Hi,
My goal is not to please my children, but to please my Lord. Yet, I have asked my kids if they are glad they were homeschooled. God blessed me the other day when my 16 year old said, unsolicited, that she said she wouldn't be the person she was if she had been allowed to go to school. I agreed with her, and whispered a silent prayer, "Thank you, Lord!"
Have your kids expressed gratitude?
Christine

Yes, mine have, and it's a great feeling! When my son graduated (in 2006) I asked him if he had any regrets about being homeschooled. He thought a minute, then said something like, "Well, I don't know how to dance. I might have learned that if I'd gone to school." But then he grinned and said that seriously, he had no regrets, and he's glad that he was homeschooled. He truly believes that anything he "missed out on" was not worth having or experiencing in the first place. My daughters have said similar things. As they've gotten older we've asked them if they want to go to school, and all of them have said no, that they want to continue to homeschool until graduation. I do think that they would not be the same kinds of people that they are if they had gone to school, and I really like who they are now!!

My 3rd grader is struggling. She has social issues and has a hard time making friends. We just left a church where there wasn't any kids her age and we're limited on activities we can do - I don't drive.

OTOH, she sees that God isn't allowed in the public school and because of that she feels she can't go there because of that.

My 7 yo seems fine with being homeschooled. She's very artistic and loves the freedom to be able to make crafts, draw like she does, express herself more freely than she would at public or private school. She sees she's can't express herself as well in Sunday School and it's hard for her.

Chris,
I want to encourage you to hang in there! Your kids are still pretty young. When mine were younger, I'm sure there were times when they wanted to go to school, or wanted to do things "because everyone else does", or whatever. At one time, around 7th grade, we considered sending our son to private school for various reasons, but after looking into it further we decided to keep him home. It was a tough time, but looking back, I'm so glad we kept homeschooling. Now I only have 4-1/2 yrs until our youngest graduates and it seems like the time has really flown by. I am so thankful to be able to have this time with my kids, and to see all of then grow into the young adults God wants them to be. They have struggled at times with not having friends, but we got through those times and I think that is part of why they are all such good friends with each other now. So even in the hard times, God can bring good things out of them.

Thanks, Lori! I think what makes it harder is the fact she has Asperger's, which means a lot of social issues already and she gets very self absorbed. I have to remember to keep on keeping on (Veggietales quote) when we have bad days. I really do want to keep going and I know that public school can't and won't meet my kids' needs.