did not work for us that way, because, well – life happens! Routines are good, don’t get me wrong, but we had to learn to be flexible, too.

We have learned to love the homeschool life. This school year has marked our 3^rd year! And in our 3^rd year, we have added a 3^rd “official” student – our youngest, who began Kindergarten. This year has been like starting all over again as we have made adjustments here and there to accommodate our youngest. Not to say that he wasn’t learning all along with the other two! He has been soaking up all the good stuff they’ve been learning this whole time! But making it “official” has definitely brought on some changes. Thankfully …. in homeschooling, we can allot for those changes.

Why Am I Here?

One of the first homeschool moms that I ever met was my dear friend Heather, aka “Sprittibee” . We became friends on a message board years ago when our girls were babies (they are both 10 now!), and have somehow managed to keep in touch over the years. A few years ago when Heather was still living in Little Rock, I drove down and spent the day with her and her sweet kiddos. If she hadn’t moved to Texas, I have no doubt that there would have been many more such trips! Heather has been a true inspiration to me and has helped me so much in getting my bearings with homeschooling. When she asked me to come and write for The Homeschool Post occasionally, I thought, “Wow, what an honor!” So here I am! And I must say that I’m looking forward to being here and sharing with you all, and hopefully being a blessing to you in some way.

My Family

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