Back In

So we're back in the saddle, so to speak. We started school this morning. The children were so excited. I smile and enjoy their excitement. It's often short-lived.

I think it's going to be a very intense year. I have a child in 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 7th grades. They keep me hopping. Once again, we are trying a few new curriculum choices to find what suits our needs best. I used to judge people that didn't just stick with something, but then God gave me 4 children, each with different learning styles and abilities. The joke was on me. :) The longer I home school, the less I judge.

I had an Amish man ask me last week, in disbelief, why in the world I would home school our children. I smiled as I thought about what led us to our decision. It started out as convenience, something we'd try for a year. It turned into the perfect fit for our family. Here I am, 7 years later, and I can hardly believe it myself. Leon and I were one of those newly wed couples who said we would NEVER home school our children. God has a way of changing our hearts in His own good time.

Home school isn't always all it's cracked up to be. I really think my most intense struggle and times of feeling the greatest need was in the middle of teaching my children. There are days I just want to get away, be alone, but instead I trudge up those stairs to the school room. There are days when I say no to morning events just for ladies because I'm committed to my 'job'. There are days when I don't want to get out of bed because the day before was just so rotten.

Yes, it's cheaper to home school, you don't need school clothes or uniforms, you can work on snow days and get done quicker in the spring, you don't have to help with field trips and fund raisers, or pack those never ending lunches. But that's not why we home school. No way.

We home school simply because that is what God has called us to do for our family, at this time of our lives. I know that sounds over-spiritual, and you can take it or leave it, but it's the truth.

There are days when I want to hide and not let people know our choice of education based on the junk that is out there about home schooling. When leaders of the home school movement are found in sin and denial of that sin, and stories of abuse from home school families hit the news, I want to just scream, "No!"

When we take our eyes off the One who called us to this task, and make it our own thing done in our own way, independent of accountability and the leading of the Holy Spirit, we are headed into stormy waters.

So whatever method you choose to educate your children, be involved. Even more importantly, be intentional about your relationships with your children. Talk to them, face to face. Find out what's going on in their heart.

You can spend every day with your children and still be an absent parent.

Better than all the parenting books out there is this tidbit I received from a seasoned mother several years ago. When I asked her for advice she simply said, 'I just prayed my way through."

So here's to another year of 'praying my way through'. :)