About Shannon

Hello everyone! I’m Shannon, and I’m a new contributor here at The Homeschool Post. I am tickled pink and honored to be joining this great team of Moms. In fact, this has been one of my favorite go-to homeschooling sites since I entered the online world a few years ago.

I am a child of God, wife to my best friend, mother to three terrific children, ages 5, 7, and 9, and keeper of two kitties and one goldfish. I’ve lived in the Midwest my entire twelve years of married life, but I’m a sweet-tea drinking, grits-eating Southern girl at heart, born and raised in Georgia. However, I have found that it’s pretty nice up here north of the Mason-Dixon line too. (And no, I haven’t tired of the snow yet. I still feel like a kid when I wake up to the first snowfall of the winter.)

I love to read, walk, travel, spend time outdoors, giggle with my kids, blog, and have popcorn/movie/laundry-folding date nights with my hubby on our couch. I’ll also occasionally sit down at the piano and play some Beethoven, Liszt, or an old hymn. I was a piano major in college, and what was once work for me is now an outlet for stress.

We began homeschooling when our oldest was five. Shortly after he was born, we were introduced to homeschooling through some families in our church. Being a former public-school teacher, I was intrigued with the idea, so I filed it away for later.

When our son turned three we were adopting our baby girl and were about to bring her home from China. Quite honestly I was ready for a break and wanted some one-on-one time to bond with our new daughter, so we enrolled our son in a 3-year old preschool that met twice a week. It was a wonderful experience for him, and all thoughts of homeschooling flew from my mind.

The following year he attended 4-year preschool three days a week. In a nutshell, it was not a fun year for my son. We had assumed (incorrectly) that 4-yr. preschool would mainly be filled with play, story-time, arts, and crafts. Instead there was a huge push for the kids to learn to write all of their letters and numbers neatly and to be ahead of the game when they entered kindergarten. My son was not ready for this, and our usually happy little man began to cry every school morning.

God used that year to give my heart the little nudge it needed and help me realize that I wanted to teach my children at home. That spring my husband and I made the decision to homeschool, and we haven’t looked back since. The homeschooling lifestyle has been a blessing for us in so many ways:

• Our children get excited about things like a new bird visiting our backyard feeder or stargazing on a clear night. In other words, they love to learn.
• We have made some wonderful memories reading, playing, and exploring together.
• With my husband’s crazy work schedule, he would see our kids very little if they were in traditional school, so homeschooling insures plenty of time with Dad.
• We are able to pick up and travel whenever we want to see out-of-state grandparents. This proved to be especially important as my mother-in-law entered the advanced stage of Parkinson’s disease. For the last three years of her life we were able to visit her in Florida about every three months, and the kids have some precious memories of spending time with their Grammy.
• Most importantly, having our kids at home gives us more time with them in which we can teach them how much God loves them and also lead them in their relationship with Him. The extra time helps us to help them discover the gifts, passions, and plans that God has for them.

Even though we have our good days and our bad, I enjoy our lifestyle and like having my kids at home. It’s hard for me to imagine it any other way. (Well, maybe on the hardest of days I can almost imagine it some other way!)

I started a blog in the fall of 2007 to journal our homeschool activities. In the process I met some wonderful Mommy-bloggers and discovered that I enjoy writing. I’d love for you to drop by and visit me at Song of My Heart to find out more about our homeschool and our life in general.

Here at The Post, I’ll blog about favorite books, curriculum, learning activities that are a hit with my own kids, joys and challenges of homeschooling, and anything else that comes to mind.

I look forward to getting to know you and being a part of this community. I’d like to leave you with a verse that popped up in my Bible reading this week. It’s my prayer for you as you start or continue your school year…

The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.

~Numbers 6:24-26