Monday, September 29, 2014

On Homeschooling and Holiness and the Giveaway

I was doing the dishes and wearing the baby and making eggs for the other kids and thinking about holiness.  About what it would take to become a saint and how I'm not sure that I'm interested in all that.  In my head it sounds nice, but I'm not sure that my heart is really there.  You know that quote by St. Augustine that goes, "Lord make me pure, but not yet"?  That...except sub the word holy.  Lord make me holy, but not yet.  

I saw on Facebook recently that someone else said something like, "The only thing stopping you from becoming a saint is you."  I don't know who said it but the phrase has been clanging around in my head today.  I'm sure that it's true.  And I'm growing in my awareness that maybe I am too fixed and focused on the things of this world.  Like maybe I just really want to be successful here on Earth and eek my way into heaven.  I give a lot of lip service to Christ, but in the depths of my heart do I give him all that I can?  Nope.  Not even close.

Why not?  Sometimes it's hard and usually I'm lazy and I'd rather just be comfortable doing what I do.  But maybe God is asking more of me?  Probably.

This all came about because we are actively thinking about homeschooling.  AAAAAHHHH!  That is how I feel about it.  I alternate between thinking it is best for us and being afraid we will ruin our kids.  Not that I think homeschooling will make us saints, by any means.  But I was just considering how sometimes I think God might be asking something of me and I'm unwilling to take the leap because I think it will be hard.  So we're praying for wisdom about it right now.  And doing a lot of Googling.  And I actually said the words, "I don't want to homeschool them because I'm afraid they'll turn out weird."  News flash: they are already weird!  So that's how discernment goes in my house--I think about all the bad things that could happen, and then I Google things and take my search results as a sign from God.  Perhaps I should improve my method.

Weirdos.

Anyhoo...if you have any experience with homeschooling, chime in here and let me know!  How did you make the decision?  What methods/curricula do you use?  Do you love it?  Hate it?  Are your kids weird?  (Ha!)  Who is the patron saint of homeschoolers?  Were his/her kids weird?  I should find out.

**Don't forget to enter to win the Anchor Inn on the Lake giveaway!  You have until the end of Tuesday to enter and you don't have to attend a Marriage Encounter to be eligible, in case you were confused.  Although you should consider attending, in case you didn't catch my drift in the last post. 

7 comments:

  1. How about catholic school?

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    1. Catholic school would be cost prohibitive at this point for us. Also, our first reason for pursuing homeschooling is academic and Catholic schools would not solve those problems. That isn't to say that they aren't good schools! Just that Emma needs a particular kind of instruction and learning which isn't generally offered in the classroom setting.

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  2. This is our first year homeschooling both boys and it has been amazing! Jacob is in 5th grade and he has been at Midway since he started kindergarten. He loves home school. It has been the best decision we have made. Of course I was super nervous before we started this school year, but we quickly got into a routine. If you want to visit I could pop over any time (since we live super close).

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    1. I would love to chat with you about it Jennifer!

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  3. Thanks, Stacy! Someone else pointed me to that article this morning, and I love Dwija (the author) so it was a good read for me. And thanks for the resource ideas! We'll see what comes of all of this...

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  4. I home school and I LOVE it! It's not that there are never any difficult moments (it's still, you know, life), but I really enjoy the time with my kids. My kids are now 17 down to 7 (4 boys, 2 girls), and it goes so fast.

    You were talking in another post about parenting older and younger kids and seeing what you used to worry about. I was worried about home schooling, but God has used it to bring us along a very beautiful and happy path. The socialization was better, the academics turned out to be better (despite the fact that I didn't use a curriculum, 16 and up are doing well in college classes), the faith life is much better, and we're closer as a family.

    I don't think everyone is called to home school, but if you are, count yourself blessed!

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    1. Wendy, thanks so much for this thoughtful response! I am terrible about responding to comments because my phone won't let me and I mostly check it on there. We are still really on the fence, but I don't know if that's because I think it is not the wrong decision or the hard decision.

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