New school year, new adventures

If I had my own school, I'd ... Anyone else ever said this? I know I have, many times. As a former teacher (STEM, middle school math, science, technology), I've both said and heard this sentence starter many times. Most of what follows are ideas that have come from years of experience, both as teachers and as students. Over the past couple of years, my family has adjusted, and struggled many times, with making sense of the changes in the public education system. I left the private school system due to working conditions and health reasons, and moved to the public school system just in time to implement Common Core math standards with struggling students. No small task there, but I'll leave those rants for another day. After much consideration, I decided to leave the education world, but my children were unfortunately still there. I'd thought about homeschooling many times over the years, but had not taken the leap. My kids didn't want to leave their friends, it would be better next year with different teachers, this is just a fad. Plus, we needed the income. So I was still busy teaching other people's children, and hoping that mine were getting what they needed. Don't get me wrong, most of their teachers have been phenomenal, and I'm glad that they got to enjoy that experience. But I also know that they could be doing so much more with their learning time than what they were doing. So this year, we're making the leap. A little fear, a lot of excitement, and full steam ahead!