This was what I was looking for, and when I met my hubby I was sure I had found the real deal.

But let me back up a little bit….

I’ve talked about my decision to be homeschooled.  And if we’re being completely honest this homeschool adventure was solely my idea.  I was homeschooled in high school and loved the experience, so I decided that if I ever had kids, I would absolutely homeschool them.  There were no questions about it!

When we got married I told my husband about my grand ideas and he dismissed them entirely.  In his mind we did not yet have children and weren’t planning to for many more years.  He couldn’t fathom why we needed to have this conversation right then or at any time in the near future.  In his mind, this crazy homeschool conversation could wait.

Of course, he didn’t realize how very seriously (and maybe somewhat personally) I was taking this decision.  I had no doubt that homeschooling was perfect for our hypothetical children and I was determined to convince him in any way I could.  So, in addition to bringing up the homeschool conversation on occasion, I even took him with me to a few homeschool conventions so he could have his mind make up for him.

Despite his dismissive attitude and lukewarm reception of my enthusiastic homeschool talks, I kept dropping hints.  I brought up homeschooling whenever I could and I forced myself to listen to his thoughts and concerns.  I prayed over the decision and prayed that he would have a change of heart.  I realized that I could not force homeschooling on my husband.  No, I wanted a partner in this endeavor and one who would be comfortable stepping up and taking the lead.

So, I changed my tactics slightly.  I kept talking up the “homeschool thing” but I spent my time doing my own research.  I researched statistics, curricula, homeschool methods, learning challenges, and learning styles.   I shared what I learned with my husband who was slowly becoming more interested.  I found some other homeschool families that we could meet to ask questions and to see how homeschooling worked for them.  I asked him questions and waited for his answers and then tried to understand his perspective.

One day my husband brought up homeschooling.  That was a switch!  He talked about his education experiences growing up and attending public school.  He never felt he had a well-rounded education.  In fact, he would describe his education experience as very poor.  My husband was never encouraged to learn and in fact developed a distaste for learning and a hatred for reading books.  He felt his entire education had left him unprepared for college and higher education.

That day he told me he wanted something different for our children and he knew that the only people who could support, encourage, inspire, and truly educate them would be the two of us.  He wanted their education to rest in our hands because we had such a vested interest in the outcome.  He was ready to dive in and call ourselves homeschoolers – well at least potential homeschoolers.

I was thrilled and couldn’t wait to start planning.  I sent off for every curricula catalog I could find and planned to attend another homeschool convention.  I could not wait to learn alongside my children.

Ohh, and by this time, the “children” thing was no longer hypothetical.  Right after our second wedding anniversary we had a fun surprise – we were expecting our first little person who would turn out to be our homeschool guinea pig.

Check out these wonderful bloggers who are participating in the blog hop with me!
Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool ~ Homeschooling with Excessive Energy
Lynn @ Ladybug Chronicles ~  Organizing Your Home and School
Cristi @ Through the Calm and Through the Storm ~ Homeschooling Thankfulness
Melissa @ Mom’s Plans ~ Historical Field Trips
Karen @ Tots and Me ~ Making Geography Fun
Adena @ AdenaF ~ Mnemonics
Amy @ Homeschool Encouragement ~ Lego Learning
Erin @ For Him and My Family ~ Record Keeping