Why I Don't...

 As more friends and readers have turned to homeschooling, I've been getting more and more messages with questions, suggestions, and requests. In those, I have gotten many questions/requests that I'm just not comfortable adding to my blog. Here's why...

I don't share lesson plans or unit studies.

I based 95% of my lesson plans off the curriculum we buy (Abeka and Alpha and Omega Publications for the most part) That means that I would be posting someone else's work as I do not create my own lessons from scratch. If someone wanted their lesson plans they would need to purchase them for their own classroom. I have never had the desire to develop my own curriculum for mass consumption and therefore I don't. There are also an insane amount of free resources out there - I LOVE using those. I just don't create my own to share. 

I don't share the kids' homework, test scores, or report cards.

I had the tremendous blessing of growing up in a pre-social-media world. My mom and dad never had a means, and probably never a desire, to share my grades with the world. In fact, the only time I remember talking about it outside of our house was at the ice cream place that gave out free scoops based on your report card. I want my kids to have that same privacy in regards to their work. Whether they are succeeding or struggling that is simply the business of our family. 

**If you are a member of my Usborne Books & More VIP Group, you have heard me share about a book set that helped Annabeth learn to love reading. She has given her consent for me to share her reading struggles and how that set changed her course of learning. I would never have shared that without her permission. 

I don't share a lot of day-to-day pictures.

I don't share a lot of day-to-day homeschool pictures here on the blog or on Facebook but if you're interested I do tend to share more content about what we are reading and adventures we are having on my Instagram. You can also search #rileyfamilyschool and #whywehomeschool to see posts specific to our homeschool adventures. I really like that quick platform to share a couple of pictures and short caption so most of our homeschool photos end up there.

I'm not "completely open" about our beliefs.

I was recently accused of this in a rather lengthy message from a reader. I was told that it was hard to follow our homeschool journey without knowing exactly what we believe and that other bloggers/vloggers are more open about their beliefs. That may be true. I very much hope that our belief in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior has been apparent over the years. I hope friends and readers know that above all else we love God and His people. 

Our main goal in raising up our children is that they would come to know the Lord and to believe in the gift of salvation. I have often stated that we use Abeka and Alpha and Omega Publications as the base of our book work - they are both Christian book companies. We believe that the Bible is the inherent Word of God and is completely true. We believe it was applicable 2,000 years ago and that it's meant to be directly applied to our lives today. 

Beyond that, if there is still questions about what we believe, I encourage you to ask me privately about a certain subject that is of concern to you. We teach our children to love God and to love and respect all people. We believe that every person is created on purpose by God with a purpose to serve a purpose. We don't need to agree with someone to love them.

In short, I love sharing our lives and I pray that we are an encouragement to others. I pray that some small part of what we share here makes someone else's day better or easier. If anything good comes from anything we do - may all the Glory be God's.