And so forth and so on...

Well, a new endeavor in life demands, what else, a new blog! Thus we begin our homeschooling adventures with a neatly drafted letter from the District, a box full of curriculum, freshly sharpened pencils, a little chaos, a whole lot of enthusiasm, and ample family and friend support.

Monday is our first day on our own. I won’t miss the morning rush to get the kids to school, packing lunches and checking back packs for roaming library books the night before, waking up the baby and loading everyone in the car at pick up time (although this was always made a little easier by a faithful neighbor!), or the horrible after school transition from school mode to home mode.

But we’re not really on our own. We’ve taken a new path at the bidding of the Holy Spirit on our hearts for reasons of our own and for reasons we don’t understand. God has His own reasons why He calls us to a new task, doesn’t He? He’s given us earthly reasons we easily understand to cling to, but I know there are those we won’t truly grasp or fully know. That’s faith, right? He’s also been faithful to give us a full team of supporting personae for which I am thankful! I worried so about what family and friends would say and think while God shook his head at me. When will I ever learn? Thank you all for the well-timed enthusiastic phone calls, the thoughtful questions when I told you what the Krumm family is up to, the nodding of heads when I shared with you our reasons for making this big change even though you may not really understand, and the confidence in my ability to pull this off when I doubted if I could really make this work. There is also my partner in crime who does more than his fair share of supporting and building me up, also shaking his head and wondering if I'll ever learn, and rolling up his sleeves and jumping in the water confidently before he’s even tested if the water’s cold or warm – he is a patient and fearless leader. And I'm learning new faith in the power and provisions of God to fill in the gaps where my knowledge and expertise falls short first in parenting and now, in teaching.

But I was talking about new endeavors and new blogs, right? Certainly this one necessitates its own space to record our experiences and progress. I've called it Ampersand (&) because, in a house of four women, there is always something else to say! And I'm sure we'll have a lot to say about homeschooling!