If you missed Part One, catch it here:
Homeschooling (Part One)
At the beginning of May we went to a Homeschoolers Convention. Don't go to one of these if you don't want to homeschool. Hubby and I each got exactly what we needed out of that weekend. He was able to talk about high school and post-secondary education, and I was able to understand more fully why this was something our family needed.
Everything I heard at the convention solidified in my mind why I wanted to do this. It was no longer a matter of academics and having the time to learn beyond what they were taught in school. It became a matter of highly-valuing the importance of family. I realized that I was standing at a fork in the road. As I extrapolated and looked ahead, down each road, one road scared me and one road gave me such a feeling of peace.
I know my kids, probably better than anyone.
My oldest is a cautious pre-teen. He understands the need to follow rules and does not like to rock the boat. He has not learned to stand up for himself or for what he knows to be right. As I look down the road lined with school bells and 25 same-aged peers, I imagine my boy bending to the whims of many, never really finding his own footing, never really figuring out who he was.
My youngest is an ever-moving mass of energy, drawing from the activity and ideas of those around him. The more time he spends around school bells and same-aged peers, the less he seems to care about being kind and thinking of others. He is so easily influenced by those around him. I want to surround him with good while I still can. It's a mean nasty world out there and I don't want him to learn to fit into it. Not yet.
Homeschooling (Part One)
At the beginning of May we went to a Homeschoolers Convention. Don't go to one of these if you don't want to homeschool. Hubby and I each got exactly what we needed out of that weekend. He was able to talk about high school and post-secondary education, and I was able to understand more fully why this was something our family needed.
Everything I heard at the convention solidified in my mind why I wanted to do this. It was no longer a matter of academics and having the time to learn beyond what they were taught in school. It became a matter of highly-valuing the importance of family. I realized that I was standing at a fork in the road. As I extrapolated and looked ahead, down each road, one road scared me and one road gave me such a feeling of peace.
I know my kids, probably better than anyone.
My oldest is a cautious pre-teen. He understands the need to follow rules and does not like to rock the boat. He has not learned to stand up for himself or for what he knows to be right. As I look down the road lined with school bells and 25 same-aged peers, I imagine my boy bending to the whims of many, never really finding his own footing, never really figuring out who he was.
My youngest is an ever-moving mass of energy, drawing from the activity and ideas of those around him. The more time he spends around school bells and same-aged peers, the less he seems to care about being kind and thinking of others. He is so easily influenced by those around him. I want to surround him with good while I still can. It's a mean nasty world out there and I don't want him to learn to fit into it. Not yet.
My middle, my girl, is the one that I think would make it through school bells and same-aged peers without too many scratches. But that is not “The Best” for her. I want to nourish her caring heart, not let her sit in a classroom where it will be broken time and time again as she watches nine year old children tearing each other apart with their words. I want to show her the good in people, fostering a spirit of kindness instead of letting bitterness try to take root.
When I imagine these two paths and where they will take my kids, I can't help but want to choose the path that brings peace, joy, contentment... not just to my kids but to our family.
No, I'm not trying to shelter my children from the cruel world. I'm doing what any parent would do... I'm giving my children the tools they need to handle the cruel world. What parent, in the bitter cold of a Canadian winter, would send her child out to go ice fishing with no boots, no coat, no mitts, no hat, no scarf, and expect that child to come back 7 hours later totally unscathed? No fit parent would do that.
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| Seven hours at -40 dressed like this? |
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| Ah, this looks much better. |
My loyalty is first to God, second to my husband, and third to my kids. I'm not going to let what others think get in the way of doing what I think is best for my kids. I'm so over The Status Quo. I'm ready to do something different.
Read the next chapter:
Homeschooling (Part Three)
Well done!!
ReplyDelete"Public school may be the norm that our society accepts and expects, but I am not interested in going along with the status quo, just because it's expected."
ReplyDeleteExactly!