If someone told me before I became a parent, how my life would be today, I'm not quite sure how I would have responded.  

Perhaps run the other way, cry, be angry... 

Or just maybe, I would have said okay, and spent as much time as possible studying and learning all I could, in hopes that it would prepare me for what I do now every day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

My husband and I were not planning on homeschooling our children.  

We were actually quite against homeschooling.  

But life happens.  

This is our story of how our family came to the decision to homeschool our children.

How Our Family Came to the Decision to Homeschool Our Children

Meet Renae and Jason

I am a happily married, full time stay-at-home mom, blogger, and homeschool teacher to four children with developmental, emotional, and trauma based disabilities.  

In college I received a degree in music with an emphasis in voice.  

My plan was to stay home with my children while they were young, teach private music lessons on the side, and then when they went to school, return to school myself to study choral conducting and/or musicology.

My husband Jason has a Master's of education degree in counseling with an emphasis on marriage and family.  

He was a licensed mental health counselor in NY and spent ten years working as a therapist to adults and children in private and group counseling sessions, and in residential facilities.

After years of struggling to understand why aspects his job, marriage and life in general were so difficult, Jason was diagnosed with autism, ADHD and an anxiety disorder.  

You can read more about his story HERE.

He currently works full time with me, creating beautiful printables and other resources.  

Meet Dinomite

Our first child, Dinomite, was born in 2007.  

He was diagnosed with autism at age three.  

Dinomite also has ADHD and an anxiety disorder.   

Basically he's a mini me of his father.

Dinomite is my animal lover.  

He has always been obsessed with some type of animal.  

For the longest time it was dinosaurs, then he started studying prehistoric creatures and sea monsters.  

Eventually he moved on to amphibians and reptiles, preferring snakes.  

Now he's branched out to birds and so many other species.

When he was little, his other obsession was vehicles, preferably emergency vehicles.  

This obsession led to the introduction of LEGO, from which their appears to be no end.  

Star Wars, Marvel and D.C. superheroes, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and anything Harry Potter related also entertain Dinomite.

As a teen Dinomite's passions are American football and history.

Dinomite has a few food allergies, but nothing that we worry about on a regular basis due to his sensory struggles with food.  

I've never known a child so content with eating the same thing day in and day out.  

We work very hard to help Dinomite overcome sensory challenges related to food.

It was actually Dinomite's meltdowns and screaming fits, that lasted over an hour, when returning home from a private special needs preschool, that pushed us to experiment with the notion of home schooling.  

We wanted to see if his behaviors would improve. 

Sure enough, in three days, he was a new child, and a very happy one at that.

He's been homeschooling ever since.

Meet Bulldozer

Bulldozer was born in 2008 with over 40 allergies to foods, some very severe and life threatening. 

As Bulldozer has grown older, he has grown out of some allergies while other allergies have become more severe, and more added to the list.

At 18 months it was discovered that he has a life threatening allergy to adhesives (band aids, stickers, tape, glue, etc.).  

He has also developed severe environmental allergies that inhibit his ability to function during the Spring, Summer, and Fall.  We call him our "Bubble Boy."

After Bulldozer's birth, I remember the distinct impression that we were to prepare ourselves to homeschool our children.  

Both my husband and I laughed at the notion, being very against homeschooling at the time.  

Yet, I remember also saying that if I ever had a child with disabilities, I would not send them to public schools.

Bulldozer was diagnosed with autism and ADHD at the age of two.  

He struggles with a lack of safety awareness, auditory processing issues and significant delays in the areas of fine and gross motor skills.

We attempted schooling for Bulldozer through a private special needs preschool. 

His pediatrician had to fight with us to even have him admitted due to safety concerns related to his food allergies and life threatening adhesive allergy.  

Sadly, once in school, Bulldozer stopped showing emotional expression and was not learning as we had hoped.  

We pulled him out at the same time as Dinomite.

Bulldozer loves weather and astronomy.  

He has visual obsessions, including water, waves, and whales.  

His little kid obsession was vehicles, preferably construction vehicles.  

Through his brother, Bulldozer was introduced to LEGO and Star Wars.  

Extreme weather is another obsession, so unless there's a storm brewing, he talks of nothing else but Star Wars.

As a teen his passions are video games and the cinema.

"Once you've met one child with autism, you've met one child with autism." 

That proves to be very true with Dinomite and Bulldozer.

Meet Princess

When Bulldozer was about six months, we felt the impression that another child was waiting to come to our family, a baby girl.  

I had been advised not to have more children, due to my own health issues.  

It was at that time that we looked into adoption.  (This was before the boys' autism was diagnosed.)

After researching all of our options, we decided to adopt through the foster care system.  

This decision changed our lives, as we became foster parents for over four years, 2 1/2 of which my husband was home full time with me, taking in over 20 children, more than half being infants.  

Two of these infants are now our adopted daughters, Princess and Sunshine.

Princess was a very difficult baby.  

Her needs were not medically based.  

She was easier than Bulldozer, but we recognized that something wasn't quite right.  

Princess came to us at 6 months in 2010 having been abused in every way.  

And by every way, I mean EVERY way.

One month after learning of the boys' diagnoses of autism, we learned that Princess has Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  

Since then, she has also developed an anxiety disorder.

I will always remember the developmental pediatrician looking at me wide eyed, as she learned the adoption wasn't 100% complete.

"Are you SURE you want to do this? This will be the hardest thing you've ever had to do."

With tears in my eyes, I said I was sure.  

After all, when you look at Princess and you look at me, there is no doubt in my mind she was meant to be my daughter.

Sure enough, the developmental pediatrician was right, raising a child with RAD,  PTSD, and an anxiety disorder has been one of the hardest things I have ever done, or probably ever will do.  

I am her target.  

Still there are those moments that make it all worth it.  

When we have them, I'm sure to capture the Kodak moments.

Princess is brilliant.  

She is beautiful.  

Her imagination is endless.  

Princess enjoys playing with LEGO and Playmobil toys.  

She also loves learning about the human body, although her interests are never limited to just a few.  

Princess LOVES to read anything she can get her hands on.

I felt impressed to have her join our learning time at about 2 1/2 years old.  

It turns out to be our most positive interactions of the day.  

That's not to say we don't have our bad days, because some are truly horrible, but I love being her teacher.

It was explained to us by therapists and doctors, if we homeschooled the boys and sent her to school, she would think we were abandoning her.  

When her IQ score came back in the genius range at age three, we knew sending her to school would result in significant behavioral issues, as she would be bored out of her mind.

As we visited with her developmental pediatrician during another appointment, it was explained that she would need to be in the most restrictive class setting available because of her behaviors and issues, if she were to go to public school. 

This is with medication already to help her anxieties and self-endangering behaviors.

Each time I hear more information about what public school would mean for her, it confirms my choice to keep her home, despite how difficult it is sometimes.  

We have found the Montessori Method to be very beneficial to her, as she's able to choose her own work, and the battles for control are less.  Most often she chooses the same work Dinomite is doing.

As a teen, Princess is healing and thriving.

She loves art, music, reading and writing.

Meet Sunshine

Sunshine was the last infant to enter our home.  

She came at 6 months of age in 2012, having been separated from her birth parents at birth, but enduring other hardships in a foster home previous to ours.  

Her adoption process was very quick.

Sunshine was born with a very mild case of Cranial Facial Microsomia.  

It affects her right eye as she is vision impaired, her jaw line and teeth.   

As preparations for her adoption moved forward she appeared to be doing extremely well, with only small delays.  

However, shortly after the adoption, it become very apparent that something was wrong.

At the age of 29 months, Sunshine was diagnosed with autism (not a mild case), Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a sleeping disorder, and the beginnings of ADHD.  

She was also given an official mood disorder diagnosis at the age of four.

At this time Sunshine also is intellectually disabled.

At two and a half Sunshine was tested for food allergies.  

Sleep medication was not helping her.  

I kept feeling like we were missing something.  

Sure enough she tested positive for allergies in fourteen foods/groups.  

When we eliminated these foods from her diet, Sunshine slept all night for the first time ever. 

This has continued ever since, except for when she's experiencing PTSD or manic episodes etc.

Sunshine is the most delayed of all of our children.  

Manic episodes cause a lack of consistency in her abilities. 

Her behaviors make it impossible for her to be safe in a public school setting.

She has been placed in multiple residential treatment centers over the years.  

Sunshine loves plants, animals, and babies.  

She enjoys spending time outside.  

When she's doing well she is the sweetest little girl in the world, always able to make me laugh.

As a preteen, Sunshine loves Barbies, dragons, puzzles and arts and crafts.

We've closed our doors to foster children, knowing our four will take all the energy and effort we have to raise and teach full time.  

Sunshine's behaviors are the most difficult of the four.  

My husband Jason is her target.

My life is dedicated to teaching my children, not only academics but life skills, so that they may one day be independent and successful on their own, if at all possible.  

I have found, for me,  this much easier to do on my own, than to work with the public school system.

Both Jason and I work from home now blogging full time, providing unit studies, syllabuses, activities, printables and support for families with special needs.  

Having two parents in the home at all times is necessary due to Sunshine's behaviors and safety issues when she resides at home.

The Answer

In summary, I guess homeschooling chose us, rather than we chose it.  

Both my husband and I went to public schools.  

We enjoyed our education.  

However, that type of education is not one that will work for our children.  

I only hope I can succeed in providing them with the best education they can acquire, providing them with a safe and uplifting environment, without distractions and set backs they are unable to cope with, due to their disabilities.

This is our story.  

It's A LOT of work.  

It's a HUGE time commitment.  

However, I love it.  

I love to watch the kids faces as they see new activities on our shelves.  

I love to watch them succeed. When I'm struggling either because of their behaviors or my own shortcomings, I find the best medicine is spending more time with them without distractions.  

This is when I see them at their best!

How did your family come to the decision to homeschool your children?  I'd love to hear about it.

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