Life is funny and we are often pulled by expectations, dreams, status quo and sometimes even fear.
I never planned to homeschool our children and as I look back over our homeschool journey so far I can sometimes be surprised we chose to do this crazy thing that has usually felt comfortable and natural and freeing.
There are many things that are not for everyone and I have never thought that there is only one way to teach children. I sure as heck don’t think that homeschooling is better than other forms of other education. But for whatever reason…it has been better for us!
Our past 10 years of officially homeschooling has been filled with uncertainty, a million questions, joy, pajama filled mornings, coffee (lots of coffee), tears, hikes, adventures, more tears, cuddles, laughter (more than I could have ever imagined), talks that I will treasure for the rest of my life, day time symphonies, ballets, plays, documentaries, reading scripture together and raised voices. There have been more days than I can count that I thought I wasn’t up to the challenge but more days when I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. There have been days if a bus had pulled up to the front of our home that I would have pushed my kids on it and never looked back. There have been more days than I will ever be able to count that I have laughed until tears were streaming down my face with my children and other days when we were all frustrated with tears dropping to the floor. This homeschooling thing has been one of the best adventures I have ever been a part of. It has been hard and beautiful and character building and precious all at the same time.
Last summer I thought that we were done with homeschooling and that another door was opening. Sometimes things don’t turn out like you think. I hope you will join me tomorrow for a little more of our story.
You can hear more about my story with homeschooling in the online class Learning Well: an essentials course to homeschooling. This course is being taught by Alicia Hutchinson and has many extra guests that will be sharing their experiences and advice. I wish I had had something like this online course so many years ago and I am honored to offer it on my creative network.
This course is for the curious, the beginner, the family that needs to be inspired all over again and the schooling parent that wants to supplement their children’s education. This course is also for the homeschooler wondering how to educate more than one child, what comes after elementary school and the family that wants a supportive network to hold you up in the day to day.
Tomorrow (March 31, 2015) is the LAST day for early registration for this course! You will be lavished by Alicia and the rich content that this course has to offer.
To read more about the course or to register follow THIS link.
I am proud of your family for sticking with homeschooling. All children are their own being, they are different from each other, and some learn easily and others can get side-tracked. I think with homeschooling there is definitely the one-on-one aspect you don’t get very often in public school. And I think children become who they are a lot faster when they aren’t around a lot of their peers most of the day. They get to see other age groups, and they are allowed to explore life to the fullest. Academically speaking, their minds are allowed to develop at a level suited to the individual, not suited to a ‘class level’. As, just because children are of a certain age, they don’t always learn at the same pace. We homeschooled our four children, and the ‘hands on’ experience they learned outside of homeschool, helped to mold who they are today. And it was not an easy task, as there were lots of outside influences that still crept in, as you can’t protect your children from everything bad, as much as we would like to. Which is actually a good thing, as Christ wants us to confess that we are sinners, and in order to relate to others, we have to feel their angst in order to bear one another’s burdens. My oldest son is now married, he can build a house from the ground up, thanks to his being able to learn from one of his very gifted uncles. He plays the piano amazingly, as can all three of my oldest. My middle son will son be graduating from a top architectural college. He learned at an early age to apply himself well to his studies. My daughter, who is married has a day care and also, teaches one-on-one with Autistic and troubled children. A person has to have a threshold of love and firmness in that field of teaching. My youngest has Down’s syndrome, and we taught our children during a very stressful agenda going on in everyday life. But the Lord provided, and it was a moment by moment process. Especially when our oldest son went off and did the ‘homeless’ thing for a few years, but his Christian roots saved him. Like I have said before, I could write a book, and maybe I should. We have seen been through thick and thin, but God has been our strength and direction in times of trials, and joys. Thank you for sharing your story. Looking forward to hearing more!