Didn't Dodge the Bullet

As a long time homeschooler, I think I pretty much heard all the reasons people have for choosing to homeschool. But I believe in our hearts we also secretly hoped to raise perfect children. Realistically, we would all acknowledge that's not possible, but in a teeny, tiny, dark, shadowy corner of our hearts there was a wish, a belief that through homeschooling our children could dodge the bullet of sinful choices.

It doesn't happen that way. I lived in the homeschooling community long enough to see the fall out.

We thought we could raise brilliant, well-educated, ivy league students, but I've witnessed too many poorly educated homeschoolers who would have received a better education in the worst run public school.

We thought our children would stay pure, but I've seen out of wedlock pregnancies and battles with pornography.

We thought we would raise model citizens, but homeschoolers have become juvenile delinquents too.

We thought we could teach kindness, compassion and loving behavior and have it become an integral part of our children's nature, but some became mockers and bullies.

We thought we could develop a legacy of generation upon generation of strong Christians, but some have turned their backs on their God and their family.

We thought our children would have strong marriages, but they are getting divorced just as quickly as anyone else.

The illusion printed on the covers of homeschooling magazines of large families in matching clothes all playing stringed instruments and becoming pastors and missionaries was just that, an illusion. The reality is that we are sinners and so are our children. Even if we did everything right, there's no guarantee that our children would be perfect, in fact it's impossible. All any parent can hope to do, no matter how they choose to educate their children, is raise them the best they can and keep on praying.


Image: imagerymajestic/freedigitalphotos.net

Auntie Mame Says it Best - Open a New Window, Open a New Door

Welcome to Five Minute Friday, the word for today is Opportunity.

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What an exciting word filled with unimaginable things.  Opportunity speaks of promise, challenge and newness.  Opportunity means fresh beginnings,  never before dreamed of, well, opportunities.

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Maybe because one major part of my life is ending, homeschooling, and all of my kids grown, I view the word opportunity with anticipation.  What will happen next?  What wonderful newness will occur as the Lord moves me from where I've been to where I'm supposed to be next?

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for a husband who encourages me to explore and try to discover what is to come with an open-hearted happiness for me.  I have been given the freedom to look and dream and imagine and explore because of his goodness and kindness.

I am Transitional-Woman, what opportunities are waiting for me?

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Please visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments.

Homeschooling - A Retrospective

The clock is ticking down quickly.  Homeschooling in this household will end in just a matter of weeks as our youngest child graduates from high school.

How do 17 years go by so quickly?   I began homeschooling the year my oldest child was starting 3rd grade and my second child beginning 1st.  I didn't decide to homeschool because we hated the public school system;  and, no, we're not weird cultists trying to keep our children isolated from the world.

But, after being a volunteer at my children's school and seeing all that the teachers were up against, I realized I could do a better job educating my children at home.  There are no perfect education solutions, but homeschooling was the right answer for our family.

Looking back, I'm amazed at how much homeschooling has changed in the last two decades.  When I began researching way back when, it seemed that a lot of homeschooling families lived off the land, were entrepreneurs and their kids went on to Harvard.  An exaggeration, but that's how it looked from my perspective.

In reality, the homeschooling population is very diverse, from one-child families to very, very large families; from people holding strong religious convictions to those holding none at all; every ethic group imaginable; all income levels;  and city, suburban and rural dwellers.  Everyone is represented among homeschoolers.

Curriculum availability?  Where do you even start?  The selection is so vast that at least one vendor of homeschooling curriculum and supplies that I'm familiar with has an annual catalog that is as thick as a mid-sized city's telephone book.

When I was looking for material to use when my eldest child was ready to start high school, I had to look long and hard.  Curriculum was available, but the selection wasn't extensive.  By the time my fourth child was ready for high school, the selection was so wide that it was mind-boggling.

So in retrospect, would I homeschool again?  Absolutely.  Would I do it the same way?  Absolutely not.  I have the advantage of hind-sight now.  I saw what worked and what didn't for my children.  I also got to know my children very well because of all the time we spent together and have a much better understanding of each child's learning style.

I wish I knew then what I know now, but the years spent learning and growing together day by day have been some of the best of my life.  We are blessed that we could spend them together.

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Starting to Finish

We are taking one more day of holiday time so we'll officially start our 2012 homeschool year tomorrow.  But I'm spending some of today scheduling out the rest of this year's school work for my remaining homeschool student.

This is the final stretch of a 17 year race.  On June 9, 2012, this young man will graduate from our homeschool high school, the fourth and final graduate from Emmanuel Christian Home School.


He has been diligently sending in his college applications and has one and a half to go.  This is challenging for both the student and the homeschool parent who needs to fill out all of the academic paperwork that is normally handled by a guidance counselor.


We are starting to approach the finish line quickly.  He will go on to a university and I will be out of a job.  Because make no mistake, homeschooling is a full-time job and then some.


He and I are both transitioning.  He knows where he is going (or will know after he receives his acceptances or rejections and then makes the final decision).  


And me?  Well, I am slowly beginning to sift through options (but must speed up) and praying.  Don't know what I'm transitioning toward yet, but I'm getting ready.


Image source: picturesof.net

Community

Last summer I was waiting in the car to drive my husband home after he left our other car at the repair shop.  I happened to be parked outside a tobacco store, the kind of little specialty shop that sells cigars and pipe tobacco.  

As I idly watched men go in and out of the shop, different ages, different races, greeting each other with back slaps and handshakes, I was struck with how these men, sharing a common interest, had formed their own community.

Since that day, months ago, I have been obsessed with the idea of community.  I realized how much we all seek community.  We seek to belong somewhere.

I started musing about different types of communities.  Gang members form their own communities.  Not based on values or standards that most of us agree with, but they are looking for a place where they can be accepted.

Churches, civic groups, interest groups like hiking clubs and knitting groups, motor cycle clubs, sports teams, volunteer organizations and families, are all different types of communities.

There is even the 21st century world of online communities.  Groups of people who will  probably never be in the same room at the same time, but join together from around the globe to discuss the thing that draws them to each other.


Why is community so important to us?  Belonging.  It is essential to our souls to belong.  We crave love and acceptance.  We want to be wanted.


I keep coming across the concept of community.  Almost every day I hear or read about someone else talking about community.  Somehow I know I'm not finished contemplating community, what it means to me and what it means to others.  
As my last year homeschooling speeds toward its conclusion, there is a new transition in my life. I find myself looking for a new community.  For 17 years I've been deeply woven into the fabric of the homeschool community and I identity so closely with homeschoolers that I am feeling community-less.
What will be my new community or communities? 
I don't know where it will all lead but the Lord has planted the idea of community into my brain and it just doesn't want to leave.  So I know there's more for me to learn.

From a Wholehearted Mother

This was on Sally Clarkson's (co-writer with her husband Clay of one of my all-time favorite books on homeschooling, Educating the Wholehearted Child) Itakejoy blog today. A great reminder to look for joy in this dark and broken world.


"Itakejoy was begun because I wanted to celebrate life every day–to intentionally see God’s fingerprints, to find His joy, to feel His love in every moment, throughout the day. This world is the dark, broken place where Satan lurks and prowls like a lion to destroy, devastate, steal from the beauty our master craftsman displayed for our pleasure.
What better way to battle him and the darkness he spreads by choosing, this moment, to sing, dance, laugh, love and to cultivate a child heart.
Amidst piles of duties, burdens of tasks to be completed, one must fight to celebrate this joy and to glimpse His fleeting shadow all around us. Becoming like a child–taking time to wonder, to marvel at a rolling, hairy caterpillar, to really feel the hot sun on your face, to lie in the grass under the piercing light of a shooting star–all this requires a heart that is willing to celebrate and wants to praise and willing to stop in the moment to see.“I tell you the truth, unless you become like a child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Mt. 18:3"