A few weeks ago I'd written a couple of posts about the crisis point we'd come to in our homeschooling. If you saw them, you'll remember they were called "Transparency Part One" and "...Part Two". I later made them visible only to me because I felt I'd gotten a little too personal, and a few of the things I said might have been embarassing to a couple of people in my family. Since I have to live with them, and they with me, I "hid" the posts. They are there for my eyes only, to remind me of that low point: I don't ever want to find myself there again.

Have you ever bounced? Maybe thudded? I'm referring to how we respond to the crises in our lives. When God allows us, for one reason or another, to hit rock bottom, what do we do once we find ourselves there? I used to be a thudder. In other words, I'd hit rock bottom, all right...with a thud! This time I decided on another approach: bouncing. Not wanting to stay in the pit, I decided to learn what my heavenly Father had been trying to teach me and head straight back up. I feel like I'm still on that upward journey, and am looking forward to soaring!

If you are one of the happy many who missed my recent meltdown, here it is in a nutshell: My older son decided he no longer wanted to be homeschooled. He wanted to go to a real school; he wanted time with his friends and, he confided to his father, he was concerned about his education.

I'll be honest, this hit me very hard. I found myself reeling, feelings hurt, stunned. But I had to be honest and see that God's hand was in this. He'd been speaking to me about this very thing for a long time, but I'd been in denial. I think I had it in my head that "somehow" everything would just fall in to place, come together as if by magic, and my son would find himself educated excellently, diploma in hand, and thanking me profusely for doing such a good job.

Ha.

The truth is that homeschooling takes work. Not just on the part of the student, but mostly on the part of the teaching parent. True, our kids, by the time they're in highschool, should be well on their way to being verified life-long learners, and eventually mostly self-taught (because they know how to use resources and find information for themselves). But even truer is the fact that most kids need to be taught how to be self-teachers, and to have that life-long love of learning instilled in them from their earliest years (or as early as possible).

Once I took the first step of realizing that the Lord was using this situation to speak loudly to me (after I'd ignored His softer warnings for so long), I took the next step:

I looked at the situation honestly and took responsibility for my own failings...and it's been great!

More to come!