Our Hope Story

Okay, so I haven't blogged in FORever!! I actually have several posts that I wrote and then never published. This is one of them.  I wrote it at the end of the school year last year. Well, yesterday was the first day of the new school year. Our family was blessed to be a part of Hope Academy last year and blessed still to continue @ Hope this year. At the end of last year every family of Hope was asked to write their family's Hope Story to be published in the very first yearbook of Hope Academy. Hope Academy is the Christian, University Model school that our children attend. They attend school Mon., Tues., and Thurs. We are provided with the curriculum to do homeschool on Wed. and Fri. It is a school that was founded due to two of the most AWESOME and obedient women I have ever met. They were led by the Lord to start a school in His name. Their story of how Hope was founded is an amazing story of how God provides and how His will is done. And, because of their faithfulness so many others' prayers were answered. Their faithfulness was astounding and Hope became what the Lord wanted it to be. Heather and Courtney are two of the most faithful and trusting Christian women I have ever met. What a Godly influence they have been to our family. And, we are surrounded by other families who all have the same goals and desires for their children. Our story was  hard to put on paper, there was so much to say and I didn't need to write a novel, just a few paragraphs:) Let me just say that I have always struggled with faithfulness, I can be slapped in the face with an answer to prayer and still have doubts. How we came to Hope is an example of this. Here is our Hope Story:

The Mullery Hope Story

Our Hope Story began about halfway through the 2010-2011 school  year. I became so disappointed with the school system and the things that my children were being exposed too, and at such an early age. It seemed that the opinion of the school was that they would be exposed to it eventually and you couldn’t prevent it. And to try was sheltering my children from the “real world”. We immediately started planning for the next school year. Our intentions were to homeschool our children. This was the only way to have complete control over their curriculum, their peers, and many other things that were important to us. We never even considered a private school. I knew that most people are welcome at a private school, but for a cost. That meant to me that the same children that I did not want my children influenced by at a public school could very well be attending a private school. We researched curriculum, researched co-ops, attended a few book fairs and questioned many people. The children bought their school supplies and we set up a school room in our home. We were all set to start. We chose to start school the second week of August just to be able to ease into things and see how the schedule would work out. Right away I started to see we were going to struggle through this as a family. With my husband working out of town for several weeks at a time, it was hard to find a separation in the home from schooling and down time. I knew with 5 children it was going to be hard to stick to a schedule. I began to fear that I was getting in over my head. One of my children was lacking the excitement that I used to see every day when I would pick him up at school, that bothered me a lot. I wanted to be fun and exciting. But, I alone could not educate 3 different children at 3 different levels, all while having 2 toddlers begging for my attention as well.  I could not give them the classroom environment that they missed. Another one of my children thought that he would never have to do his work, and the other just flew through her daily checklist and was done within an hour. I desperately began searching for other options. I poured my heart out to the Lord, pleading for guidance. I can never remember being so desperate for an answer about something in my entire life. There is so much responsibility that lies in being a parent and an educator and you only get one chance to make it right. I asked friends and family their opinions. One of them mentioned Liberty Prep to me. I called them and they told me that their classes were full. I asked them if they knew of any other school that operated similar to theirs. They mentioned the name Hope to me. I called school after school asking if anyone had heard of Hope. No one knew what I was talking about. I searched google endlessly. Finally, I found a link on Google to a newspaper ad that had run in the Concord paper. It told of the story of two women who were starting their own school. I believe the story may have had their contact number. I don’t remember exactly where I got the number from but I was led to it from that article. I called the number and I spoke to Heather for quite a while. This was either Tuesday or Wednesday the week before the first day of school. She asked me over the phone how many children I had that would be attending Hope. I told her that I had 2 fifth graders and  1 second grader. She then told me that there would be space for my children and we scheduled a time for all of us to come tour the church where school would be held. The children were very excited to see the school. I was still apprehensive about the whole “private school” thing. But, Heather had seemed so faithful in her desire to follow God’s will that a lot of my insecurities had begun to diminish. We went to tour the school on Thursday. It was all set up and ready for the first day. It was much different than what we were used to. I toured the 2 rooms and met Mrs. G. and Mrs. Humphries. I remember we were all gathered in the doorway to Mrs. Humphries room and they were asking me what I was feeling. I guess I seemed a little uncertain. I had a huge decision to make and only a couple of days to make it.  Heather told me she needed to tell me something. She told me that when her and Courtney had this vision that they felt the Lord was planning for thirty students. Three days before school was supposed to start they had 27 students. My children would make 28, 29, and 30. I couldn’t keep from crying. This was not coincidental. The K/1 class was already full. I had the exact number of children they needed and they had spots for them all. I truly believe that Hope is where my children belong. And, I really needed such an in-your-face kind of affirmation for us to send our children to Hope. Had she not told me that I probably would have still been indecisive about what to do. I was so torn about the money that I had spent on homeschool curriculum and the people that told me I could do it, and to not give up. I kinda felt like I was giving up on something I hadn’t really even started. I trust Heather and Courtney completely with the decisions they make regarding co-teaching our children. They want the same exact things for their own children that me and my husband want for ours. I am 100% certain that God provided our family with the perfect balance and that there isn’t any other place we should be.

 

 

First day of school 2012-2013

 

Worship

 

 

Our happy, excited, God-loving, extended family:)

 

If you would like more info on Hope Academy, visit Hopek12.com!!