The Journey Begins

Now that the holidays are over and we've returned to normal around the house, my wife and I have started our big project, beginning to homeschool our 5 year old daughter. At the end of the week, we are all still standing and our daughter's still wanting more. For our big Christmas gift, we purchase a family package of platinum passes at Busch Gardens which lets us go back to Busch Gardens in Tampa, Adventure Island in Tampa, SeaWorld in Orlando, SeaWorld in San Antonio and SeaWorld in San Diego, along with Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, a water park in Virginia and the Seasame Place in PA for the next two years. We've already taken advantage with two trips to Busch Gardens so far. On our first trip for New Year's Day, I was asked to be a volunteer for the Sesame Street show. Little did I know that I would end up being a hula dancer with other dad's from the audience. Everyone got a big chuckle and it was great. My kids were proud of me for going on stage and I loved being able to share the moment with them. Later that day we even met Big Bird and Elmo! Busch Gardens helps in our homeschool because our daughter has been very interested in the shows involving animals on Discovery Kids and Animal Planet. She especially loves Steve Irwin and Terry from the crocodile Hunter show. We are starting out with themes to keep our daughter interesting in homeschooling. She gave us a list of topics she would like to study and we have turned them into learning units. The first unit she wanted to study was the Jungle and the Rain Forest. There is a big section of animals at Busch Gardens and she took a "field trip" back to the gardens this week and had a blast, while learning a lot.
I will admit that when we first discussed homeschooling, that I was a bit timid. A lot of that was worry that my family wouldn't approve because all of us went to public school when we were growing up. The other aspect that scared me is that my wife and I would now be responsible for teaching our children what they need to know to be a part of the world. After a lot of research on my part, reading books from the public library, online articles and speaking with my coworkers who have also been homeschooling parents, I feel that we are ready to take on the challenge and do this the right way. It's not going to be easy but our family will have a stronger bond because of it. As we grow with our children, I also get to take on another role that I have always wanted in life, to be an influential teacher.