New Beginnings

So after thinking this through for the last 5 years (yes, I know.... 5 years?!?), we have finally made the decision to take the plunge into the unknown!  Like most unpredictable situations I have faced in the past, like the decision to have children, going into labour, choosing homeschooling (they all more or less fall into the same measure of unknown!), I sort of refrained from having any black on white expectation of what it would look like.  People often try and give their input on what they think beforehand, sometimes great, sometimes not so great (sometimes informed, sometimes not so informed), and I usually tend to take the "eat the meat and spit out the bones" approach, mostly being a bit optimistic about what awaits.  And then the wave hits you, and you are forced to face the reality of this unknown, throwing you into total surrender to the One who knows what He is doing, and riding it out the best you can.
That said, our start was definitely an interesting one, not exactly moonshine and roses (is that just an Afrikaans saying?  Maanskyn en rose, so mooi gestel :) ).  Our plan was to at first only take our oldest out of school, settling him and then in the new year start all three with our new approach.  With Mr.1 having a quite a serious personality, always wanting to know exactly what is expected from him and what the program will be, our homeschool start was one "lovely" emotional roller coaster ride!  From really enjoying the freedom to being frustrated with not having any formal schooling, I eventually managed to get him to relax by "pretending" he is on holiday!  While all this was going on, little Ms M decided that it is totally unfair that she still has to attend school and began protesting every morning with great resistance eventually leading to the decision to take her out as well.  Needless to say, since we have made the decision to have both older kids out of school, everything has settled, every one has relaxed and for the first time at the start of week 2, I started to become excited about homeschooling again :).  For now, my greatest struggle is to make up my mind on approach.  So much of ones thinking is still stuck in the "old way of schooling", whilst knowing the benefits of doing it in a new way.  One day, you are totally relaxed, having this lovely organic learning environment and just enjoying all the deep, meaningful learning that takes place.  Then the next you open up some educational books and freak out because you are totally inundated under possible curriculum/approaches/standards/what your children should be able to do by what age etc etc...  So, for now my approach will be as follows:  Take one step back, take a deep breath and take one day at a time!