Last weekend I was browsing in our local DI (thriftstore) when, providentially, I came across this book: The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child, by Linda Dobson. I immediately knew that this was the book for me! I took it home, opened it up, and read this:
Oh, my. The words "leap off of a cliff" were exactly the words I had been using to describe my feelings for several days prior to reading this. Yep, that's pretty much how it feels to be embarking on homeschooling for the first time. Especially when I've had months and months to think about it and stress about it.
But the main thrust of the book was this: RELAX!
It was exactly what I needed to hear! Yes, this will be an adventure, an experiment. Yes, there will be bad days. Yes, it's OK to take a day off from schooling every once in awhile. Just... RELAX and enjoy the ride!
It's been an interesting past few weeks. The closer our official start day has been coming, the more excited I've been feeling. And the more scared I've been feeling. I'm realizing what a HUGE step it is to homeschool, to consciously and purposely take oneself so far out of the mainstream, to walk forward on a path that many people think is crazy, and many other people think is just plain wrong. I've chosen many things in parenting that are out of the mainstream (Come on, just how many people do you know who co-sleep? Or induce lactation? For that matter, how many people do you know who have adopted?) But this takes the cake, for sure.
Despite the fear, the gentle answers from above keep coming. Happening upon that book in DI was one of those answers. After reading I felt so much better, realizing that hey, yeah it's school, but really, it's just home. It's our home with a little more learning thrown in! Then after a couple of days those feelings of "what in the heck am I thinking?????" started to creep back in. So I prayed. I prayed that I'd feel peaceful and confident. And when I woke up the next morning I did feel peaceful and confident, and I still do. It's been amazing to see those small, quiet, but very literal answers to prayer coming one after the other. At this point I really don't have any apprehension at all about Monday morning, or any of the mornings after that. I don't know what will be the outcome of our homeschooling adventure, but I do know that it will all be OK.
A few weeks ago, before the pre-start-of-school-nerves had begun to set in, I spent several days feeling overcome with an amazing sense of elation: I am going to be living my dream! This is literally a dream come true. For many years, I've wanted to be able to give my children an amazing education. I remember having discussions as a single college student about how important it would be to instill in my children a love of learning, and how I wanted their educations to be even better and more wonderful than mine was. I don't remember when the first thoughts of homeschooling crossed my mind, but it was long before I had children. Somehow, over the years, I lost alot of that idealism. I got scared. I got comfortable. But now, I'm going to be doing it! I'm going to be taking things into my own hands, and I can create whatever educational setting I want to create, all by myself! I have the freedom, and I have the power to do it! It's weird, when you go through infertility, you get used to your dreams and hopes being dashed. I've found for myself that I often have a hard time believing that God will let me have something that I really want. Because if I really want it, somehow it must not be the right thing, surely God will have something different in mind. Well, this one shocked me, in a pleasant way. It's something I want, and God is OK'ing it, and I get to do it, with no major wrenches thrown in the plans (so far...)
So here goes! Let's hope I fly!
Are you palms sweating? Are you shaking in your boots? Welcome
to your first year of homeschooling!
....The first year of homeschooling has often been described as feeling
like a leap off of a cliff. If you, too, feel this way right now, consider
this book the friendly push you might be needing to discover that you, like so
many other homeschoolers, have wings.
Oh, my. The words "leap off of a cliff" were exactly the words I had been using to describe my feelings for several days prior to reading this. Yep, that's pretty much how it feels to be embarking on homeschooling for the first time. Especially when I've had months and months to think about it and stress about it.
But the main thrust of the book was this: RELAX!
It was exactly what I needed to hear! Yes, this will be an adventure, an experiment. Yes, there will be bad days. Yes, it's OK to take a day off from schooling every once in awhile. Just... RELAX and enjoy the ride!
It's been an interesting past few weeks. The closer our official start day has been coming, the more excited I've been feeling. And the more scared I've been feeling. I'm realizing what a HUGE step it is to homeschool, to consciously and purposely take oneself so far out of the mainstream, to walk forward on a path that many people think is crazy, and many other people think is just plain wrong. I've chosen many things in parenting that are out of the mainstream (Come on, just how many people do you know who co-sleep? Or induce lactation? For that matter, how many people do you know who have adopted?) But this takes the cake, for sure.
Despite the fear, the gentle answers from above keep coming. Happening upon that book in DI was one of those answers. After reading I felt so much better, realizing that hey, yeah it's school, but really, it's just home. It's our home with a little more learning thrown in! Then after a couple of days those feelings of "what in the heck am I thinking?????" started to creep back in. So I prayed. I prayed that I'd feel peaceful and confident. And when I woke up the next morning I did feel peaceful and confident, and I still do. It's been amazing to see those small, quiet, but very literal answers to prayer coming one after the other. At this point I really don't have any apprehension at all about Monday morning, or any of the mornings after that. I don't know what will be the outcome of our homeschooling adventure, but I do know that it will all be OK.
A few weeks ago, before the pre-start-of-school-nerves had begun to set in, I spent several days feeling overcome with an amazing sense of elation: I am going to be living my dream! This is literally a dream come true. For many years, I've wanted to be able to give my children an amazing education. I remember having discussions as a single college student about how important it would be to instill in my children a love of learning, and how I wanted their educations to be even better and more wonderful than mine was. I don't remember when the first thoughts of homeschooling crossed my mind, but it was long before I had children. Somehow, over the years, I lost alot of that idealism. I got scared. I got comfortable. But now, I'm going to be doing it! I'm going to be taking things into my own hands, and I can create whatever educational setting I want to create, all by myself! I have the freedom, and I have the power to do it! It's weird, when you go through infertility, you get used to your dreams and hopes being dashed. I've found for myself that I often have a hard time believing that God will let me have something that I really want. Because if I really want it, somehow it must not be the right thing, surely God will have something different in mind. Well, this one shocked me, in a pleasant way. It's something I want, and God is OK'ing it, and I get to do it, with no major wrenches thrown in the plans (so far...)
So here goes! Let's hope I fly!
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