Life as a homeschooling author

Why not start this one off with a bang? If you've been around for a while you probably already know that I homeschool my kids. As an author, I try to shy away from controversial things, and homeschooling is definitely a hot topic in some circles, but it's also a huge part of my life.

I was homeschooled until I was nine years old. At the age of nine my parents put me and my siblings in public school because my youngest sister was born with major medical issues. At the age of nine months, she had open heart surgery to have a mechanical valve placed in her heart. My parents knew they had a long road of recovery and doctor appointments and therapies ahead of them and knew they wouldn't have the time to dedicate to our educations.

I never planned on homeschooling my kids, but not because I had anything against it. It was the constant struggle to get my oldest child's needs met in public school that had us pulling him out when he was eleven. For those who are concerned, he successfully graduated and moved on to college to play collegiate football on an academic scholarship.

This year I really want to focus on literature with my kids. We typically don't open any textbooks till September, but this has been such a crazy summer, I knew we needed to find some normalcy in our routine before getting deep into school. To do this, we started a light load of work in August. My kids have been enjoying books like Little House in the Big Woods, Treasure Island, Little Women, The Outsiders, and Pride and Prejudice. Okay, so my fourteen year old is not loving Pride and Prejudice yet, which absolutely breaks my heart. She is going to find her love for Jane Austin novels by the end of the school year, though. I'm determined. If the girl can handle Shakespeare (this will be her third year in an intense Shakespeare program), she can handle Jane Austin.

Along with getting back into the habit of formal learning, I'm having to adjust my author duties to fit around those things. Overall, I've managed to be successful with that, but in the sake of full transparency, I've fallen asleep in front of my computer while writing twice this week. Strike that. Make that three times.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Editing is going to be fun.

What classics did you enjoy as a kid? Do you ever revisit them as an adult?