School Decisions

     I still find myself trying to make a concrete decision on whether to homeschool or not. There are several reasons why I should and should not..As I have said, the reasons I should outway the should not's, but that does not make it any easier to jump in feet first. When I think about it and research the things I want to do and buy for school I get excited. When I think about all the educational journeys I can take them on excites me. I have so many ideas, but get scared that I'll let them down, hence letting myself down. I do worry about taking that "school" experience away from them, but that is coming from someone who attended public school; never excelled myself and had many educational difficulties, which turned my school experience into something it should not have been. I want to encourage outside activities, because I want them to experience social situations outside of their brothers and sisters. I want them to be prepared for the world around them bad and good.  I think my main worry is not having what they will need or what I will need to teach what is needed. At this point my plan is to purchase some books and workbooks, and a laptop/printer. I want to teach them on my own terms while abiding by my state's demands at the same time. My initial thought is to have 2 days of teaching. For instance...Monday I will "teach" math, science, art, and Wednesday I will teach history, language arts/reading. Tuesday will be devoted to seat work focused on Mondays lessons..Thursday will be seat work focused on Wednesdays lessons..Friday will be physical education and outing to a place focused on the week/months lesson. This is just a rough thought of what I'd like to do. Obviously this can and probably will change according to needs and wants as we do this. I've learned that homeschooling does not need to mimic Public School, which is a mistake for beginner homeschoolers. My ultimate goal is to teach what they need to learn no matter how they need to learn it. I want to spend time in the woods learning about everything around us. I can incorporate almost every lesson of every subject somehow within the boundaries of the forest. That is exciting. It is thinking outside the box; outside the bounds of the brick and mortar. It is a mindset that I have to allow myself to have to be able to accomplish it the way I want it to for them and me.