First Day of Connections Academy

These are no ordinary back to school pictures. The kids are cute and excited, like usual. It's the mom behind the camera that's having a hard time. Not only am I shocked to find that my babies have grown up so quickly, and they are now in the second grade, kindergarten and preschool. But there's a whole other range of complicated emotions going on regarding this school year. With so much up in the air, we weren't sure where our kids would be attending school this year. I secretly hoped that something miraculous would work out so we could afford to send the kids back to ILC, but with no job, scraping tuition together for three kids is a bit impossible. For the third year in a row, we did not get drawn in any of the charter school lotteries. I tried really hard to keep an open mind about our local school district, but just never got a good feeling about it. And complicating matters worse, all of Brent's job prospects have been out of the state, making me feel like a move is inevitably in our near future.

Through a strange string of events, I was led to Connections Academy. When I first began researching it, I had no idea that it was a "virtual" school--I just thought it was a charter school. Believe me, I never would have gone looking for home school options, as I have always sworn that I would never home school my kids. The more I looked into Connections Academy, the more impressed I was. When I finally figured out that this was a virtual charter school, I cried for days. Mostly, I was crying because I knew it was the right thing to do for our family, and I really, really did not want to do it. How would I ever possibly home school three kids plus take care of two little babies? Throw some particular special needs and difficult personalities into the mix and it seems impossible. After several weeks had passed (with several more days of crying), I compared CA with all the other options I could find, and somehow just knew it was what we needed to do. Can't say that I'm overly excited about the prospect. But I can't deny that it feels right, either. That's the only reason I'm doing it. Lucky for me the kids are so excited. And lucky for me that I know Heavenly Father will help me do this thing that seems impossible. Because there's no way I could do it on my own. Thank goodness I don't have to.

Keaton, Kindergarten

Addison, Preschool

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Delaney, 2nd Grade (M.I.A. for her turn!)

Mason, 23 1/2 months

Mason had to get in on the action, too. He thinks he's such a big boy now that he's almost two! He's the real wild card in this whole scenario. He's one busy kid--as all toddlers should be. It's their job to explore, climb, dump, scribble, and generally wreak havoc. He's at the top of his game!