when did you start homeschooling

I am the type of person who, when confronted with a new situation, reads up on it. Found out I was pregnant, got all sorts of books about pregnancy, child-birth, new baby-care etc... Read everything I could get my hands on, decided what made sense to me, threw out what was left and went from there.

My favorite books were the "what to expect" books. I got the What to Expect when you are Expecting book, the What to Expect the First Year book, and the What to Expect the Toddler Years. And each one was worth it's weight in gold. With the 3rd book it gave developmental tips, ranges and your child should be able to, might be able to, could possibly be able to lists. It was like a little competition built in to each chapter, can my Punkin do any of this stuff?

Which is really what got me to looking for educational type stuff. We never allowed brain-dulling toys around our Punkins. All of the toys, especially when they were young, were imagination driven designed to stimulate mental growth, etc.... From chewy, touchy feely toys for babies, to blocks and things to dump/measure/pour for toddlers.

I saw so many parents getting there kids dollies that talk/cry/sleep/burp etc... that there was no room for the child's imagination. A lot of the toys out there are like that. Little barnyard sets where every animal is a button that will tell you "the cow says moo", or "D is for Duck", or whatever. But does not allow the child to set the animals in a row, make the horse fly or the chicken boss the other animals around. The animals just sit there stuck in place waiting to be pressed. Blech.

As Punkin #1 grew older, she became more interested in counting and ABC's so I ordered little monthly learning kits in the mail. They came with a book, workbook, stickers, and an arts-&-crafts project. We had a lot of fun with those pouring over them, filling in the questions, etc...

I think the willingness to homeschool for us just kind of grew out of what we were already doing.

So after reading Ayn Rand's article about the effects of public school on the developing mind, I knew I needed to do something different. Free day-care along with social indoctrination provided courtesy of the government wasn't going to cut it for my little Punkin.

I am very glad I found the Well-Trained Mind. It helped me break the elephant into bite-sized pieces. When you think of education your child as just taking one step at a time and it growing with your child it's not nearly as overwhelming as, "my daughter is 6 how will I ever do chemistry?????"

The next step, after determining on a method for learning to read (100 Easy Lessons) was to find a program for math. What I really needed to do was to touch and feel the options.

Off to a homeschooling convention....