This past Tuesday night was our monthly homeschool parents meeting. The topic was "Homeschooling Through it All", and three ladies shared their experiences of homeschooling through difficult situations: illness, financial hardship, moving, adoption, , etc.
My friend Faye (creech7s) talked about trying to homeschool a high schooler whose goal was a US Military Academy, as well as younger children, during great financial difficulty, and also during the months of her Dad's illness and death from cancer, and through several miscarriages. The older children learned to be much more independent in their learning as a result, and to grab the opportunities the Lord placed before them.
LoriAnne shared her experience of moving from NJ to NC in the midst of debilitating, undiagnosed health problems, finally the diagnosis of late stage Lymes Disease, and then the long treatment and recovery. Her 4 young daughters, the oldest of whom was only 10 at the time, had to learn to care for each other and pretty much run the house during part of that time. And "school" had to be very flexible.
Eileen shared some thoughts on the true goals of education, and shared their journey of being impressed by the Lord several years ago that He was going to send them another son, going through a V-reversal, the scriptures that led them to start the adoption process, praying for a son ( for 3 years!) whom they would name Jeremiah James, and ultimately receiving a call from their adoption agency 2 summers ago that there were twin 27-week preemie newborns at the hospital waiting for them ~ Jeremiah AND James! Homeschooling her older children, ages 13 and 10 at the time, changed drastically as the whole family cared for the needs of these babies. And even though they barely cracked a book that year, both kids still gained 2 grade levels across the board on their annual standardized tests!
Guess what all three ladies stressed about these times in their lives? FAMILY comes before SCHOOL. LEARNING happens not just in books and workbooks, but in LIFE. GOD is faithful and sovereign; His plan is greater than our plan. Real life difficulties, which all of us experience, are the TRAINING ground for our children (and for us too), where they develop character and learn skills for adulthood. Academics is certainly a part of homeschooling, but there is MUCH MORE to it than that.
Sometimes we are tempted to give up when things are hard. We assume that trials mean that we out of God's will. But perhaps God is just changing the curriculum.
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Monday, November 7, 2005 - Untitled Comment
Lea