Pardon me...I've been busy...

I'm not complaining! I LOVE my life...but it is a busy one. So I'm not just making excuses...except a little bit I am...is it an "excuse" if it is true? Apparently our local high school does not think so as they no longer allow for "excused absences" for illness or "the like". But, this would be a digression in what I intended to talk about and, since I know you are all excited for me to get to the meat of the blog I will not digress. I've been busy...enough said.

A lot of people are flabbergasted by our choice to homeschool our children. (I'm not sure if they are actually "flabbergasted" but isn't that a delightful word?) I've heard everything from. "If I homeschooled ____ (insert child's name here) I would kill him/her". Which we know is likely not true...because those with true homicidal tendencies rarely announce them. If Jeffrey Dahmer would have said to each that came to his door..."if you come in I will likely kill and eat you", his killing spree would have come to an end much sooner. I'm getting off track again. I don't really think any competent mother would kill their child if they had to educate them. But, I do understand what they are saying. Because, even as I type this paragraph about how much I love having my children home, I am secretly wishing they would go away and quit asking me questions so I could concentrate on what I'm doing...which is writing about how much I love them being near me. Irony? I'd say definitely. I've also heard, "I'm not qualified to home school". Well, anyone is really...who taught your child to walk, talk and tie their shoes (okay, so Bryan can't tie his shoes yet, but we're working on it) The point is, I'm NOT qualified to teach a classroom of thirty children with thirty different learning styles. But, with time, attention and love I can teach my one child what he/she needs to know. And, when we're together all day there is plenty of all those to go around.

But, as in any blessed life, the good outweighs the bad (except in my body where I simply outweigh things I wish I didn't). I LOVE having my two youngest sons home each day. I love that we get out of bed when we want instead of me (crabby, which I would be) pulling them out of their covers each morning while it is still dark outside. I love that they can ask me any question they want (including but not limited to: Is blood considered a liquid? Why does Peppermint Patty talk like a man? And, If you dropped a cat from here would it die?) I love that they can go to the bathroom whenever they need to (and because they are boys...almost wherever they need to...but that is just a plumbing thing...not a home schooling thing). I love that our learning is not all done in front of a text book...because really, life has no text books and learning needs to be done on the go!

This is what I mean...this is how boys learn. This picture just makes me smile! Plus the colors are awesome. I somehow made it smaller than I wanted to when I transferred it and I can't get it bigger...so please imagine it bigger because that is how it was intended. And that is metaphoric really. The world is my sons' textbook and the world is HUGE...like I wanted the picture to be. It is also metaphoric because we don't always get what we want. I would like my older children to still be home with me. I would like to educate them as well. But, they want to play sports, they want to see their friends everyday, they want to go to the Prom. And, I'm okay with it because they have a base that we built for them. They know high school is a manufactured reality that is nothing like the "real world" they hear so much about from the grown-ups that surround them each day. They know that God doesn't grade on a curve or straight scale and that God is the only one that is truly qualified to grade them at all. They know that even if they "bomb" in chemistry or geography that, when it comes time, they will learn what they need to know for their career of choice and they will excel because they have been taught to do whatever they do as though they were working for God and not for man. I'm not suggesting that they will be perfect...I'm just suggesting that they have been told. What they choose to do with that information remains in their control. Parenting is a crap shoot for sure. Which brings us full circle to why I home school. Parenting IS a crapshoot and anyone who gambles knows that the more time you spend at the craps table the more you are likely to walk away with a win now and then. Okay...that is a crappy metaphor (ha ha..."crappy" I didn't even mean to do that...I'm punny even when I'm not intending to be). What I'm saying...is I've invested in the crapshoot and I'm not going to walk away from table while I still have a chance to rub the dice, blow on them for luck and roll away.