Growing Golden

I’m Amanda, a wife and mom of two little girls, currently standing in the middle of a huge question mark:

Should I homeschool?

This question has been on my heart since I had my first daughter almost six years ago. Like so many others today, I carry a lot of fears about the world our children are growing up in. It’s easy to feel torn between wanting to protect them and wanting them to experience life outside of our home.

For a long time, I struggled with the idea that public school was necessary for my children to experience “the real world,” and worried that homeschooling might somehow cause them to miss out. But lately, I’ve started questioning that thought altogether.

Because the truth is, the real world isn’t sitting in a classroom for eight hours a day. The real world is learning how to exist in everyday life. It’s conversations around the dinner table, grocery store trips, relationships, creativity, problem solving, nature walks, community, responsibility, curiosity, and learning how to move through the world with confidence and kindness.

And if I’m being honest, one of the hardest things for me to process is the idea of spending only a few hours a day with my children before bed while someone else shapes so much of their daily life. Especially knowing that my public school experience is what gave me so much anxiety and doubt within myself.

I want to be involved in what my children are learning, and have a say in what influences are surrounding them.

That doesn’t mean I think public school is all bad, or that homeschooling is always better. I know incredible families on both paths. But I do know that something about homeschooling keeps pulling at my heart, no matter how much I try to ignore it.

The funny thing is… we haven’t even officially started homeschooling yet. My oldest daughter is currently in a Montessori preschool and enrolled to begin public school kindergarten, and right now our plan is to let her go. But unless something changes, I have a feeling our homeschool journey may begin by first grade or even sooner. And somewhere in the middle of all my researching, overthinking, and questioning, I realized something:

This stage matters too.
The beginning matters.
The uncertainty matters.
The questions matter.

So instead of waiting until I have everything figured out, I wanted to start documenting the process now, the fears, the research, the moments of doubt, and the hope that maybe we really can build a beautiful education and childhood on one income without needing a picture-perfect homeschool room or endless money.

Because most homeschool content I find online feels so polished and expensive, and honestly? Which can feel intimidating when you’re just a normal mom trying to figure things out from scratch.

I’m not a teacher. I don’t have all the answers. I’m learning as I go. But maybe that’s exactly who this space is for.

So welcome to Growing Golden, a place for honest motherhood, slow learning, and figuring it out together.