Homeschooling is surrounded by so many myths and so much misinformation, that I feel it is my duty as a veteran homeschooler to set the record straight wherever I can, using my 20-plus years of hindsight to relate. I homeschooled our three daughters from birth through highschool.  Two graduated from college during the height of the 2020 pandemic and the last one is currently working nearly full-time and on-track to finish college in just a few more months. My husband of almost 30 years and I live in southeast Florida in the same home we bought four months after we married. These two decades of homeschooling have certainly not all been easy, but in hindsight I see that all the sacrifices and struggles have been worth it.  While there are many things I would love to go back and change in the day to day, I would not change our choice to homeschool.

I am often referred to as Amber from Arkansas, since I grew up in the pine forests of extreme southwest Arkansas.  My little town of 209 people had a school of 104 students kindergarten through 12th grade  There were eight people in my graduating class. From there I went to Southern Arkansas University and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration. Because I had finished my BBA in only three years, I took the extra year to get my MBA from the University of Mississippi. I took a job that moved me around the country and ultimately to Florida, where I met and married my husband, Robert.  I worked the first four years we were married until, after struggling with infertility for a year and a half, Maris Joy was born on our fourth wedding anniversary.  We decided that I would quit my career and stay home.  Twenty-one months later Corinne Joy was born and then twenty-seven months later, Emma Joy was born.  I had three daughters under the age of four.

Truthfully, we often struggled financially, but the Lord provided everything we needed and gave us tremendous blessings all along the way.  I worked various odd jobs and bartered my business skills in exchange for dance and theater classes.  When Emma was in high school, I started working more and have now resumed my career full-time.  The Lord allowed me to pick-up in a place similar to what I left twenty years ago.  In 2022 I completed three FINRA licensing exams: SIE, Series 7 and Series 24. I am now the Chief Administrative Officer of a growing securities Broker-Dealer.  I want to work hard now and then hopefully be able to take time to enjoy grandchildren, if they come along.

I’m here to tell the story that homeschooling is not as hard as people are led to believe, but to also tell the truth that there are parts that are harder than you would ever imagine…but every part is worth it.  I believe that parents are solely and completely responsible for their child’s education, whether they send them to public school, private school, or choose to school at home. The child’s education is the responsibility of the parent. Period! Even if parents choose to send their child to a public or private school, it is still the parent’s job to make sure the child does the work and learns the subject. It is their job to make sure that the school is doing a good job of educating the child. If not, then they must find another source of education. A very valid and viable choice is to do it yourself at home.

There are hundreds of expert books, resources, and tutors to teach a subject, so gaining information and curricula for your child is not the hard part. The hard part is parenting and persevering. There were so many days when I really wanted my kids to all get on that yellow bus and be gone all day. That would’ve been so much easier.  But as I now have the vantage of hindsight, I’m so glad that we kept going.  I’m here to share some stories, offer encouragement, and generally cheer you on.  I am confident that if you want to do it, you can do it.  I’ll cheer you on!