This made me cry. I’m the mom of that “I’m never going to get the treasure chest” kid, and, even when homeschooling is hard, I am so grateful that we decided to homeschool him.

I started crying when you talked about the treasure box part. You inspire me. I work full time as a nurse and homeschool at night and want to be home with my son so badly. I think it’s time to look for a remote job. Thank you for your honesty.

"I had the time to be the type of mother that I actually wanted to be and knew that I was". This is so beautiful and really resonated with me!

This video is spot on. My 11 yr old faced the same issues. We constantly heard how nice, respectful, and very smart our son is but he was loud, never sat still and at the end of 2nd, his desk was in the corner facing the wall. I was not happy about this and covid closed the school a week later and pushed us to make the leap to homeschool and we haven't looked back. He technically would be in middle school next year and he does miss seeing his friends but when he went to the middle school open house (we gave him the option of going back to school) and he looked at me almost pleading not to have to go there. We're going to keep doing this as long as it's what they need and want.

Everything you are saying is exactly what I’m going through with my 6 yo son. He’s a sweet, super smart kid but always getting in trouble. Breaks my heart.

This is so similar to our story. Except my child is at the your kid was. It’s nice to hear that in 7 years we will likely still be grateful 🧡

Thank you for sharing your story. I fell into homeschooling by accident when the school wasn't accommodating my child's needs. I never imagined it could repair a not so great relationship with my girls and bring our whole family closer. I cherish this journey so much.

Thank you so much of sharing your story. I expereinced something similar in regards to teacher stripping my kid of joy. I saw her light dim and her become a shell of a person after preschool. We are so happy and I know she will be cared for and loved. I love the fact that your family makes wishes. Ill have to borrow that idea. Such a beautfiul, heartfelt video.

That treasure box story…whew…😢 very thought provoking, thank you for that insight…

We have always homeschooled. My third child (boy) is just like the kid you’re describing and we’re just finishing kindergarten at home. I’m looking forward to watching all of your adhd videos. He has not been tested, but I have had suspicions since he was 3, really. He’s a hard kid, but he’s so sweet, caring, and adventurous. I know what would happen if he were in a public school setting, and I’m not willing to have his spirit crushed. Thanks for this!

I plan on homeschooling this next school year and your videos are so helpful! Thanks for sharing your content and affirming some of the reasons why homeschooling is an amazing choice for our family.

It sounds similar to our story. My oldest would cry every day when he was in school. It broke my heart. I got him tested as well and came back as Sensory Processing Disorder and severe anxiety. This is the kid that loved learning but he lost that, school was just not for him. And like you, there are difficult days in homeschool but the benefits of homeschooling greatly outweigh the difficult days. Now he’s a lot happier and so am I.

This was beautiful and heartbreaking. The dandelion is the part that broke me. How sad to have that light blown out because of a “weed”! 😭 homeschooling is a privilege and a gift

This was amazing! I also had issues with one of my child coming home from school with notes from the teacher. She would finish her work earlier than the other students and want to socialize but wasn't allowed. The public school system doesn't encourage socializing! We social way more as homeschoolers.

Thank you! I also moved from a Montessori school to a public school when I was in first grade. The culture shock was extremely difficult. I might be neuro-divergent, which made it even harder. The teacher isolated me and I was very bored. By high school, I was silent and shy. Over the years, a few good, caring teachers helped me a lot! I applaud you and your courage!

Thank you for taking the time to make another video. I remember watching your first one but really enjoyed watching this one also. You are such a gem in the homeschool community!!

Goosebumps all over when you shared the treasure box story. I'm so happy you were able to bring him home for homeschooling. Kudos to you and your husband!

Wow! Thank you for sharing this again. I have two neurodiverse kiddos, and remember watching your original post a year and a half ago, before making the choice to homeschool. My journey is so similar to yours and I am so thankful to have this time with my boys to watch their love of life and learning grow every day. Love watching your videos.

I really love this. Thank you so much for sharing your heart. I started homeschooling in the fall of 2020, after watching my daughter struggle through the first few years of school. Second grade was the final straw for me, when it became clear that both her teacher and the school were less than willing to give her the type of education that she deserved. Day after day, she would come home either crying, or full of rage, with her hands rubbed raw from attempting to cope with the stress she felt. She has an IEP and the school claimed that she had to be in the least restrictive environment (the classroom), even though this was not the best learning environment for her. Her teacher refused our request to shorten her assignments and insisted that my daughter was finishing her work, when in fact, she was hardly ever able to do so because she often did not understand what she was supposed to be doing. The IEP team was extremely hesitant to pull her out and give her more SPED hours, despite our requests. Then they took away her OT and speech services, saying she had met all of the goals and were unwilling to write new ones for her. We got an advocate and fought so hard to get what we felt she needed but it became clear that we were fighting a losing battle. After her school went virtual for COVID, she received no help at all from either of her teachers (regular teacher and SPED). This is when I determined that we could no longer keep her in such a harmful environment. I too had never considered homeschooling but I could no longer allow this injustice to continue and it occurred to me that we had a choice. So I pulled her out and we've never looked back. She has made remarkable progress at home and her anxiety is basically non-existent these days. While she still has difficulty in some areas, she is largely on grade level and I love that she can go at her own pace and focus more on the things that she loves, like ASL and playing the violin. We found an amazing homeschool enrichment program where she goes one half day a week and it's such a positive and fun experience for her. She was privately assessed for OT and speech and it was determined that she had substantial issues in both areas so now gets these services weekly. While some days are extremely difficult, it's still far less stressful than having to deal with a school that clearly did not care about my child in any way. She tells me basically everyday that she never wants to go back.

My son dreaded school. He would come home more times than not incredibly upset. In 2nd grade, he had already been put in a headlock by another boy and nothing was done even though I raised hell that that shouldn't be a thing in 2nd grade. When covid happened and his school was doing close to nothing, I started finding curriculum and books to keep him busy/keep him from forgetting how to learn. When the schools went back, he stayed home. He and I just couldn't imagine going back to something that clearly didn't work for him. Still going strong and when I do a check in to see if he is wanting to go back, he has always said without hesitation that he wants to stay in homeschool.

Hey! I love hearing your story again … we are at 4 years homeschooling and I wouldn’t trade it for anything! Happy to see you on here 😊

Your homeschool story is so beautiful. Thank you, words can't describe how much your story touched my heart. 💗

You expressed your self so well. You sound like a good mom. You encouraged me to remember why I choose to homeschool. Thank you

I really felt this within my soul , because I went through all those emotions with my son. I am very sorry your son and you as a mother have gone through the same . I really wish no kid had to go through all those bad experiences.

Thank you for this. Perfect timing.

Aww, this made me tear up. I think we all want our kids to just be able to be who they are. And time and again, we discover public school doesn’t let them do that.

This was such a great video! Felt it all. Thank you for sharing your story with all of us. ❤

Oh mama…we’ve walked similar paths. I felt those held back tears deeply. So much love my friend ♥️

I really connected to this because I WAS that kid! Im 32 years old and I still think back to my 5th grade "apple chart" and knowing that i was almost never a "good apple" and I never got to pick things from the treasure box. We recently decided to homeschool my daughter for kindergarten and I hadn't even thought about that and how this mini version of myself would feel the same way. You just reaffirmed my choice. Im so glad you were able to make that decision for your son and I'm so glad I just found your channel! I'm definitely going to subscribe! 🥰

Thank you for sharing this! My 7 yr old son sounds just like yours. The kindergarten teacher made us feel like something was wrong with him so we took him to therapy because he would say he didn’t like himself! How awful. We’re going to be homeschooling for the first time this school year so I’m nervous but also very excited!

I love this!!! Thank you so much for sharing your story and journey with us! 😊

Thank you for sharing your story. Like you, I went to regular school, never even heard of homeschool untill i immigrated to the US and , before having kids, I thought it was a crazy idea. I couldn't understand why would anyone want to keep their kids home and thought that only religious families homeschooled. I started thinking and researching about homeschooling after my first kid was born because I couldn't bear the idea that she will one day be away from me for 7-8 hours and I will only see her for a couple of hours in the evening. My husband wasn't on board with homeschooling (and he still isn't!) . My first kid only went to Pre-K and kindergarten, and what sealed the deal for me was the amount of homework she would get in kindergarten! She was top of her class and way above her peers in reading and math and yet she had to do homework that she already knew. I would force her to do it and she would do her homework while crying and feeling miserable! I felt so bad for her! I was worried that this will affect her love of learning and I didn't want that to happen. The other reason was that I noticed they had art class only once a week and during that the teacher would tell them what to draw and what to use to draw! There was zero room for creativity and imagination? My kid would tell me that all the kids in the class would come out of the art class with similar looking art work! And I'm thinking: then what's the point of that?!!! Lastly, my kid is such a good kid at school, always listened to her teacher and never caused trouble and yet I noticed that she had anxiety! She was afraid of doing anything that could break the rules even slightly! Like, if we went to a park in the winter that had a sign saying "closed for the season" she wouldn't want to play there because the "sign says so"! I'm all for following rules but it was causing her anxiety and just blindly following rules! My guess was that the kids in her class got in trouble with the teacher if they didn't follow rules and she got scared! Anyways.. these reasons and many other ones that I don't have time or space to write about made me came to the conclusion that the disadvantages of public schools out weigh the advantages and so I pulled her out. My husband agreed to give me a chance for 1 year to try homeschooling and see how it goes, he's still not convinced it the right decision and keeps insisting that she's missing out on socializing. Anyways... I'm a new homeschooling mama. This is our first year. I feel so happy and blessed to be able to do this. My kid is sooooo much more relaxed and happy. She doesn't have anxiety any more and we're being creative and taking it slow and enjoying our time learning. She's back to being the happy kid I know.

I absolutely loved watching this. It sounds to me like your kids are incredibly blessed to have such a loving and thoughtful mom. I am right at the beginning of my homeschooling journey and I am constantly doubting myself. Watching videos like this really help to remind me that each family is on their own path and that we are all just trying to do what is best for our kids. Thank you so much for sharing ❤❤❤

This made me so emotional wow! Beautifully and thoughtfully said ❤

Oh Tonya! You have really brought the tears today! You are such a shining light in this community ❤❤

The dandelions ❤ just letting the magic be. It's a hot mess some days but I wouldn't trade it for the world either.

Beautiful!!!

I'm so happy I've found your channel

This was beautiful. My oldest sounds so much like yours was at that age. I taught preschool and just couldn't send him to Kinder -- I knew. 10th year of homeschool here!

I relate so much and even the basic notion of using the toilet when they need to is an underestimated thing! Overactive bladder issues run in our family and when the PRESCHOOL said they wouldn't allow my 3 year old to use the toilets whenever - I was pretty upset. That's not even healthy and our child had been potty trained by 25 months and regressed thanks to that. We saw quite a bit of regression. We have been judged a lot by family and friends. My sister is really proud of her academic achievements and her eldest child's as well. I mentioned concerns, that she should consider charter or homeschooling. She was struggling to maintain healthy bonds with her kids, and they seem to hardly know one another. (Now ones a teen and other pre teen). We just recently talked after a long time, at a family event and I'm shocked she regrets sending them away. She is very sad she barely knows them and bonding always feels so rushed or short lived. I don't feel public school is ideal. Just like daycare... it's being used as the baseline go-to method for most families but was not created for that purpose originally. It was mostly for families in poverty to teach kids factory compliance and similar. They even carried that through to the first pushes of public school K-12 for middle class in the 1950s. Presently that's why we still have the structure of the desks, the lockers, the bell schedules, the main office....etc. Even GPA is not a great indicator of intelligence nor consistent success academically, as much as it's about compliance and regurgitation of information pushed to that child. When considering how much misinformation is taught in schools- including our own history...which likely started in less evidence..but as historical documents were validated they didn't bother to update anything. And of course they already knew the truth about things like the compromise of 1877 and such, and I know the "victors write history" but we have plenty of available information to be honest. Today they are teaching maths and ELA in some unnecessarily complicated ways as well. Unfortunately with our ADHD child, when he was mostly nonverbal, was physically and other kinds of abuse in school...and we felt so helpless. Especially when we looked up other's experiences, and how the law doesn't do much at all to protect the children or even parent's rights. That was about 6 years ago. When we did remove our oldest child, gave plenty of notice and even explained our plans in finding a Charter school. They sent truancy notices and threatened us, even though our child was not yet the required school age! (Going into K). Charter was also a major let down in most ways, but better and a good bridge to fully homeschooling. Since homeschooling we have had SO much more time to meaningfully learn and also to bond and for me to KNOW my kids which is SO disregarded anymore. Like my sister and even some parents I've met that have said they grew up homeschooled and it was SO great, and they are better off than most when it came to real-life applications from their educational skills...they sent their kids to public school because it's easier for them in the moment. They look to the common meanings in our culture- to have a career and let the kids be raised by strangers but that's not natural and not ideal for healthy development. And many that are aware and show any desire to be an actual family, seem to really regret that. I don't know any homeschool moms who regret it. Of course they must exist, but seems to be unusual. We were under the poverty line when we started Charter school. The funds were good but honestly not enough. They were too stingy with that they would approve- a lot of it didn't work for our child. I love workbooks and lab kits etc. I went to private school then public school myself. I love learning, and that all works for me. Not for my kids. I noticed some parents would get all sorts of odds and ends approved, but it had to do with who they knew and who was approving orders etc. And as the school grew bigger they got even tighter on funds. A few years in and we realized it wasn't ideal. We had to fight tooth and nail to get good therapists for my Sp.Ed. child, I was implementing 95% of therapy, and gen Ed teaching and Specializes Academic. Based on what I learned by experience and research. Knowing my child is what also made me the right person for most of it. I don't miss the seemingly redundant SAI meetings, where I felt unheard and like my child was just another number. A statistic. Stress of red tape and required tests that don't show half of what my child can do! In the first year of actual homeschooling, we saw so much improvement. And yes we have to get some school supplies instead of extra holiday presents, or getting my nails done, etc. WORTH IT. There are so many free resources out there as well...if you have Internet access, or can get to a library, join a co-op etc. And also look into the HSLDA! ❤

The treasure box part made me cry😢😢😢 Thankyou so much for all the videos. You have been an inspiration for me. I homeschool my 2 kids.

This hurts my heart so much! It’s awful to know this is how they deal with neurodiverse children. I’m so glad you got that diagnosis early!

Oh my goodness I teared up! And I’m the mom who was homeschooled and always planned to homeschool my girls. Now we’re in our 3rd year and some days are Soooo hard! But we have so many wonderful moments each day, like you said, of singing or hugs or just little silly things that allow my girls to express themselves. ❤ Thanks for sharing this 🥰

Any reward system in school that doesn't find a way to reward everyone shouldn't exist, that is heartbreaking. One of my boys sounds very similar ❤

My daughter is "After-schooled" by me and why? Because I can, and I love it. We bond, she gets all these great benefits from us working so closely together and I am not in a position to stay home or work from home with her. So love your content!!!!!!! Thank you for being so beautiful and brave :)

This is exactly why we homeschool, down to the treasure chest, behavior charts, and ADHD diagnosis in K. It is hard, but I’ll be d@mned if any teacher/administrator is going to make my son feel “less than” for the reasons that make him so, SO much more than……. Thanks for sharing your story!

My son is the same way, he taught himself to read at 4. The red notes😢 that’s sad to me. It’s so hard for all of my kids to sit still too. We are all neurodiverse here. This sounds so much like my 6 year old! ❤

I loved this video. Thank you for sharing. So much spoke to our own experiences. I just started homeschool last year. As a secular homeschool, how do you create a community of friends for the kids? So many of the homeschool co-ops near me are Christian or Catholic based only. I have 5 kiddos home with me ages 1-10.

So many feelings. 😢 I sent my oldest to Kindergarten because it was the thing to do. My child is very physical, loud, curious, inclusive, talkative (I mean he talks in his sleep today haha) all the ‘wrong’ traits in a classroom setting. I feel so guilty, but I noticed his spirit dimming through the school year and I thought, “he just needs time to adjust”. Well, until one day, he look especially tired and I ask him what up. He said , “mom, I’m so tired of trying to sit still. My brain hurts from concentrating so hard.” He was only 5. I couldn’t imagine him going through all that stress just to fit in. We made the decision to home school starting at first and never looked back.

You just described my son to a tee. I homeschool because my son has ADHD . We had him tested last year the testing came back as severe ADHD .We are in year 2 of homeschooling almost done for the year.