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My Why for Homeschooling Has Changed After 10 Years · Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast

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  Ten years ago when we decided to start homeschooling.
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  One of the very first things that I did is something that I still recommend.
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  Every person who is interested in homeschooling starts with.
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  Welcome back to making Everyday Magic. My name is Shanna.
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  If you are new here, we are a home schooling family of four.
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  We are in our 10th year of homeschooling.
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  Both of my children have been homeschooled the entirety of their formal education.
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  We have a ninth grader and a fifth grader.
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  Today I want to talk with you about
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  my why for homeschooling
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  and how it has changed over
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  the decade that I have been homeschooling.
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  Before we go any further, we scroll down,
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  hit the big red subscribe button and turn on that bell
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  for notifications and give this video a thumbs up.
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  As always, you can find me down in the comments
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  or over on Instagram at Making Everyday Magic.
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  So first and foremost,
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  I want you to know that
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  homeschooling isn't easy.
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  It is easier than a lot of things.
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  It is
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  kind of as intense as you make it, but simply
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  the idea of homeschooling is big.
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  It is intense.
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  It can be,
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  very intimidating.
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  And one of the ways that I suggest
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  that people start and this is something that we did in our own journey.
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  But one of the things
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  studying my notes down, one of the things that I suggest that people start with,
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  and one of the things that we did start with was our why.
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  Why are we looking at homeschool?
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  Why are we in the idea of homeschool?
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  And when we were starting out
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  talking about this 11 years ago,
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  there was no one in my personal life who homeschooled.
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  I was not plugged into a community of people who homeschool.
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  I had at the time
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  a, well, really started talking about when my oldest was kind of like three.
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  So at the time, I didn't even really have a network
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  of even other moms or parents to chat it out with.
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  We have the oldest cousin in the fam, so it was very,
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  scary monumental, a big decision,
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  and we had a lot of people telling us that it was the wrong decision.
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  And why would you do that? And how could you possibly.
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  And that's not normal.
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  And you did public school just fine.
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  Lots of noise.
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  And so one of the things that we did is we sat down and figured out our why,
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  and our why is what got us
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  one to the decision and two, through all of the hard times
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  and the naysayers and the questions and all of the things.
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  So we determined what our why for homeschooling was.
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  And at the time it really was this simple.
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  She was ahead of her peers and we wanted to try to keep it that way.
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  We did believe that if she went into a traditional school setting,
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  that she would not be making
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  progress or continue making progress on the,
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  on the pace that she was.
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  And so it's like, okay, well, let's let's try it.
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  And so that was our initial wine.
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  And now ten years later and a second
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  child added to the mix later, I can tell you that one.
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  Yes, that is still our why actually for both of our children
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  is that I do believe they are ahead of their same age,
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  same grade level counterparts, and I'd like to keep them that way.
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  I think they will not get bored.
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  I think they will
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  have a better opportunity to learn more and go deeper and all of the things.
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  So that really is still a big foundation of our why.
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  But our why has grown and is tailored honestly to our two children.
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  So my youngest loves animals
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  and part of the why for why we homeschool her
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  is that we can really steer into that passion for her,
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  which I do believe
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  will be a career choice in the future and an education path in the future.
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  And so being able to really steer into she she's in fifth grade
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  and she's had multiple years of pretty advanced biology under her belt.
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  We're very passionate
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  about teaching history and social studies at a very young age, and we have done
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  that in a manner that I am proud of, especially comparatively.
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  I feel like it is more, it is deeper, it is more authentic.
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  And I really enjoy that.
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  And I think that's important for my children.
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  Our older kid, many of you know, has pursued a different path.
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  And that path,
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  is very, very benefited by the fact that we homeschool.
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  So by homeschooling, she can do day
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  time performance opportunities, and by homeschooling, we can put her in
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  different places that are tailored to her during those school hour days.
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  And I'm not saying she wouldn't have similar opportunities otherwise, but
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  this is definitely a why in our book that has grown just from recognizing,
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  availability and her specific needs
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  and her specific, specific paths and pursuits.
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  And so there are so many things that have really kind of played into our why.
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  And there's a list, honestly, I'm I along.
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  I could probably rattle off so many things at music and piano during the day.
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  Performance opportunities during the day took my youngest
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  to a career fair at the zoo during the day.
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  There is so much that goes
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  into our wives and there's some some things really big right ahead.
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  Want to keep them ahead and some things really selfish.
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  Vacations are cheaper and things that really do play into
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  helping us stay the course.
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  If you have not figured out your why,
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  I want you to remember it doesn't have to be huge, okay?
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  It doesn't have to be a really big thing.
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  It can be a small seed
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  that you truly do believe in, that you believe in completely,
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  and something that you can revisit
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  because if you recognize over your path or your idea to homeschool
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  or your exploration of homeschool, that things are not aligning
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  with your why, if your why is no longer serving you.
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  If you haven't updated your why, if you have found that your
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  why is no longer true, it may just be an opportunity for a pivot.
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  Maybe it's time to refine your why, and maybe it is
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  simply time to make a new choice.
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  But your why?
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  Know your motivation.
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  Knowing why you show up every day, knowing why you are willing
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  to put up with the naysayers and put up with the pushbacks
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  and stay up late and lose sleep over making the right decisions.
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  Or pour hours and hours and hours into the research of finding the right options.
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  Your why is
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  going to get you through all of those things.
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  So please, as a homeschool parent,
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  as any parent really, we should always be exploring our motivations.
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  Why do we want this for our children?
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  Why are we willing to sacrifice this?
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  Why are we willing to pay this? Why, why, why?
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  If we can answer those questions, articulate them, and answer them,
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  it really will give you, quite honestly, a very liberated
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  feeling because you know what your purpose is.
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  You know what your plan is and you know what your path is.
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  If you're just out doing whatever, whatever,
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  whatever, it's really easy to just go out and do whatever, whatever, whatever.
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  But if you maintain your why.
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  And I do think that knowing my why initially one helped get us off the ground
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  to help point me in the direction of the resources
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  that we're going to help me continue my why she's ahead.
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  I want her to stay ahead. She's ahead. I want her to stay ahead.
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  And that really helped me get one foot in front of the other.
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  It helped me line up the things you were going to use.
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  It helped me put be put on a path that is going to best service.
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  It's going to best serve my learner.
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  And whenever it was time to bring younger sister into the mix,
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  it really did help me evaluate if homeschooling was the right path for her.
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  It helped me know whether or not this was universal, or whether
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  it was something that would only apply to one of my children.
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  And by universal, I mean in my family.
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  We do know many families where the children specific
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  different paths, different paths entirely.
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  Some are public schools, some are homeschool,
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  some are private schools, some more hybrid school,
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  and even mix within the same families.
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  And that, I think, is really, really important.
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  If you know your why, I need you to know your why for each child.
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  Because each child has a different set
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  of circumstances, a different set of tools that they are working with.
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  And so you cannot have one.
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  Why that is a blanket. Why?
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  Like I said, we've done this for ten years and I can totally identify
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  the whys for each of my children is different.
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  The benefits that my children get from this very different.
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  The paths that my children have taken to get to now very different.
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  And that's because they are different people and it is evolutionary.
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  And I want to best serve my learners.
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  And that means that each one is getting something tailored to them,
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  to their interests, where they are, how they can operate, all of the things.
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  So just a reminder, after ten years of homeschooling,
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  I am still adding to and amending my why.
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  Your why is the thing that you need to keep at the forefront.
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  It's essentially your mission statement.
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  Why am I doing this? Why?
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  Why am I a relearning algebra?
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  These are the things and it's important to identify,
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  know, learn and hold in the very forefront.
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  Write it down. Share it with everybody.
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  Your life will be a lot easier if Grandma and Grandpa come to you.
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  And then why would you do this?
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  Well, she's ahead and I want to keep her there. Okay.
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  Why would you do this?
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  Because we were in a public school classroom,
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  and I recognized that those needs weren't being met.
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  Why would you do this?
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  Because I know that I can provide x, y, z.
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  Well, why would you do this?
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  Because I know that I can do this piece
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  better than that place was doing this piece.
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  Well, why would you do this?
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  Because I recognize that in our pursuit of homeschool, we've done
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  really, really well.
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  But there are other opportunities in different places
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  that might serve them better.
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  Just know your why.
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  Your Y is unique to you. I would love to hear it.
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  If you want to, scroll down to the comments
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  down below and share with us what your why is.
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  Cheaper vacations was really high on my list.
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  Okay. It really, really was.
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  Being able to have that freedom, being able
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  to have a little more relaxation in our everyday schedule.
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  Really high on my list.
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  Not the primary motivator, but definitely epinephrine to share with you.
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  So let me know. What is it?
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  What is it that is making this
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  a decision that maybe is for you, even if it is only for a season?
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  Because remember, you can change wise, can change, needs
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  can change, and paths can absolutely change.
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  So maybe it's that we live so far out of town
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  that, you know, I don't feel comfortable letting my kids ride the school bus.
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  And we are a one car family.
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  Guess what?
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  That's good enough for a season, guys, that really is.
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  If that's your why, I love that for you.
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  Maybe you do have a child who is pursuing something
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  that is very intensive during the day, or even very intensive in the evening,
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  and so you want to give them a little bit more freedom
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  in the day or eliminate homework altogether.
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  You know your kids,
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  you know your motivations and you know what, you are able to provide for them.
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  And you are smart enough to recognize what your why is
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  when your why changes, and when that means that your path should change.
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  I hope you found any of this helpful, entertaining or informative.
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  If you did, please scroll down, hit the big red subscribe button,
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  turn on that bell for notifications and give this video a thumbs up
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  while you are down there. Please find me down in the comments
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  or over an Instagram at Making Everyday Magic.
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  Drop down below and let us know what is your why.
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  Share it with us so that together we can keep making everyday magic.