Hello, wonderful ones! I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself to this amazing community. My name is Shaunee and I'm married with 8 amazing children. I know right! I'm an only child and always said I would never have just one, well guess I accomplished that...lol!
8 kids...6 are at home, the range from ages 19-2 (6 boys, 2 girls)!
So never a dull moment...ever! The 6 at home are homeschooled and this is new for me despite my degree in education and 15+ years of experience as an educator. I have a junior and sophomore in high school, a seventh-grader, a 1st grader, a preschooler, and a 2-year-old.
Some may wonder what made me want to homeschool...especially this many kids...I must be crazy (jk lol). I also wanted to customize my kiddos learning just for their learning style so they can reach their max potential with minimal barriers to success. I prayed about it for several years. Eventually, God made a way, not the way I would have planned, but it happened.
A little over 6 years ago, my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Him sharing this news with me really didn't shake me because he had beat cancer 3 times before, but this time would be different. Everything started off excellent, he was beating doctors' expectations left and right for about 6-7 months. Then, things headed in a downward spiral relatively fast, and dad won his battle and was able to greet his parents in Heaven. Upon having to care for him during the final months, I had to resign from teaching unexpectedly. After dad's passing, we decided it would be best for me to stay home with our baby.
While staying home, my mother eventually came to live with us and her health began to decline because she just didn't know how to cope with losing her best friend of 40+ years. Living with us was the best option...keeping her engaged and around her grandkids kept her going with a better spirit. About 2 years later we welcomed another baby boy and 18 months after that...surprise... our final son was born. With all of the family dynamics, homeschooling suits our family well. From school to extracurricular activities, to age variation, to life in general I can't see it any other way.
I'm married to an amazing husband who is a first-generation trucker and we are loving the journey. It surely has had its impact on our family with him driving all across the country. Going from being home daily to maybe 3 times a month is surely an adjustment not only for me but especially for our kiddos. Truly has grown my appreciation for time spent with him and what impact he has on our kiddos. We understand our mission so I stay focused on that and our why. We are working on building our trucking logistics company to a phenomenal company that keeps our drivers and their families first.
I'm also an entrepreneur with a few different businesses to help others and build a legacy for our children. Besides the trucking logistics company, I have a tutoring company, currently became a notary and life insurance agent. I get asked all the time how I do it. I do it because I have 8 people watching me every day. I do it to help my grieving process. I do it to not let my mind become idle and caught up in the world. I do it to stay engaged. I do it because I love it. Oh! I forgot to mention I'm also the elementary coordinator for our homeschool co-op and teach middle school science and math at the co-op as well. Our co-op is a God-sent and I'm so grateful for our FTK co-op family. You will get plenty of posts about co-op...I'm sure...lol!!!
I can't wait to get more involved with this awesome community. I would like to send a big shout-out to @crosheille for introducing me to this platform and taking the time to help me get set up and going and answer my random questions late at night. Thanks sis!
Well...that's it for now I look forward to creating new relationships with this phenomenal community.