My husband and I decided to homeschool in 2006 when one of our sons was diagnosed with auditory processing. He had some challenges in a regular classroom, and through prayer, we decided that homeschooling was the best option. It only made sense to bring all of our sons home at the same time. This way we would simplify rather than complicate our busy life.

The thought of homeschooling the boys was a little overwhelming at first. How were we going to teach our sons all that they needed to learn? Would I be a good enough teacher? Would they be missing out on anything? I immediately ran to the library and started reading. If I was going to do this, I needed to educate myself on exactly what to do.

I read Kimberly Hahn’s book, Homeward Bound, and another book called The Well-Trained Mind. After reading these and other great resources, I made the resolve to do it. I could commit to one year, and then re-evaluate to decide what was best after that.

It turned out to be a little easier than I thought at first. I learned what our state’s education requirements were, and used a Catholic curriculum from Kolbe Academy. The school provided the books for each of the boys’ grades, and the teacher’s editions were easy to follow too.

I realized about a week into the homeschooling endeavor that I couldn’t do it without the grace of God. If I really wanted to do it right, we had to start the day off at Mass. From then on, we tried our best to make it to daily Mass at Stella Maris Church on Sullivan’s Island. We’d get up early and get ready for school just like the other kids who attended traditional schools. Our first class of the day was the Blessed Sacrament. In my opinion, this was the reason that our homeschooling turned out to be such a success. We began the day in prayer and receiving Eucharist, and then seeing friends at church. This little “recess” and social time helped the boys and I to stay motivated, then we would go home and begin school.

Were there ups and downs?

I remember telling myself throughout the first year that I could make it through although I was plagued with doubt that they weren’t getting enough. I would hear stories about activities that kids did in school and hoped that my children’s education wasn’t lacking in some way.

Homeschooling didn’t seem so daunting after we started our day at Stella Maris. After the first year, more homeschoolers were attending Mass along with us. Before long, we had a large group who we would see each morning. Our pastor had several altar servers, and the boys would eagerly get up and go in the morning. It was a win for all of us!

After two years, a friend and I started a co-op called Our Lady Star of the Sea. We wanted our children to learn classroom etiquette and have some teachers other than their parents. Certain subjects like science and Latin seemed a little intimidating to many of us, so we thought that it would be nice for our children to learn them from another instructor. This is where my sons took catechism, composition and other subjects.

So many blessings came from homeschooling our sons. I grew in my faith, our boys formed deep friendships and my husband and I grew closer. Our sons had great Catholic role models from which to learn in our parish community.

Help at our fingertips

Like anything in life, we had our difficulties and triumphs, so we learned great phrases like, “When you are faced with a problem, problem solve,” and “Mary always helps!” These became little mantras that we repeated when we had challenges. When one of the boys had a math problem and I couldn’t help, we used online resources. If that failed, we had the best resource we could have asked for — their dad. Thankfully, my husband could teach the boys through the highest level of math they achieved in high school.

Thanks be to God, we did end up homeschooling all three boys through high school. As I look back and reflect on these glory days, I really do have a lot to be thankful for, and in our country we are free to homeschool. We have incredible resources literally at our fingertips.

If you feel called to, or family circumstances are leading to, homeschooling, there are online Catholic resources and communities, virtual and local, to help. Our parish family was a gift from God, and those days with my boys helped us to give glory to him.