A different kind of Homeschool Mom
Picture it, Atlanta, September 2015.
My long-distance beau moves to Atlanta, we rent a house, I pull my kids out of school and we start homeschooling. Crazy right? Legit what happened to my family six years ago. I can still remember how crazy people said I was for doing this. Like the support for homeschooling my children and moving into business full time for myself was seriously lacking.
For years to follow, I'd be asked when I was going to get a real job. Like homeschooling two kids and running a business wasn't a real enough job for most folks. I had the added pressure of getting engaged and married all by the Spring of 2016. Talk about a whirlwind couple of months.
The first year we joined a co-op. We attended Classical Conversations. It was great for many reasons and terrible for one reason. It wasn't a good fit for my son, but we hadn't learned that lesson just yet. My kids were learning Latin, Spanish, had crazy SAT vocabulary words, they were exposed to art and literature and since I was obsessed with Watching 19 kids and counting, I was an “all in Chrisitan homeschool mom.” Like I made our washing powder yall. I was deep in this thing.
After our first year in what I would consider a lovely place for my then third grade daughter but a not so wonderful place for my sixth grade son. It was during this time I learned my daughter was a hard core auditory learner and my son loved to read. This discovery would become important on our journey.
As our nightly family dinners with jazz and conversations around scriptures in latin began to diminish, I found a non secular homeschool group for my daughter (the free spirit) and found an arts based program for my son. Year two we split up and began teaching to the child not the state standards.
My daughter began unschooling year two while my son still had a more strict curriculum with an outside teacher. We continued this path for two years until both were unschoolers.
The Unschooling Adventure
When I first heard of unschooling I thought the children just did whatever they wanted. And in part, this is slightly true. When I decided to get my Master's degree in Lifelong Learning (Adult Education) everything I was learning was centered around getting people to want to learn. My children were not exempt from this.
We went on tons of field trips based on their interests. My son started a blog about Broadway because he was obsessed with it. My daughter joined community programs at the zoo, did modeling, turned down New York Fashion Week, and even joined a dog walking program at an animal shelter. My son trained 23 hours a week on dance, acting, and vocal performance. Their school day didn't look anything like the regular schools they were pulled from.
We traveled. Mostly for my son. He did a lot of training in New York. My kids went to conventions that sparked their interests. Cherrie went to Vegas for LPS Con and Marshall went to NYC for Broadway Con. We took trips to libraries all over metro Atlanta because they all offered something different. We attended festivals and private screenings. We attended almost every show at our regional theaters for years and my son is currently the youngest TedXBroadway speaker in history.
Don't miss the real story…
My children were exposed to things I could have only dreamed of. We lived on a strict budget. I did Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace course, and I've read almost all his books, and still have several on the shelf waiting to be read. We ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly to afford flights. We picked hotels with free breakfast, picked up lunchables at a nearby Target, and would budget our dinner allowance. My parents would send the kids spending change on our excursions and most of them were with me as a solo parent, leaving my husband at home.
I was unable to work my business full time. Once my daughter hit puberty her narcolepsy diagnosis came with anxiety and panic attacks. I put my kids first. I gave up a significant portion of my own life to make sure they had every single thing they ever wanted and or needed and I do not regret it.
Making that decision cost me years of my business, some friendships, some family relationships and my marriage. Here is a hard truth I tell people who praise me for having such wonderful children and being a boss in business:
I wasn't always a boss. They weren't always this wonderful. I sacrificed a lot for their health and wellbeing.
Being a homeschool mom isn't easy, but it is rewarding.
It's not glamorous, but we will let you believe it is on social media. It's a two-way street in learning, you learn from them and they learn from you. Everything I learned in school had to be unlearned to homeschool my kids and then lastly I learned to hire help.
Post-Pandemic Check In
Well, unschool paid off! My son was accepted to 27 different colleges and was offered over half a million dollars in scholarships. My daughter's narcolepsy diagnosis was proven incorrect and we received a diagnosis of Autism Level One almost a year ago (it's currently 2023). I got divorced in 2021, ironically enough, the same week of our wedding anniversary, sometimes we have to laugh at the universe.
I've completed two Master's Degrees, a certification in business coaching, positive intelligence and nutrition. I'm now helping other entrepreneurs bring their dreams to life. You can connect with me over on my personal website: kimberlyihouston.com
