30: I reserve the right

After teaching for a year in a (very) small, country, ultra-conservative Christian school, I know that I could send my kids to a private school like that one and they'd turn out perfectly fine. But I don't want to delegate the responsibility of schooling my children to someone else. I want that privilege. I want that responsibility.

I can't wait to be standing in my kitchen cooking, my little girl standing next to me, hand held tightly to my shirt, me teaching her how to count or what the sounds the letters of the alphabet make.

I can't wait to be folding laundry with three little ones, all of us singing Bible verses or the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

I can't wait to see a cool field trip online and be able to pack up my boys and girls and go, watching their world expand as they pet animals, climb on cannons, try on prairie bonnets.

I can't wait to plan their learning myself. I can't wait to integrate life and fun with learning.

Why would I want to send away my kids for up to seven hours a day? It might sound selfish, but I don't want to give someone else the privilege of seeing their eyes light up when they finally get a concept. I want to be the one to praise them when their handwriting is beautiful. I want to sit with them on the couch and hear them read, not for 15 minutes at the end of the day as homework, but as part of life.

I know it will be hard. You don't go into homeschooling simply for the joy of it. Homeschooling is like marriage--some days are really hard, but through it all, it's rewarding and worth it.

I know the answer to "why would I want to send away my kids for up to seven hours a day" is "because a couple hours of no crying or fighting or asking questions or making messes sounds great!" (especially to the homeschooling mom!)

 

"Where no oxen are, the trough is clean;

But much increase comes by the strength of an ox."

Proverbs 14:4

Some things are easier. Doesn't mean they're better.

And some things--like doing life (and school) with my kids--are too glorious for me to share with strangers. I reserve that privilege and responsibility for myself.