Oh happy day. Ashlee's last day of 4th grade. Tomorrow marks the beginning of a long, carefree summer vacation. Today we celebrated by going to the Folsom Aquatic Center. While other parents are thinking of what they're going to do with their kids for the next 3 months, I am thinking of all that we're
not going to have to do. Yes, the prospect of homeschooling not
one but
two (official) children lies in the not-so-distant future, and I will eagerly approach the new school year with my usual enthusiasm when that time comes. But for now, my thoughts are turned towards swimming, bronzing in the sun, berry picking, camping, sprinklers and blow-up pools, eating homemade ice-cream (tonight it was chocolate) while doing nothing, waking up and
not having to sit down at the kitchen table with a stack of books, allowing my children to be "off task," staying extra long at the park and not feeling guilty about it, dreaming and setting all of my goals for next year, and being more of a mommy and less of a teacher. I know my kids will continue to learn and grow over the summer, and I fully intend on keeping them active and engaged; it will just be in a more "unschooled" way. Homeschooling has been a challenge, but it has also been one of the most rewarding things I've done with my children aside from giving birth to them. Sometimes I find myself gritting my teeth and gnawing at the bit, and, on more than one occassion I've had to resist the temptation to "just put them back in public school." Yet somehow I manage to press onward and upward.
ON THAT NOTE: let me add a disclaimer. This does
not (and I've said this before) imply that I will homeschool
all of my children for
all their years of school. I take it one child at a time, one year at a time. Bite-sized pieces, people. However, I do consider myself to be an advocate of homeschooling, and the benefits thus far have outweighed the challenges. A laboring woman is often told to take her contractions one at a time, as each one is bringing her closer to her baby. She may struggle, resist, hold back, or even swear. But ultimately, intuitively, she knows she is fighting the good fight, and in the end she will have her reward. Such is me: I may resist homeschooling (at times) to the end, but one day I will wake up and it will all be over. I like to think I will have fought the good fight. I intuitively feel I am doing what is best for my children. Until then, I will cherish every moment.
"Now, fathers and mothers, appreciate your children. Don't turn them over to somebody else to train and educate in regard to matters of eternal life. That is your privilege, and it is a privilege. Teach them to pray and walk uprightly before the Lord, and then in time of need they can go to him and he will answer their prayers. It will be astonishing to you the great happiness that will come into your home that you theretofore have not enjoyed, if you will follow this counsel."
-George Albert Smith (Conference Report, October 1948, p. 166)
Glad you are done!- although with homeschooling are you ever done? Seems life is a teaching moment all the time! We'll have to get the girls together this summer!
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