Homeschooling and Adoption

Homeschooling and Adopting an Older Child

My husband & I decided to homeschool our three children about a year and a half after we adopted them. At first, it was something I was curious about because it was different. I've always enjoyed exposing myself to, and experiencing, things that are off the beaten path and I found myself being drawn to the homeschooling philosophy. I began doing a lot of researching on homeschooling in general, it's different methods and found out what the laws were for my state. Billy & I started meeting with other homeschooling families and we were confident that we could do this.

At the time of our adoption, they were 5, 8 & 11. We adopted three children, siblings that had been in foster care for fours years.. After about a year, I started to feel as if we had hit a plateau in terms of bonding as a family. Sure, we knew which of us was not a morning person (Shawna & I), which of us didn't like eggs (Cimion & Jacqueline) and who could be counted on for remembering directions (Billy & Cimion), but I wanted more for us. I felt that we needed to start bonding on a deeper, emotional level. There were emotional issues that needed more private family time in which to be addressed. I knew we couldn't accomplish that with them being away from us for 35 hours a week at school.
And it didn't end there. After school hours, there was homework that needed to be done and tests to be studied for and teachers to meet with and over priced candy to sell. School seemed to have a way of creeping into our personal lives and stealing our family time.

So, over a four month period, we removed them, one at a time.

It's been a year since we removed our first child and the benefits of homeschooling (and also being free of the school system) continue to have a tremendous positive impact on our family. We would never have come as far as we have if our children were still in school.

I recommend homeschooling for every family that adopts an older child.
It can be done.

It's not easy though. Especially when most of the children adopted through the foster care system struggle with a variety of emotional issues. But if you've adopted older children then you're not the type of person who shys away from something just because it's not easy.

But, it can be done and you can do it!

(This post was the basis for a short article I wrote)

Related Tags: adoption, homeschooling