Am I Cut Out For This?!

Oh boy! Who knew the universe of homeschooling could be so vast? I have been completely overwhelmed with information. I think I'm a bit Type A and trying to find the perfect home-school scenario for us has taken me a little bit out of my comfort zone. I like options, but when I say options I mean like chocolate or vanilla. If you add strawberry, chocolate chip, rainbow, mint chip, caramel, etc. into the mix then my brain just shuts down. Am I a robot? I'm one of those people that likes to be told how its done and then that's how I do it. I like to follow a path. I do not try to veer from that path. I follow instructions to a T. If I'm making cookies I don't add a little bit of this or a pinch of that. I do what the recipe tells me. In short, I'm crazy! A little OCD, a perfectionist, and just plain annoying. I'm trying to get better. My mom is teaching me how to cook without always following the recipe. My kids are teaching me that my house doesn't always have to look perfect. Being a mom has taught me that I can't always be in control of everything.

Wait, how did this turn into a blog post all about me? When I realized that my personality type doesn't lend itself to being a home-school parent. I'm not great at thinking out of the box and when I do things I like to stick with what I know. What I know is public school. That being said, I am still homeschooling, but I think I'm going to use the help of an online academy. I still have plenty of time to do more research but right now I am leaning towards Washington Online School, it provides you with the flexibility and freedom that people want from homeschooling, but for people like me it helps provide some structure and takes the stress out of planning a years worth of lesson plans. 

It seems like there is an endless amount of curricula that you can purchase to aid you in your homeschooling experience. Some people mix and match their curricula. Some home-schoolers use a method of "unschooling" and then there are parents that make up their own curriculum. This was all very overwhelming to me. What and how am I going to teach my kids!? Information overload. My brain was starting to short circuit. Not to mention I was completely worried about how I was going to do all of this and take care of 3 very young children at the same time. 

I'm glad I've found my answer and that I found what I think will be the perfect balance for our family. 

On a side note: I didn't realize that Cairi won't actually be starting kindergarten until 2014. Her birthday is September 15th and you have to be 5 years old on or before Sept. 1st of that year to enroll for school. I thought she would be starting this coming school year (2013). Phew, I have even more time to research different programs etc. Until then we're still using ABCMouse and reading a lot for our pre-K purposes.