Home schooling - What was I thinking?

So I took the plunge. I am officially a homeschooling mom (gulp). I signed up for a home school curriculum which will allow for transcripts and in my state this school functions as an accredited private school (to help avoid any messy issues when/if I choose to put my children into a school situation). I also filled out my paperwork for the state including telling them about the curriculum I planned to use and proving my status as an acceptable teacher for my children. I found the process a bit insulting since I wouldn’t be homeschooling my kids if the state school I was paying for with my tax dollars was even remotely something I wanted to send my children to (but that is an entirely different issue and not one I have any desire to depress myself with right now).

Three weeks in and my kids and I are all still alive, smiling sometimes, learning at least a little bit(I think), and split on the good and bad moments. The jury is still out on if I would call this a success or not. I have learned that positive feedback works wonders and if they can succeed they yearn for more. I’ve also learned that I can get compliance by suggesting some other less desirable activity or threats of punishment but this usually leaves me feeling pretty crummy. I’ve also found that at times I really question how smart my children are when they don't seem to be able to get some very basic stuff. This too leaves me feeling pretty crummy.

Homeschooling families keep saying how much they love it. Or at least that’s what I keep reading, but then the ones that don’t I would imagine are no longer homeschooling families. I guess that's why you just don't hear about them. At this point I can’t say I’m in the loving it camp. I’m hoping to get into a few groups for homeschoolers and maybe that will help. For now well we’re giving the experiment a try. The public school situation (Loudoun county's inability to provide a "local" elementary school that I could actually get my children to) and the really insanely high cost of private school leaves homeschooling as our best option. And so on I go...