Endings and beginnings often trigger reflections for me. Tomorrow 'officially' our 2011-2012 school year will close and on Tuesday, September 4th the new one, 2012-2013 begin!While it may sound very neatly, compartmentalized reality remains messier. We will finish up some loose ends while getting ahead start on other subjects during September, prior to our two month trip to the USA. Very few things in our lives can be neatly defined as they all tend to overlap and mash together.
Looking back I'm filled with gratitude for the Lord's wisdom and grace for NOT answering the prayers we and other faithful prayer supporters prayed for YEARS about our children's schooling--that is for NOT answering the way I thought would be best. *
He answered. He choose me. At the time I naively judged this answer to be a horrible mistake. Not only would I ruin our children's academic lives and our mother-child relationships but think of all the time 'wasted' at home while I could be doing 'real' ministry at the hospital.Looking back now I shudder to think of what I would of missed. Thank you Lord for the privilege of learning with my children and the memories of our times together!
Tears and laughter [sometimes in the same day / hour] and every feeling in-between bonded our family closer together over our years of learning at home.
Flexibility!!! A project needing more hands, visitors, trips, unusual event or just need an afternoon off? No problem-we can do that. Great books causing begging for 'one more chapter'- ok. French teacher needs to change class time-sure. Want to continue school all summer so your children can be in Michigan for deer hunting in November with grandpa-why not?
Character Building! While the time together does allow for many hours of additional parenting I'm not talking about my kid's now but myself. I'm thankful not to be the person who started homeschooling many years ago. All my relationships in life benefit from the lessons and shaping that the Lord's done in my life by placing me in the roll of homeschool teacher.
Intellect. My students will tell you that learning now protects your brain from degenerative illnesses later in life therefore Faith. So many times I still feel over my head and call out to the Lord for wisdom and help.
Junior and Senior high school open up a new batch of challenges and opportunities for my character building. I know that my prayers now remain more open to His leading and contain less of my 'advice' [or how I think things should be!]
Academically: Both Eli and Anna doing well.
Mother / child relationships: Strong, growing, maturing.
Ministry: Healthy.
While my ministry looks nothing like what I envisioned years ago, I know I'm doing what the Lord planned for me for this season of life.
Through the unknown future we can confidently push ahead knowing that our loving Father answers our prayers with the plan that is best for us, even if we cannot see how at the time.
*We remain dependent on our prayer team and very grateful for the powerful support that under-girths our homeschool.
2 comments:
So cool that you can see the guidance and support over the years - and that your parenting and ministry has flourished.
And no wondering what kind of teachers your children are going to have each year. Certainly they also get a better teacher each year because the teacher is growing along with the students.
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