I’m Amber. I am a mom who decided to risk  it for the biscuits—another mom who wants to share their information with the world. We began homeschooling Sebastian back in 2019, right before COVID hit ( great timing, right ?!)! My husband comes to me one day about all the issues and frustration we have dealt with over the years and expresses that we should homeschool Sebastian. Me being the typical person I am. I questioned it. Don’t get me wrong, I knew some homeschooled kids growing up. They were just fine and had some cool experiences to share. My biggest one is SOCIALIZATION and missing out on the upcoming  of life that a brick-and-mortar brings. 

After talking and researching more, I caved. I had to risk it for the biscuit once more. My husband took on the role of lead instructor at first and after trial and error. We decided I would take a stab at it. Finding out I, the high school dropout, could do this!!!  Education is critical. As stated, “High school dropout,” you would think, well, why? I was your typical American teen mom( Thanks, MTV….). But what I kept filling my brain with was negative self-talk, those intrusive thoughts of damaging self-pity “I can’t do this”, “I’m not educated enough”, “I’m not a teacher”,  all the possible things you can think of, I told myself.  

But you have to do what is right by you as the parent, not others. I struggled with this a lot. I let the schools and family get in my head because that’s how I understood it. Boy, was I wrong! Taking on this responsibility taught me I CAN do this, I AM educated, and i AM good enough …. Ya know the typical DJ Khaled “you smart, you successful” speech. HA! Doing this gave me a goal. 

Mom had to get her G.E.D. by the time she was 30. In late November of 2020 I marched down and took my Hiset exam. One week later , I opened the email and saw all passing. This was a great moment for me, I broke down crying because I was so proud of myself. Knowing I was capable of it all along. 

It’s our job to make sure our kids are better than we are. Taking responsibility for their education and taking on this task IS a lot!  But not feeling confident while doing it was the worst , in my case. Looking at the young man in front of me thinking “How can I teach him ? He is smarter than me already?!” But after that day , it all went away…….It brought us closer together , showing what can be done if you apply yourself. After a few years of seeing such great progress in Sebastian , it made us think how Makayla would do. She had her own history from school herself. So then my husband started , he was consistent as could be . We were driving her to a charter school that was brand new, but slowly going down the hill as the years progressed. 

Come September 2022 , I was so over this school . After issues and being threatened of “I will not be welcomed to the school “after the first three weeks of the new year. Because Myself and other parents were done being treated like we were the bad people. That is when I spoke with David and I wanted to try to talk to Jen more about it .

October 24 2022 , we pulled her from school and began homeschooling.  Jen was in my boat. she has to take the chance and worse case she goes back to a normal school . Ask her today and she will give you her perspective on it . We have seen nothing but growth in Makayla since pulling her. 

But to be transparent …..Homeschooling is not all rainbows and unicorns. Everyone has a bad day or an “ off” day. But how you go about it and “get your day back”  as someone close to me says. That’s what matters. Please DO NOT GET ME WRONG. I lose it sometimes when my husband has to come in and take over because I feel like I’m fighting with minions.  But the older the kids get the more fun we have , the more conversations we have and more memories we share.  You only have some much time with them so why not spend it wisely before they begin their adventure. . 

Taking us back to modern day , This year in 2024 . We are starting our year fresh with new stuff. Sebastian tried an online school in the 23-24 school year and we learned it was not a good fit for him but I loved it !

But, for now Onward with our time and be on the look out for more rants and projects to come!