Homeschooling Journey

Katie is a member of Living Stones Academy. She has become a friend over the past few years that I have looked up to and admire for many reasons. We are all on a journey, though we may be at different places along the way. I have been able to watch Katie and her children on a small portion of their journey as they have grown and become rooted in our homeschool community. Their presence at LSA is a blessing to us all. She is developing into an amazing teacher, soft-spoken yet firm. Prayerful and intentional. What a caring, protective mother, listening to God's prompting all the way.

And this is her story...

Our Homeschooling Journey 

Katie and her children

My children are 9 and 7 years old, and we have homeschooled them from the very beginning. It has been such a beautiful journey that God has been in control of and had His hand over from the start. However, our family’s homeschooling journey began long before I ever became a mother. With the 20/20 vision of hindsight, I have had the opportunity to see the fruit of the tiny seeds God has planted in my life grow into what our life and homeschool has become now.

I didn’t know it at the time, but God was preparing my heart for this journey even as a child. Some women are destined to grow up and have luxurious careers (I thought this would be me). Some are destined to grow up and become Olympic athletes (definitely not me). I was destined to become a homeschooling mother. 

When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of the day I would become a mother. My parents have a newspaper clipping of me when I was about 5 or 6 years old with one baby doll in a stroller and another strapped to me in a baby carrier as I was taking them for a walk down our neighborhood sidewalk. The caption reads, “Local little mother, Katie, taking her babies for an afternoon stroll through the neighborhood.” I will always love that clipping. 

I was not homeschooled as a child and I didn’t know anyone who was while growing up. I grew up in public school and lived the very traditional public school life. However, I was also the little girl that the teachers sent all their extra unused worksheets home with over summer break because I loved to organize them and use them to play school with my baby dolls and even my poor friends, who just wanted to enjoy their summer break. I see you God, planting these tiny seeds. 

Then, when my brother was 11 years old (I was 23 and newly married), he was making a big switch from one public school to another in a neighboring town. It was his last day at this school that he had gone to since Kindergarten, and I was helping him clean out his locker and return books to all his teachers. We walked into a classroom to turn his books in, and as he set them down on the teacher’s desk she said to him, “And what was your name again?”

I was floored. He had gone to this school since Kindergarten. It was well into the school year when he was switching schools. He had been in her class for months, and she couldn’t remember his name. I vowed right then and there that when I had children, I would never allow that to happen to them. They wouldn’t become a nameless face in a classroom full of other nameless faces. Again God, planting these seeds.   

In 2015 I graduated from Nursing School, immediately went to work in critical care, and loved my job. In 2016, I became the mother of a beautiful little 6 pound baby girl. The moment they put her in my arms, I knew my entire life had just changed. This is when God really started to test me and reveal his plans for my life. Here I was, fresh out of Nursing school, working my dream job in critical care, and now crying myself to sleep dreading the thought of having to leave her and return to work. 12 weeks of maternity leave came and went way too fast, and before I knew it I was back at work, juggling 12 hour shifts, taking care of critically ill patients, and somehow still trying to find time to pump for my exclusively breastfed 3 month old at home. I was miserable. 

I began to feel God pulling me home not long after returning to work, but I shook it off as just new mother feelings. However, months went by and those feelings never changed or went away. I continued through this cycle of go to work while she was still sleeping, cry all the way there, take care of patients, cry while I pumped on my breaks, and get home only to find her already in bed for the night, and you guessed it, cry some more because I missed her. I was missing entire days of her life, and I just couldn’t handle it anymore. 

I finally talked about everything with my husband, and he didn’t hesitate to tell me that home with her is where I needed to be. The day after our conversation, I quit my job and I’ve never gone back. During this time at home with my daughter, I thrived. I was no longer miserable, and I was where I belonged. I was finally where God wanted me. Thank you God, for such a supportive husband by my side as I surrender and obey Your plans for me. 

Shortly after leaving the workforce, my son was born, and it was shortly after this that God placed it on my heart to homeschool them. I had a very traumatic delivery with my son that almost resulted in the loss of my life and time in the NICU for him, and my outlook on priorities in life underwent a major shift. To be a mother and wife. Time with my children. To love them and care for them and teach them. That is my calling in life. 

Homeschooling has blessed our family so much. So many precious hours with my children that would be lost to public school or office hours, are instead hours spent together and memories that otherwise may not have been made. They learn, grow, struggle.. and I’m there for it all. I don’t miss any of it. They have the opportunity to wake in the mornings when their little bodies are ready. They move through their days at non-chaotic paces. They get to be children. They travel and adventure and experience God’s creation, all while learning and growing every step of the way. They make friends of all ages and can strike up a conversation with anyone they meet. They care for their pets and dive deep into their passions. Homeschooling has allowed my daughter to invest her time in horseback riding and reveal to her at 9 years old that she wants to grow up and be an Equestrian Veterinarian and a riding lesson instructor. 

They have attended Living Stones Academy Co-op since my daughter was 5 and my son

was 3. Once again, God knew what He was doing when He led us to LSA. We were at the bookstore (our favorite place to be) one day, and I chanced meeting another homeschooling mother there. We got into a conversation that I was going to begin looking for a co-op soon, but didn’t have high hopes or even know if a co-op would be a good fit for us, and she said, “I’ve heard of Living Stones. We haven’t gone there, but it is here in Norman and is Christian based. You should look into that one.” 

I messaged the Co-op administrators that evening, we attended the following week for an introduction, and we have been with LSA ever since. My children love going to co-op every week. They learn so much, have such a good time, and have made the best of friends there as well. LSA has truly been a blessing to not only our homeschooling journey, but life in general. It is compromised of some of the best women who care not only for our children, but each other as well. Anytime I share our homeschooling journey, Living Stones will always be a part of it. 

I will never regret the decision to stay home with my children and to homeschool them. I will never regret attending LSA. God is leading every step of the way in this journey, and I know He has such good plans for my children.  

-Katie

Presenting an experiment in Hands On Science class on "Explosive Reactions".

This presentation was also displayed In the Learning Fair held at the end of the year for guests to view a snapshot of things the kids learned and experienced through the year. This was an amazing class, a favorite of many of the students. Thank you Katie for bringing such wonderful opportunities to the children at LSA.

In Him,

Jessi