• Oct. 23, 2009 - Why We Do the Things We Do
Last week's note was about the whining and complaining of homeschooled boys. Mothers who homeschool never get a break from all that moaning. Made me consider this week, why do we bother? I could send my boys to school here in the little town where we live. It would all be in Portuguese, but that might be good. So why do we homeschool?
Here's my list:
1. Better future opportunities. Without a good English base, our boys would have a harder time going to college in the States at some point if they so chose.
2. Better education. The schools here start late, teacher's strike often, the quality of learning is poor, the "social" education is totally negative.
3. Better world view. We can teach our boys with a Christian world view, emphasizing creation and missions.
4. Better work ethic. We are able to include our boys in our work since our schedule is flexible.
5. Better time spent. Our school day is much more condensed then a regular day in a "real" school classroom. There's no need for roll call, lunch count, assemblies, or the multitude of Brazilian holidays!
6. Better love. We can show our children a better way to love their own, by teaching them with our own life sharing their presence and our hearts on a daily basis.
Yes, it's not always easy. It requires a patience that often eludes me. Sometimes I get tired of it. But I'm going to keep on and do my very best asking the Lord God to bless my efforts to teach my children well.
Pictured below (if you read this on Facebook you can't see the pictures, by the way) are my fav pics from our wild trip to DC just before we came back to Brazil. We had to run, literally, to Washington and then run all around Washington to resolve the situation that ensued with the airline and my permanent Brazilian visa status. As we left my parents' home heading north we quickly wondered why we had not considered leaving the boys somewhere, anywhere. They were fussy, fighting, hungry, tired, bathroomy (new adjective). Why, why, why! The whole situation was not good and their mood wasn't helping. We had this crazy notion that we could see lots of neat things in DC that the boys had never gotten to see. And we did, we got to go to the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian. Our time was limited, but it was good. We all survived the crazy trip and will enjoy it more when we get to see Night at the Museum 2 when it comes our here in Brazil. The point is we made it. It was frustrating, patience racking, and downright miserable at times. But, there were a few of those sparkling, shining, Aha! moments that somehow tipped the scales in favor of good. I guess homeschooling is sometimes like that trip. I am learning to push the horrid over and get on with the good as much as possible!
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What's the weather like in Sobradinho?
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