PTA President Turned Homeschool Mom

My transition into homeschooling is a story filled with magic, disappointment, disbelief, and triumph. There have been high highs and low lows, but through all of it, it was and still is worth it.

I had to let go of so much to gain the life I always wanted for my family. To help my daughter, I had to take her self-worth to the very brink and beg her to trust me, even though deep down I didn't really trust myself.

I can tell you now that the story is never ending, but somehow has a happy ending. This is a story of a PTA president turned homeschool mom, and how leaning into the weird gave her family everything they always wanted and needed.

My kids have always been blessed with the best teachers, and that started with VPK. The staff at their preschool were so welcoming and nurturing. There were so many opportunities to volunteer, and I jumped on every single one of them.

I wanted to be invested in their education and a part of my community. Even if that meant making slime, finger painting with 4-year-olds, or reading, the book without words for the millionth time.

I loved being the classroom mom. I also loved the example I was setting, to always give back to your community. Everything was going great, my daughter seemed to be thriving, she was a leader  (maybe even a little bossy).

So it came as a huge shock when at the end of the year they told me she knew 6 letters out of the alphabet. Pure panic took over, even her teachers were in disbelief. "She was always a student we didn't have to worry about," they'd say. They assured me that if I worked with her over the summer, she would be ready for kindergarten. 

Summer was over and it was time for kindergarten. My plan was to join the PTA and volunteer as much as possible. During my first year on PTA, our president resigned, and I found myself being asked to take on her position.

I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew my heart was in the right place and I would work hard to make our PTA a success. While I was thriving due to my new-found love of volunteering, my daughter was not progressing like we had hoped.

I knew in my heart something was wrong, but because she was always on level the school would assure me, it'll just click one day, the data doesn't support her needing extra help.

There wasn't a teacher or reading coach that I didn't approach about her problem. I bought every book series they recommended and spent countless hours creating, and buying any resource I could get my hands on. Nothing was working, and I found myself in real fear for my daughter.

As time went on I saw her self-esteem depleting and it was heartbreaking. Every parent teacher conference, I held my breath, hoping teachers would tell me that they were seeing an improvement, or had a helpful tip.

That never happened. Going into third grade, I knew that the pressure of FSA testing would be horrific for her, especially if we couldn't get a hold of whatever was going on.

Before the school year started, we asked for our daughter to be evaluated. Once we got the evaluations back, we took everything to an educational specialist to help us make sense of it all.

It was then we learned her problems were linked to a visual processing disorder. Finally, we had an answer, but the educational gap was still there, and now we had to figure out how to close it.

It was recommended by our educational specialist that we homeschool our daughter until the gap was closed. We were completely caught off guard. We were so invested in our school that we couldn't imagine walking away.

It wasn't until we went through the IEP process and were denied, did we finally realize no one was going to help our daughter except for us. We had to homeschool her.

With lots of guidance, we implemented structure and less pressure into our daughter's life. We gave her the space to make mistakes and to learn from them. We laid out the way for her to organize her note-taking, how to study, and how to organize her day.

It didn't take very long to see the growth in her. With every lesson she aced, her self-esteem grew. There was nothing more beautiful than watching her fall in love with learning and the confidence that came with that love. 

Even though there was great loss from leaving the public school system, there was an abundance of good that came from it too. The ability to give my children the best education I possibly could, spending real quality time with them, and the beauty of watching their minds expand when learning something new.

Our new-found freedom gave us the ability to travel to places the kids had learned about. To see my children's faces fill with wonder when they saw The Grand Tetons, or to witness the pure adrenaline of seeing a whale breach the water in Monterey. It was pure blissful magic!  

Sometimes the days are long, and the bickering will drive me bonkers. Then there are days when they work together seamlessly. It's a perfect balance of crazy and calm. The family unit that we have created is what dreams are made of.

The bond that my children share grew in a way it never would have if they were in school. That was a gift we didn't even realize we were giving them when we started this journey, but one we will forever be grateful for.

Leaning into the weird and being open to do whatever it took to help our daughter gave us this beautiful life. Take chances, dream big, and believe in yourself!