Homeschooling has been in my head a lot lately, and tonight I think I officially stuck my toes in the water: I attended my first small group meeting of local homeschool moms. Even had the hostess's twin daughters watch our kids while away (the girls had to trade off due to schedule issues, but since they're identical twins I'm not sure that my kids even noticed!). It was a good start to get me thinking outside the 4 walls of our home. Being a stay at home mom can cause one to get in a mental rut at times!
We talked a bit about balancing the spirit and joy of youth with order and discipline, something that we are constantly working on with our 4, 3, and almost-2 year old kids. Hoo boy, our home is ABOUNDING in spirit some days! And why does it seem that those are always rainy days?? With 10.5 weeks of pregnancy left, I find it difficult to stay on top of things that should've been nipped in the bud days ago. I won't elaborate on my boys sprinkling brown sugar around the kitchen and living room (a bud-nipping delayed one day too many!).
I occasionally will think "Why on earth did God call me to have 4 kids in under 5 years, and then to decide to homeschool them on top of that?!" Many folks think we're nuts. Especially the folks in the grocery store. But I think I saw a hint of envy in their eyes when they saw how fast those six little hands can unload a grocery cart onto the conveyor belt! So maybe we are nuts, but God still called us to this, and we will do our best to remain faithful to His call.
-Sara
Thanks for the encouragement, Conrad. We do have that book, and Steve has read it and shared many parts with me.
ReplyDeleteI'm daily realizing that homeschooling is much more than academics, especially at the tender ages of our children. In this season of our lives I see character/moral/social schooling to be of far greater value than knowing the ABC's - all springing out of a Biblical context. What our world does NOT need is more clever pagans; I think we know from Roman history where that ends up! :)
You might also find the Blog Carnival of Homeschooling interesting to read. Here is the most recent carnival:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.homeschoolblogger.com/writmm/135449/
And here is the archive:
http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2006/01/carnival-of-homeschooling-archive.html
Good luck.