It's been way too long since I had a teacher in-service day. My husband had to work a little overtime this Saturday but instead of going in first thing in the morning he stayed home with the kids, did all the yard work and let me pack up my books and head to my mom's house for a little quiet reading/planning time. I had seven and a half hours of time to sit and read (cheap therapy). I spent the majority of my time researching history curriculum options and reading The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. The Well-Trained Mind was one of the first books recommended to me by another homeschool mom (as well as A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille). It was the first book I started reading when I first started my search to my eight million questions regarding homeschooling. Maybe it was the fact that I had a preschooler who was having anixety attacks at school when he was asked to write his name and two babies....but the book turned me off right
The Coffield Academy was established in August 2014 (read: we signed an affidavit saying we were going to homeschool and didn't register F for kindergarten that year). I was completely uncomfortable with the idea of putting Freddy in kindergarten. He had spent a year in a kindergarten prep preschool having anxiety attacks and silently crying when he was asked to do anything other than play. That year he was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder and vision impairment. I looked into every other option. I didn't feel comfortable with anything. All of F's preschool friends were getting ready for kindergarten round up and I had no idea what we were going to do. One night I was praying for help to know what to do when I had one word come boldly into my thoughts: HOMESCHOOL. And just like that I had peace, clarity and comfort. I knew it was God speaking to me and it felt so good to know what to do but this was not the answer I wanted. I wasn't that kind of mom. I