How did you decide whether or not to homeschool your oldest child?

I'm at a crossroads: the memo came home from Stenni's preschool the other day, an official-looking memo about kindergarten sign-ups, complete with requests for vaccination records, birth certificates, sign-up dates and places in alphabetical order by last name, and all that jazz. Sign-ups are in less than a month. I still don't know if I want to send her to public school or not. I like the idea of homeschooling, but I don't know if I'm capable or organized (OR PATIENT) enough to really teach her everything she needs to know at home. I worry about her attention span. I worry that she won't listen to me. By all accounts, she is well-behaved at both school and Sunday school, but of course she's different at home with mom, which isn't to say that she's a terror or anything but we are both very strong willed and have been known to butt heads occasionally. So would she listen to me as a teacher or view me as an adversary? Who knows.
I'm not worried about socialization. For what we were paying for her preschool, I can send her to tumbling/dance once a week, plus all of the free events at the library and camp and VBS in the summer. But I'm really concerned that she will think that school at home is not serious enough and that I'll end up super frustrated. Also: I went to public school up til college. It wasn't super great for me, but I'm ok I guess, and nothing truly traumatic happened because of the school system. I'm not cool with common core or all of the testing, and I think it's a breeding ground for mediocrity because of the trend to teach toward the middle. Which is not the teachers' fault, they are only doing the best with the resources that they have, which are few and far between since people basically demonize them for the public. And to be honest Stenni is much more outgoing than I am, and infinitely better at making friends and making the best of a situation. She might just blossom in the school setting. Would it really be more for me than for her?
I imagine that a lot of moms have had these (and tons of other) issues in the past, so I could really use the wisdom of the world here. What was the deciding factor, or was it a more pros and cons thing? I know that some people feel super strongly one way or the other but really? I don't. I just really don't  know what would be better in the long run.
So other moms of the interwebs: How did you decide to homeschool (or not)? What were the deciding factors? Anybody else flying by the seat of their pants?
For our family, homeschooling isn't a religious thing, it's more that I feel like the classroom in general is more likely to kill creativity than nurture it, and might eventually squeeze all of the natural love of learning out of my Stenni. And that would be a tragedy, but of course it is also still a hypothetical at this point.
Can anybody offer any insight? Any great resources out there? Help!

Five Favorites: Pregnancy/Babies of the Internets

 

So, this baby is pretty close to getting here. How close? Well, my "sprinkle" is this weekend (don't think a sprinkle is a real thing because of how gross it sounds? Well it is. Proof at MODG, with pictures of her sprinkle. It's a little baby shower, and also something that happens when you are way too pregnant), which, yeah, is a little late, but I still might have time to get myself together before the little man makes his appearance. But like, that's my last actual go-out-in-public event that I have scheduled until at least Thanksgiving. The rest of this pregnancy is going to be spent "nesting" (by which I mean eating the middles out of Oreos), napping, and groaning about having to get out of my pajamas to do simple stuff like drop my daughter off at preschool. Because my whole family will be in town, I'm even going pumpkin picking on Saturday but guess what? No hayride for me. Cuz, you know, the bumps and being super-far from civilization and all. My mom decided that that really means I'm not actually pumpkin picking, in her opinion, but I say bah. Way to ruin Halloween, Ma.
BUT in the spirit of baby-nearness, I wanted to share with you the websites I've been visiting regularly to make sure I'm still at least somewhat competent at this new baby mothering thing (SURPRISE! not so much). Here are this week's five favorites. I hope you can make as much use of them as I have! (PS I'm linking up today for the weekly Five Favorites at MoxieWife.com. Check it out!)

1. The Pregnant Chicken blog. Funny and informative. Useful and silly. Tells me about products I didn't even know existed. Reminds me that pregnancy doesn't have to always be happiness and fairies and ice cream, and that I'm not the only one who thinks so. Also, pictures of cats sometimes, which is always a plus.
2. The Expecting Better: Pregnancy by the Numbers blog on Slate. So, it ended, there are not new posts, but it's a good resource anyway.  By the author of Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong, and What You Really Need to Know, which thankfully
   attempts to remove the panic that's become associated with modern pregnancy. This is a short series that looks at the statistics behind all of those awful things that "What to Expect" warns you could (and by their count, probably will) happen to you and your unborn child, in order to remove some terror. 
3. Lucie's List is really a registry checklist, but it's also a fabulous guide for soon-to-be and new moms. The postpartum page is especially useful because it outlines all of the fun things that happen in the hospital which you may have forgotten about between babies (like how they "massage" the fundus until you want to pass out, and how sometimes they "forget" to take your IV out like, forever). The author, Meg Collins, tries to make sure that other new moms avoid the issues that come along with not knowing what they need (and not knowing what they are getting themselves into). Good stuff!
4. The Keeper of the Home blog. Not specifically about childbirth/pregnancy/babies, but there is a section just about mothering, and an ongoing series that chronicles days in the life of different mothers in different situations (like, moms with a zillion kids, work-at-home moms, all kinds of ladies doing it better than me!). Lots of posts about natural and organic family living and lots of recipes, with emphasis on health of the whole family.
5. Cute Baby Animals tumblr. What, you honestly thought I only meant baby humans? Come on, you should know me better than that by now. I'm pretty sure that when I'm once again staring at a baby human all day every day (not to mention all night every night), just the sight of cuddly, adorable, not screaming baby animals will calm me down a little bit and make everything just that much easier. PS-there's a feature here that lets you pick the baby animal you want to look at, so if you want to see just kittens or just goats or whatever, you totally can.

How about you? Any super-useful sites for new (or second-time) moms, or resources you wish you found earlier? Tell me about them in the comments!