First, clarify your educational goals for your son, together with your husband. For example, we wanted a Christian education for our sons before they were born, but found later that we couldn’t afford private schools. We’re so glad to be homeschooling because it bonds you as a family, rather than everyone having their own private schedules. Also, our goal is not to make our children smart–we believe that all children are; people are just smart in different ways. Homeschooling allows you to get to know who your child is, and tailor their education to their “bent”– or personal interests. We want our sons to learn how to serve others with the knowledge that they gain–not to become rich and famous.

You can do it, girl!!! You are equipped, not because of a degree conferred on you (I know that is highly offensive to professional educators); but simply because you know your son better than any teacher could. You are concerned about his well-being, so you can learn how to teach him. It’s not always easy, but it is do-able. Sonlight Curriculum is what we use now, and they have a user-friendly website with discussion forums and telephone help, too. A lot of overseas parents love it. Shipping is great. But for the first few years, I sort of scoured the libraries and used book sales to put together my own stuff. ( I love William Bennett’s Book of Virtues, and Ed Hirsch’s What Every —–grader Needs to Know Series for K-8th, I think.) It’s time consuming to make your own curriculum, but very personalized for your child. Just do your homework, and your child will benefit from seeing you learn to teach him. Why stop at one year? My seventh grader just asked if he could be homeschooled for high school. And my 5th grader told me I was getting to be a pretty good teacher. Those compliments can take me through the whole school year. There are a lot of pitfalls, and numerous joys as well when you teach your own. Go for it!

Before I can answer this well, I need to ask some questions to clarify your needs. Did you want a Christian online school or only a secular school? Did you want a school which supplies texts or where you hoping for something that completely removes the need for shipping books? Where will you live and will this be a military move? I ask this because there may be home school support groups in the area to which you will be moving and they may be able to share personal opinions on what works best. I did not use online schools when we lived in Germany but I did have an excellent support group. Also, while I have no familiarity with Jubilee Academy, I have heard of them.

Sharon 🙂