My name is Danielle Misciagna, and I homeschool my three children: Christian, 15, Adriana, 13, and Stephen, 11. I started homeschooling when my oldest was in preschool. He's now halfway through high school. It has been a journey that I mostly loved but was sometimes not always eager to take. It's been a work in progress, a time for the Lord to teach me as I considered the best way to teach my children. Watchman Nee said it best, "The Christian experience, from start to finish, is a journey of faith." Faith means you do not always see what's up ahead. While I did not always know what I was getting into homeschooling, I am glad we took those steps of faith.

Before I had children, homeschooling was not something I had really thought about. I grew up in New York City, and, even though I attended a small Christian school in my elementary years, I mostly attended public schools through high school and college. Homeschooling never crossed my mind. Shortly after graduating college, my husband Patrick and I got married. He was a high school English teacher for the NYC Department of Education.

A few years after marriage, we started having children. We started talking about where our kids would go to school. I guess this is where my homeschool journey begins, and it didn't start with me or in my heart for a while. The decision was difficult for me. I am not one for thinking outside the box or doing things out of the norm. I always followed instructions and made what I thought were the most practical choices I could, especially when it came to my education and field of study, but now I had this overwhelming task of educating my children. I did not feel qualified or patient enough to start this journey. But, being at work every day, my husband was not happy with the direction education was taking. We knew it was our job to raise and educate our children. We decided that, while homeschooling was not the only way to do that, it would work for our family and help us fulfill our calling as parents.

I started looking at the curriculum and trying to figure out what the best fit for our family would be. My two biggest concerns when looking for a curriculum were that it was based on the Bible and that it was academically rigorous. BJU Press Homeschool Curriculum soon made it to the top of my list. I also had to plan how I would be able to have the time to teach. A month before starting preschool with my oldest son, Christian, I was going to give birth to my third child, Stephen. I was unsure how to teach one child with a one-month-old and a two-year-old. After viewing their video lessons and looking through the curriculum, I knew BJU was the right fit for us. I was impressed by its academic rigor and the quality of its workbooks and videos. I was confident my children would receive a quality education with this curriculum, and I wouldn't have to feel like I fell short. I started with the video lessons and my children loved it, so we have continued through elementary, middle, and now into our high school years.

When my family made the decision to start homeschooling, I only knew a couple of families that were following the same path. Soon a few other families in our church started to homeschool, and I met others through a local homeschool group. Since I was managing our church bookstore at the time, I would have people ask about homeschool books so they could look through and see the curriculum they were choosing. That is how I decided to become a HomeWorks consultant. BJU Press was something that was working for me, and I wanted to help other people find what worked for them and offer help whenever I could.

As a consultant, I have enjoyed meeting many homeschoolers at churches, meetings, and conventions. I have spoken to many parents over the phone, and some have become my friends, sharing advice, stories, and even recipes. Sometimes they have given me great ideas, and sometimes I am able to help them find what works best for their homeschool needs. I may not have started out eager to homeschool, or of the mindset that I could do this and my children would succeed, but God has doubtlessly shown me otherwise. I've enjoyed the time I have had to spend with my children, the field trips, the science experiments at the kitchen table, the plays they begged to read as a family, and especially the days when they realize that something they have learned in school applies to their life.

For me, Proverbs 4:18 epitomizes our homeschool experience: “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” I thank my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for leading me on this journey of faith into homeschooling.