I have spent years in the home schooling business. About 30 to be precise. I have learned the ins and outs of various curriculum, learning styles and methods. I have taught from traditional text books, library resources, living books, computer programs, unit studies,.... and back in the day when i was a fun, adventurous mom...wrote all my own curriculum!
I have learned the value of trying something different. And the discipline of sticking with it and pressing through.
I have home schooled these babies at the kitchen table and on the living room floor. Out-of-doors, in the van on the way to the doctors, during several co ops, and for many, many years from the confines of a sick bed.
When life blossomed unexpected changes or became too overwhelmingly difficult, I have appreciated the beauty of "un-schooling" for those seasons.
I have walked the home schooling mamas path when there was barely a trail to follow and have personally seen the tremendous changes and advances in the home schoolers community and choices. It' s the path I've dedicated my life to follow and i would not have it any other way. Even on the hard days.
Having 9 kiddos, i learned very quickly what the manuals tell us...every kid is unique. Every child learns differently.
Having home schooled many years, i learned, though rather slowly, that every new year, was gonna look different, act different, smell different, taste different and feel different....be different.
So i armed myself with a strong desire to be with my kids, a love for teaching, the infallible WORD of GOD and a loaded bookshelf...and plowed through...kid after kid...baby after nursing baby...toddler through graduation....and kept reminding myself that different was okay, and was to not only be expected..............
but embraced.
Some where along the line i became a veteran home schooling mom. And since school-at-home was such a common way of life for us, i just did what i normally do, day in and day out...most days...every year.
Now in my graying years...graying as in... lacking the energy of youth years... i am left with just 3 kids at home. Amazing to me. Just 3.
And in my graying years...graying as in... tired, worn out, someone please rub my neck years...i have the blessing of home schooling 2 of those 3 kids.
And, and in my graying years...graying as in...whipped, aching, someone please rub my feet years...i have the blessing of home schooling a son diagnosed with (amongst other things) ADHD (the real one), ODD, dyslexia, and several learning disorders.
Different never looked so different.
Un schooling never looked so good.
Public school never looked so....well, i won't go there.
So here we are...and here i sit...winding up my home schooling career with my biggest different yet.
Not sometimes. Not often. But every single solitary day. All. Day. Long.
Kids, like my son, are the absolute. This boy has an amazing mind. A clever sense of happenings. A dynamic personality. He owns a sensitivity like no other. Creative out of the kazoo. Astounding in his descriptions. Skilled beyond his years at sports.
He just hates school.
I can't blame him.
Learning with disabilities leading the way is no fun.
And teachers who make you do school ain't no fun either.
Are you getting the picture?
Nah...i don't think quite.
Allow me to give you an illustration.
Earlier this year...while sitting next to my boy, plugging through the mornings work...we entered our daily home school twilight zone...ah yes....home school twilight zone.
And it was during that time...that my beautiful, unique, creative, talented, ADHD, frustrated, hater of school kid....did exactly what i have trained him to do in a moment of exasperation....Cry out to JESUS.
And cry out he did. Loud and clear. With proper emotion. And enunciation.
"OH LORD GOD...WOULD YOU PLEASE....SMITE HER?"
Yep, that was the prayer. My teen son, asking GOD to smite his home schooling mother.
To which i quickly bowed my head and joined in, agreeing in prayer "YES, LORD JESUS! PLEASE!"
Good thing GOD has a sense of humor.
And good thing the love my kid and i have for each other is built upon a strong on foundation. And it ain't home school.
And good thing that YOU are doing today home schooling mama, or private schooling mama, or public schooling mama being there for your kid...and helping him through life.
Take courage, stay strong...it's only a short season...that passes by quickly...
And enjoy the fact that somewhere out there...there is a another mama...walking life's path...doing her best...to train her kids...that GOD did not smite...
I have learned the value of trying something different. And the discipline of sticking with it and pressing through.
I have home schooled these babies at the kitchen table and on the living room floor. Out-of-doors, in the van on the way to the doctors, during several co ops, and for many, many years from the confines of a sick bed.
When life blossomed unexpected changes or became too overwhelmingly difficult, I have appreciated the beauty of "un-schooling" for those seasons.
I have walked the home schooling mamas path when there was barely a trail to follow and have personally seen the tremendous changes and advances in the home schoolers community and choices. It' s the path I've dedicated my life to follow and i would not have it any other way. Even on the hard days.
Having 9 kiddos, i learned very quickly what the manuals tell us...every kid is unique. Every child learns differently.
Having home schooled many years, i learned, though rather slowly, that every new year, was gonna look different, act different, smell different, taste different and feel different....be different.
So i armed myself with a strong desire to be with my kids, a love for teaching, the infallible WORD of GOD and a loaded bookshelf...and plowed through...kid after kid...baby after nursing baby...toddler through graduation....and kept reminding myself that different was okay, and was to not only be expected..............
but embraced.
Some where along the line i became a veteran home schooling mom. And since school-at-home was such a common way of life for us, i just did what i normally do, day in and day out...most days...every year.
Now in my graying years...graying as in... lacking the energy of youth years... i am left with just 3 kids at home. Amazing to me. Just 3.
And in my graying years...graying as in... tired, worn out, someone please rub my neck years...i have the blessing of home schooling 2 of those 3 kids.
And, and in my graying years...graying as in...whipped, aching, someone please rub my feet years...i have the blessing of home schooling a son diagnosed with (amongst other things) ADHD (the real one), ODD, dyslexia, and several learning disorders.
Different never looked so different.
Un schooling never looked so good.
Public school never looked so....well, i won't go there.
So here we are...and here i sit...winding up my home schooling career with my biggest different yet.
Not sometimes. Not often. But every single solitary day. All. Day. Long.
Kids, like my son, are the absolute. This boy has an amazing mind. A clever sense of happenings. A dynamic personality. He owns a sensitivity like no other. Creative out of the kazoo. Astounding in his descriptions. Skilled beyond his years at sports.
He just hates school.
I can't blame him.
Learning with disabilities leading the way is no fun.
And teachers who make you do school ain't no fun either.
Are you getting the picture?
Nah...i don't think quite.
Allow me to give you an illustration.
Earlier this year...while sitting next to my boy, plugging through the mornings work...we entered our daily home school twilight zone...ah yes....home school twilight zone.
And it was during that time...that my beautiful, unique, creative, talented, ADHD, frustrated, hater of school kid....did exactly what i have trained him to do in a moment of exasperation....Cry out to JESUS.
And cry out he did. Loud and clear. With proper emotion. And enunciation.
"OH LORD GOD...WOULD YOU PLEASE....SMITE HER?"
Yep, that was the prayer. My teen son, asking GOD to smite his home schooling mother.
To which i quickly bowed my head and joined in, agreeing in prayer "YES, LORD JESUS! PLEASE!"
Good thing GOD has a sense of humor.
And good thing the love my kid and i have for each other is built upon a strong on foundation. And it ain't home school.
And good thing that YOU are doing today home schooling mama, or private schooling mama, or public schooling mama being there for your kid...and helping him through life.
Take courage, stay strong...it's only a short season...that passes by quickly...
And enjoy the fact that somewhere out there...there is a another mama...walking life's path...doing her best...to train her kids...that GOD did not smite...