Just four years ago, my husband, Justin, and I signed a contract to build a home in a top school district in the state of Florida. Our oldest was just a year old, our second was not even two months, and our third was still just a conversation. Like most new parents, we were thinking ahead — planning for what we thought would be the best future for our kids.
Our first choice has always been Christian school, but we wanted a good public school nearby just in case. We both attended Christian schools for our elementary education and loved it.
If for some reason Christian school didn’t work out, we’d only be a five-minute golf cart ride away from a great public school. The neighborhood we were building in had a ton of families with kids our age building as well, so our kids would already have friends if we decided to go that route.
Nearly a year later, we moved in.
God Had a Different Plan
We began looking into Christian schools in the area, but didn’t have the best experience. There were long waitlists, sky high tuitions, and not one of them invited us in for a tour. The closest one was 45 minutes away without traffic. And while it had good academics and solid values, I couldn’t shake the thought of how long my kids would be away from us every day if we were able to get in.
And, if we got in, how were we going to get the kids there? We both work full-time from home and can’t just leave for what would be at least a 90 minute commute twice a day. Or someone renting office space near the school. Neither options sounded good. Even if we split the drive and one of us did drop off and the other did pick up, it would still be a lot of time away from work, which isn’t feasible.
Then I heard that kindergardeners ate lunch at 10:10 a.m. Ten-ten. Roughly 2 hours after school starts and 5 hours before it ends. I would be a hot mess if I ate lunch that early and know my kids would as well. We get hangry in this house.
This was a door that God wasn’t opening…and I learned a long time ago to not force doors open. Some doors are just meant to stay shut.
We still knew we wanted something different. Something flexible. It became clear that public school was 100% off the table. We wanted something that allowed us to have a say in what and how our children learn. We wanted to be able to meet them where they are, not where a system says they should be.
For my oldest, this means learning at a higher grade level. He was moved up an age group during the brief stint we had him in daycare and performed at the top of his class in Pre-K. He needs more challenging work or he loses interest and it shows.
We knew that whatever school we chose would need to reflect who we are as a family — faith-driven, curious about the world, and rooted in the beauty of both God and nature.
That’s when the word homeschool entered the conversation.
The Moment Everything Shifted
At first, it sounded a little crazy. Okay, more like a lot crazy. We both have full time jobs. We don’t have degrees in childhood education. We never imagined ourselves as “homeschool parents.”
We had the same questions many people do. We wondered if homeschool kids would be weird or unable to socialize. But research shows that it’s actually quite the opposite. The more we learned, the more we knew this was it. Our decision had been made. We had now entered the wild and crazy and amazingly beautiful world of homeschool.
Nights were spent researching curricula, reaching out to co-ops, attending info sessions, talking to other parents. And little by little, God made it clear: this was the right step.
Side note: I highly recommend Monica Swanson’s book Becoming Homeschoolers as a good starting point to anyone interested in the topic. You can find it here, as well as several of my other favorite books.
To my surprise, there were so many options nearby. It was like I held the key to this completely uncharted territory and when the door open I was flooded with exciting new things. In addition to the countless co-ops I discovered nearby, each with their own unique attributes, I discovered meet up groups, pickleball classes, guitar lessons, art classes, rock climbing memberships, and more. I learned that a world existed where you could build your child’s education based on what matters most to your family, and not have that take up every single night and weekend.
We prayed, listened to God, and landed on a three day a week Christian co-op nearby. The other two days, we’ll be the educators (with some help from a nanny), guiding our kids through the kind of learning they need, not the one size fits all approach that most schools offer, starting with my soon to be kindergartner. If he wants to take guitar lessons, we can hire a teacher to come to our house and teach him during his off days. If he wants to dive more into rock climbing we can drop him off at a local kids class. Or, if we simply want to take a walk down to the pond and learn about the plants and animals we see, or collect leaves for a craft, we can do that, too. We can make school fun for him, as it should be.
We learned that most kindergartners only need about 30 minutes a day of focused academic time. The rest of the day is wide open for creativity, play, and exploration — the good stuff of childhood. At his school, he’ll learn other life skills like sewing, gardening, and taking care of animals.
A School That Looks Like Our Family
We want our children’s education to include:
Faith at the center, not as an afterthought
Time outdoors, a love for nature, and respect for the One who created it all
Practical skills like woodworking, gardening, and cooking
A rhythm that respects childhood, not one that rushes it
Homeschool allows us to build a learning experience that fits our family — not squeeze our family into someone else’s mold.
And the best part? Our kids love being at home. We work from home, and they’re typically right here with us. We have a nanny who helps us out and I couldn’t imagine it any other way. For a little less than a year we sent three of them to daycare full-time and it never felt quite right. At home, they’re learning, playing, asking questions, and growing in an environment that feels like them.
For the Mama Who Feels Like There’s Something More…
If your mama heart is telling you that something’s missing in your child’s education… listen.
It might feel overwhelming at first. It might sound crazy — it did to us too. But sometimes, that tug on your heart is God’s way of guiding you toward something beautiful and unexpected.
We didn’t pull this off on our own. God did it. He opened doors. He shifted our hearts. He made a way where we didn’t even know we needed one.
The Good News for Florida Families (and Beyond)
If cost is one of your concerns, you’re not alone. The good news is that shool choice is expanding rapidly across the country. More and more states are offering education savings accounts and homeschool scholarships. At the time of this post, there are 8 states offering some type of financial support for homeschoolers.
Where we are in Florida, families can recieve up to over $8,000 in funds per student through the Step Up for Students Personal Education Program — a scholarship that supports homeschool families financially. It’s making home education more accessible than ever before, covering curriculum, classes, tutoring, and more. It’s worth looking into if you’ve been on the fence because of finances.
Mama, you don’t have to settle. There is more — and it might look different than you imagined, but it could be exactly what your family needs.
And when you feel that nudge in your spirit… follow it. That’s not fear — it’s faith.
God’s got this.
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