Why Homeschool?

This journey of schooling the kids has been so interesting to see what God has done with my heart.  Three or four months ago if you would have asked me the question, "Why are you homeschooling?" I would have paused to think and given you a mousy answer.  If you challenged me I might have teared up.  I had nothing behind me to defend what I wanted to do.  And then God did a work in my heart and I knew that I wanted to do this for our family.  I felt a complete peace that has remained consistent over a period of time.  So now if you ask me why I am doing it I can give you some pretty solid answers.  And they are answers that are so specific to our family and our kids.  I don't for one minute look down upon kids who attend public school or even private school.  This is a journey for just our family.  And the reality is that each year might look different than the one before.

I am in the process of attending a three day training for a home school program called Classical Conversations.  It is this amazing program that my kids will attend once a week and I will "tutor" one of their classes.  For the younger kids it is memorization of all subjects.  They also do science experiments and fine art activities.  I even get to learn how to play the tin whistle.  I should post a you tube video on that one.  Maybe the girls and I can put on a concert sometime for our extended family. I am sure that would be entertaining.  The first day of training (today) was inspiring and encouraging.  The speaker was realistic when he discussed what home schooling can be like.  He first showed a picture of a beautiful orchard of flowering trees.  He said this is how we feel when we start schooling in the fall.  We are excited to use new curriculum and start a new year fresh.  And then he showed a picture of trees in a hurricane.  He said that is how we feel by October.  We all had a good laugh out of that, but he got serious and reminded us that the trees can survive the storms when they have strong roots.  And that is what we are trying to give our kids.  If we build the strong roots then we will make it through the year and appreciate all that we experience...the good and the bad.

That illustration was kind of an aha moment for me today.  I was at the training to learn about CC, but instead I walked away with thoughts about my life and especially about our marriage.  I haven't written much about our time when we got home from California last summer, but we went through some difficult experiences with Dan's job.  He quit travelling before he wanted to and took a full time job.  We had our ups and downs.  BUT...the coolest part is that we have roots.  We have a history and a story and a life that we have built together.  No matter the difficulties, we have weathered some storms and we are okay.  I give all the glory to God for giving us the courage and strength and stamina to constantly work with each other through the tough times.  We are that much stronger because of adversity.  We are that much closer. For that I am grateful.