Writing Beyond the Rules-Thornton Burgess
I hope you’ve already read some of this author’s work. Â If not, let me introduce you to a new friend who will bring nature into your home through stories. Â Thornton Burgess is known in a lot of homeschool circles, most often for his books The Burgess Book of Birds, The Burgess Book of Animals, and the Burgess Book of the Seashore. Â Though my eight year old most enjoys his thin chapter books such The Adventures of Reddy Fox.
For my own enjoyment I’ve been reading his autobiography, Now I Remember. I plan on marking some passages to read aloud to the kids this year, a bit of an author study as we read the Burgess Book of Animals to compliment our animal study this year.
The passage I want to share with you is less about nature, and more about his writing process.
“Do I make an outline? As I’ve already stated, I do not…
In school I was taught that in writing a story I should first make an outline, a plan or a plot, developing this as I went along. Â A good story must have a good plot preceding the writing of it. Â I agree with this all but the “preceding”. Â When I write a story it has a plot, afterward, not before. Â Of course I am wrong, but I am right-for me…
I gather that to the average writer a good preliminary plot is what a blueprint is to a builder or engineer. Â To me it is but a stumbling block. Â It gets in my way….
One of my greatest disappointments in life was to forego a college education. Â With my mother depending on me I had to go to work instead of college. Â Now, looking back, I can see that had a gone to college I might have fallen under the influence of professors who would have changed my whole train of thought, leading me to conform to their accepted and unquestionably correct rules governing self-expresssion and good writing. Â Thus might have been destroyed, or been sidetracked, such originality as I possess. Â As it was I was forced to work out my own salvation in a way. Â In doing so I developed a style peculiarly my own.”
(chapter 24, Now I Remember)
His thoughts spur on my efforts to release the voice of my children through the written word. Â I don’t have the way fully realized, but I don’t think I’m going to find it in a packaged Language Arts or Writing Curriculum-even though those clear steps seem so satisfying. Â If I hold off on workbooks and mechanics, and instead I remain in this place of discovery, a little bit of uncertainty (Burgess didn’t know how his story would end), I’m hoping they’ll end up as writers who write to communicate, rules optional.
So my plan? Â We’ll write. Â Often. Â It’s the same idea if you want to learn to draw-sketch everyday. Â Most people can learn to follow five steps to draw a proper bird, but not everyone will discover his or her own style:
Learning Near a Big City
I grew up in a city but my heart belonged to the beach on the edge of the city.
I moved to another city for college and another city for marriage and it’s no New York, but it’s a great city and we love it.
One of our favorite questions to ask each other is “Do you want to live in the city or the country?”
None of us can answer with a distinct yes or no.
I love the idea of wide open spaces for my children to roam, of a slower life, of a closer relationship with nature.
I also love my library, my coffee shop, a short drive to the grocery store, and a life without wildlife that gets too friendly.
No matter how we might answer the question in the hypothetical, our trip to Chicago this past week had me mentally planning school as if all of the great places we visited were just around the corner.
First we visited Oak Park, and took a walk around the neighborhood, picking out our “new” house. Â A lot of the houses looked prime for secret crawl spaces and hidden rooms. Â The neighborhood is also home to the studio of Frank Lloyd Wright and many houses designed by him can be found nearby. Â We dragged our hot and sweaty selves into our friend’s favorite bookstore. Â I’ve always dreamed of walking from our house to a coffee shop, park, and library. Â (That’s one point for the city side of the question).
For the rest of the week we parked ourselves in Batavia, an hour out of Chicago and surrounded by great little towns and more than we could do in our short time (add 4 kids and two tired parents).
We were all impressed with the Dupage Children’s Museum. Â If you’ve been to a children’s museum, you tasted a piece of this three story exploratorium. Â Famous art lined the walls with correalating activities in color, sound, and structure. Â In my head I planned our return trips. Â First we’d study color and shadows and head back to that section next time. Â Then we’d study construction, a unit on wood and tools and head back to the construction exhibit. Â Then we’d come back and just explore the section with giant tools to build marble runs. If we lived there.
The next day we took the train to the Field Museum.
The Museum blew us all away and we didn’t even get to see two of the exhibits because there is so much to see. Oh my, the Underground Adventure where you get to see what’s under the soil as if you’re the size of an ant. Our six year old still sincerely believes he was shrunk to half and inch for thirty minutes of his life!
The egyptians, the native americans, the dinosaurs, the animals, oh my.
My favorite area was the section on North American Birds. Â Every single bird was represented. Birds we had only read about and now we got to examine them up close. Â I wanted to get sketch books and come back-every week! Â If we lived there.
And finally we visited the Aboretium. Â If you’re familiar with Nashville, this was like Cheekwood hiked up three levels. Â An amazing children’s section designed to get kids close to nature. Â A garden maze, and miles of trails. Â My friend asked me, “If you were a member here, how many times would you visit in the year?” Â Twice a month, or even better yet, once a week and that would be school for the day.
We’re not pulling up roots and moving out of Nashville, but I do wish we could pull up Nashville and move it atleast four hours closer to Chicago.
Summertime Mama
“Do you school all year round or just the normal school year?”
I pondered this question in those first few years and a older friend said something that’s always stuck and always led me to choose a true summer break.
“My kids have me as teacher mom all through the school year,” she said, “I’m always assigning tasks, telling them something they need to do. Â During the summer, they need me to just be Mom.”
Her simple explanation continues to resonate.
There was the spring that we had taken many breaks because of a medical issue with my Dad. Â I felt pressed to “finish” school, to work long into June, to keep going with Math through the summer. Â After several weeks of schooling in June, I realized we needed to stop. Â I needed to stop. Â And not look back at the books until August.
This morning, our second day of summer break, the 3 older kids played Monopoly until the toddler and I showed up for breakfast(around 9). Â I read aloud during breakfast, they ran off to do their morning chores, and then I surprised them by putting on a video. Â (Only a homeschool family watches Winged Migration, a documentary, for fun, but we did and the two year old acted out the flight patterns of birds. )
My 8 year old made a wise crack during the movie and couldn’t stop laughing at herself. Â I watched her, my eyes lingered on her, without thinking of what task I needed to remind her of, and I smiled. Â We then watched the two year old do acrobatics on the living room chair, and I didn’t have to think once about sending her off with an older sibling so I could do math with the 6 year old.
After a leisurely lunch they headed off to play their marathon monopoly game. Â As I sat here to begin this blog, I realized that the 3 siblings hadn’t fought once during the game over the last few days. Â My dark mom side told me that they would fight soon enough, after the luxury of less schedule turned into bored picking and fighting. Â And then I stopped myself from predicting doom and I remembered my daughter’s laughter from earlier and I thought,
Let’s just take it day by day.
My children need me to have less outside goals and desire just to be with them and delight in them.
So what about math and reading? Â We have a creative way to incorporate reading into our summer and some math games we’ll play so those multiplication and adding skills don’t get lost in the backyard pool(though monopoly seems to be doing the trick right now!).
What about you? Â Do you school in the summer? Â Do you have any secrets for spending time with your children during the school year without always having an agenda or reminder?
Time to Review the School Year-Just Ask Your Kids
We have three official days of school left before the teacher hat goes on the rack for a while and the mom hat leads the way into summer.  Of course I’m thinking about the successes and not-so-successes of the year and making notes for our next year, because that’s just how a homeschool mom-brain works.  In the midst of my mental review, I came across Jimmie’s post with a list of great questions with which to ply the kids and found exactly what they thought about our learning this year, and what they’re most eager to take on next fall(eager is a strong word, they are eager to go swimming, but they are interested in a few studies after their summer break).
So what did I learn from their questionnaires? (I decided to give the questions in a written format, I knew they would like the feel of their opinions as “official” in print.)
A few things were confirmed:
The 10 year old doesn’t like math or cursive. Â The eight year old loves both.
That’s been the pattern for years now. Â It’s not a surprise that they wrote it down in black and white.
History and Art have been a favorite for the whole family this year.
My feelings about history have undergone a radical transformation. Â I’m sure it’s partially that and the fact that we filled our home with great stories with the help of Truthquest that led both girls to include history under “What should we spend more time studying?”.
Nature has become a new interest(the study of, not just the act of being in it) for all of us. Â Both girls asked for more nature study.
I’ve already been writing down ideas for nature study units next year, after our wonderful time studying birds this spring, and it’s so encouraging to read their answers and know that I won’t be pulling them into nature study, they’ll be running right along with me.
Both girls really enjoy doing projects and field trips.
After five years of homeschooling(I guess that’s six if I include preschool for my oldest), we’ve run the gamut of hands-on everything, pre-packaged curriculum, unit studies, and trying out Apologia textbooks. Â I’ve realized that even though I learn best through hands-on activities(and therefore have used hands on as our main learning technique until this year), our history has thrived predominately through reading great books. Â I might have been tempted to take that new freedom(of not doing a lot projects) into next year and miss the fact that the girls still enjoy games and field trips and “doing it” as the 8 year-old so rightly put it. Â I need to carry a balance of both into our studies next year.
What surprised me?
Under “What like skills would you like to learn?”, both girls mentioned “using money wisely”. Â And the 8 year old mentioned grammar(in her defense I did not explain the term life skills before she started answering.) Â But I didn’t know anyone in the family was actually ASKING to learn grammar or learn money skills. Â Which has brought me around to thinking about life skills this summer and next school year. Â Cooking, which I have backed off on letting them help in the last year or two in order to bring peace in that 5pm hour. Â Sewing, can I bring my mom up for a week during the school year for “sewing school”?Money-ooh, I need to work on MY money skills. Â I think a lot about character and spiritual learning, and I’m glad when our academic learning can take a step forward, but thank to Jimmie’s question, I’ll be making a list of life skills as well.
What’s not going to change despite this window into their thoughts?
When asked, “What do you think we should spend less time studying?”, the 10 year old replied, “Math and cursive.”
We have a teriffic math program, math is just a tough subject for her and made even tougher by learning with a younger sister that’s quicker with numbers. Â We’ll march on. Â Cursive is a lovely skill even if miniature keyboards are taking over the world. Both will stay.
So go ask your children some questions. Â You might be surprised, encouraged, and get in a nudge in the right direction for your post swimming pool studies.
Capture the Heart, and the Grammar Will Follow
We’re wrapping up our bird study this week with a final saturation. Â Today we took a couple of online quizzes to test our bird idenitification skills. Â With elbows and pats on the back we spotted bird after bird that would have been unrecognizable two months ago.The kids grab their bird books whenever we leave the house without any suggestive comment from me. Â We share a passion with Grandma now that can continue for years past our official learning time. Â Birding is no longer something I’m teaching them, they feel their own sense of ownership and kinship to these diverse, beautiful creatures.
On the other hand, I also looked through the girls individual assignments they’ve been working on to earn their bird nature patch at the local Nature Center. Â Allowing them to be independent, which is a little newer around here, I haven’t been checking over their work at each step.
Today I got the full picture and and I saw detailed information about bird species, habitat, anatomy, eating habits, and migration. Â I also saw partial sentences, lower case letters to start a sentence, sloppy handwriting, misspelled words, and mistakes crossed out instead of erased and re-written. Â The heart of the work was there, the presentation was lacking!
And whose fault is it? Â We haven’t spent much time on all things grammatical. Â It’s on my list for next year. Â Should I now berate myself and erase mentally what we’ve learned through our nature and art study in the recent months. Â The voice in my head begins, “If my child attended fill-in-the-blank school or lived with such-and-such-homeschool family, I’m sure they would get all of their skills at the same time with the same amount of excellence.”
I could run toward worry. Â I certainly have asked myself some questions today as I went over the necessary corrections with the girls(note: they are turning in this work for their badge, this isn’t work heading into the trash, which is why the focus on appearance presented itself).
Or I can breathe.
Wait, my breathing seemed a little too much like breathing during labor.
Let’s try again.
Do they have to learn all of their skills with equal ability in the 3rd and 4th grade?
Wouldn’t I rather have it this way than perfect punctuation without a bit of interest or passion?
I have a feeling if their hearts are captured with learning, the mechanics will follow easily enough when we’re ready.
My Best Kept Secret
Here’s my best kept secret about homeschooling. Â Are you ready? Okay, I may have shared it before, maybe it’s not even a secret anymore? I could go scrolling back though posts, but it’s much more fun this way.
Lean in close, I’ll whisper it just between you and me.
I’m always learning something new. Â Sure I’m the teacher, but I don’t know most of what I’ve taught from my education. I’ve absorbed it as we’ve gone along and best of all, Â I’ve learned to love learning.
Did that seem like a worthy secret? Â It almost feels like a guilty pleasure to enjoy learning about the world, art, math, history in way I never experienced when I was the student.
What are my qualifications for teaching?
I was a very average student who struggled with math and science, connected history to the bubbles on the multiple choice test, and don’t even get me started on geography. Â B-O-R-I-N-G. Â Somewhere along the middle school years, learning new things began to intimidate me. Â Convinced I probably wouldn’t get it, whatever the lesson of the day, I stopped applying myself to academic classes. Â Even into adulthood this fear stuck with me. Â I didn’t want to take a chance of looking foolish and I was relieved that my days of learning were behind me, since learning happened in school.
I remember when my mentor first mentioned she was planning to homeschool her family. Â She explained, “I want them to love learning.”
That resonated deep in my insecure heart and I continued her thoughts in my head even though I didn’t even have kids yet, “I want them to learn for reasons more than just getting answers right on a test. Â I want them to know they are artists and not have that taken away. Â I want their learning to spill outside the concrete walls.”
My goals were for my someday-in-the-future kids, but my own fear of learning (and failing), and the related boredom at all subjects outside of literature or the arts wasn’t taken into consideration.
And that’s why this is such a surprise, my own guilty pleasure that I now do math better than I did ten years ago, that the story in history is finally unfolding, and the earth itself is taking on it’s true size and shape.
I saw myself in a neighbor friend that came over  the other day.  My kids wanted to go play explorers in the backyard, a take-off from our months of studying vikings, Columbus, and colonists.
“Oh, we’re studying that in school. Â I always go to sleep and my friend has to keep waking me up, ” our friend replied. Â I saw myself at her age and I looked at my kids and I knew, atleast up to our current studies, that we are well on our way to accomplishing those long ago dreams to instill a love of learning.
I just didn’t know those dreams were for me too.
There’s a Great Big World Out There
My world is pretty small.
We didn’t take family vacations to National Parks and I didn’t fly on a plane until I was 20. Though I live 12 hours from the town that I was born and raised, it’s still in the same corner of the country.  In a few weeks I travel to Colorado which is atleast a jump out of my corner.
It’s not only the distance(or lack thereof) that I’ve traveled that defines my boundaries. Â A small world is a safe world. Â If I stick to people of my same economic background, job position(stay at home, homeschooling mama), ethnicity, beliefs, maybe I can accept my small world as a suitable miniature copy of the larger universe.
Except it’s really not the same-at all.
Though I’ve always wanted to travel, I’ve never possessed a drop of desire to be a missionary. Â A group of my college friends have lived in the inner city of our college town for ten years, sharing food and money, bringing neighbors in to live in their homes, starting home churches, and they even went to the Phillipines for a year to live and serve(about 18, including young children and a baby). Â Now one of those families is off to Germany to live for 3 years and start an underground church.
Have I compared and thought that my daily existence didn’t carry the same outward purpose?  Yes, and no.  Yes,when I think “They are  so much better than I am” and no, because I’ve also felt like I had a mission in my own house.  To keep our family walking steadily with the Lord, and moving slowly away from some of the multi-generational struggles that so hard to break, to grow a strong man and three women who understand the deeper truths of the Lord.  With the myriad of other challenges since becoming a family, it seemed we had enough to attend to in our little corner.
But in the last few months I’ve noticed  a wall that’s sprung up between our family and our goals.  So many of the character traits I’m trying to build into our children are blocked simply by living in our culture.  Thankfulness in a world of consumerism? Diligence in a world of machines to make everything easier and a goal to find leisure and work less each year? Help others when we’re told only to help ourselves?  How do we effectively instill a different perspective if they only experience the middle class world of America?
At the beginning of school we started illustrating the passage of love in 1st corinthians. Â Though it produced some great art for our sketch books I couldn’t get them to connect the verses to their own lives. Â “Love does not boast” was a great drawing of a wrestler who is being obnoxious from winning the round juxtaposed next to the love character who politely says in his cartoon window “I won!” Â How will this help them understand the nature of God’s love and the love we’re called to give?
We remained at the wall and in the meantime I grew more frustrated and discontent with all of my responsibilities and challenges. Â Poor me!
It’s usually around this time that another voice calmly speaks to my heart. Â Our family needed to turn our focus off of ourselves and on to a much bigger, more diverse, poor and hurting, beautiful and inspiring world and get a big dose of perspective. Â And put God’s word into action instead of a sketchbook.
Bit by bit the door is opening and I don’t know what the door flung open will look like. Â But here are two resources we’ve been looking at daily.
This first book is one that I’ve seen around homeschool sites for many years but couldn’t buy it and couldn’t find it at the libary. Now our library has it and we’ve been taking a few pages at a time.
Material World by: A Global Family Portrait by Peter Menzel
Through this book you travel around the world gathering a picture of families-what they own, their income, their wishes and hopes for their future. Â Each time the location changes there is a photograph of a family in front of their home with all of their wordly possessions(furntiure, bicycles) surrounding them. Â From clay houses and huts to large homes in Britain and Iceland, our eyes are wider. Â Here are some facts that have surprised the kids.
- One yearly income was 119 dollars, only a little more than double the generous check my daughter received for her birthday. Â The 7 year old who, after getting the money, had quickly decided she needed 100 dollars not fifty, dropped her jaw.
- Or the communal baths a mile away open 2 days a week,
- and the one room houses with 11 family members made the sharing of a room seem a little silly.
- Or when we realized the items we put out with our garage sale last weekend tripled what some families will ever own. Â And that was what we were getting ride of-our waste.
- We found one family who doesn’t dispose of anything-nothing they consume includes any trash that needs to be thrown away. Â We throw away a bag of trash a day-how could it be possible to live without any garbage?
Missionary Stories with the Millers
There are many other missionary stories and books, this was the one we had on hand and it’s been a picture of heroes and what it means to have faith in God. Â It’s also a reminder that we have a greater purpose than maintaining ourselves and our own lives.
It’s not a soapbox to climb on or a guilt trip that I hope to wake up from. Â It’s a discovery of truth. Â Looking for the wider world makes my world look more not less. Â Instead of seeing how little we have to give, we see how our smallest offerings make a difference.
It’s a journey for sure, but my heart seems to growing along with my world.
How does your corner look today?
Pictures Confirming We’re “That Family”
In the immediate surrounding neighborhood, we’re the only family I know of that homeschools. Â Added to the fact that our driveway abuts the house immediately to our right and the wife and grown-up daughter both have long-standing public school jobs and you might understand why I wonder sometimes what people think of our family.
The family sharing our driveway have a wide open view for every day that
we didn’t homeschool during the sick, pregnant days,
the hours spent outside instead of sweating over workbooks,
the days we just played monopoly when my dad was in the hospital,
and they keenly see that we stop way before public school days ends.
They don’t ask me any questions(I wish they would) but they ask my kids, “What did you do in school today?” and it’s always on the day that the answer sounds like “We just played monopoly today” or “My mom’s too busy taking care of my grandad to do school today.” Â and never on the days that they’re overflowing with excitement about explorers, math games, art, or new reading skills.
I go back and forth over being concerned with the perception of our family. Â I think our learning life is great, moving with the seasons of real life, but I can let what others might think buzz in sometimes.
This was one of those days. Â The kids had created beautiful paint with chalks and quickly switched from decorating the sidewalk to decorating each other. Â And of course, being kids, they wanted to show off the fashion statement on anyone who walked by the house. Â I didn’t discourage them in anyway but inside I thought, “This seals it. Â Now we’re the family who’s kids are always home, outside during school hours, and look at how their mother lets them run wild.”
Oh, well.  Maybe next time I’ll join them and really give the neighbors something to talk about. Ooh, and I can paint baby Sparkles, too.
Do you ever struggle with the opinion of others toward your unique lifestyle?
Best-Laid Plans
When I get a few hours to school plan on the weekend, the chart my husband made for me looks beautiful, complete, a promise of the accomplishments in the days ahead.
On the whole I’ve found it’s incredibly helpful to have specific plans written down so I know my through line when a normal day amongst  our 4 kids muddles my brain.  Here are a few interruptions from last week’s best-laid plans.
- A birthday for the new 8 year old(including surprise cupcakes delivered to the tutorial we started in the fall)
- 4 colds
- 1 two hour trip to the doctor
- The baby, with one of the colds, needs extra attention
- New(unscheduled) interests pop up
Basically, Life happens.
That’s when amnesia strikes. Â I forget any lessons I’ve learned from the last five years of this homeschool journey.
“I failed today” begins in a nagging drone.
School tasks only partially accomplished, chores half completed and a completely grumpy mom and kids by four o’clock. What’s successful about that?
“Failure!” continues, louder and frantic.
A smaller voice, much calmer and steady, “This is a lifestyle. Â Don’t you remember? Â Your success is not a series of completed tasks. Â Your week looks messy up close, stand further back, don’t look for the neat and tidy picture, take a wider gaze.”
I can be so forgetful, in the daily chaos, that the lessons for each of us aren’t contained within that beautiful chart.
This is what I see when I stand back:
Kids who are begging me to read more Shakespeare, acting out his plays and narrating them in detail(not on the plan, not in the scope of our American history this year).
One child read three Little House on the Prairie books this week(it wasn’t on the read aloud list).
Kids who are saving and earning their own money, buying and handling their change and making wise decisions(not math lesson 56 this week).
Miniature newspapers created with advertisements, news reports, contests, and cartoons diligently and excitedly worked on(the day of the two hour surprise doctor appointment).
An eight year old who’s found a new vehicle  to spread encouraging words(and it’s contagious) when she’s struggled so much to be verbally encouraging.  (Though we didn’t get our writing assignment done this week, these came straight from the heart, not spurred on by me).  An example:
“Dear Joshua,
Thank you for the silly band. Â I think your kind to give away things like that. Â I love you so much Joshua. Â You are kind to give me things like that, here is a list of things you gave me 1.silly band 2. two shels 3. shineing silver rock 5. a letter 6. one cent.
You are kind and I love you.”
Thursday night I hadn’t yet heard this quieter voice and I shared with my husband about the joylessness of being a taskmaster and how I needed to drop some of the expecations on myself of housework, dinner on time, etc. Â Then I could get down on the floor and play with Sparkles, listen to the kids, and be more present even in school work. Â He was so understanding and I was looking forward to revealing the new, more relaxed me the next day. Â But by 9:30 the next morning we were headed out for that two hour doctor’s appointment, which threw off my new plan and I was unsettled again. Â I had been ready for some changes, just changes that I could control.
A new day arrived.
Yesterday the chores didn’t get done, I spent four hours with my new eight year old, listening, not correcting, delighting together.
I can hear that small voice, but I need it to get bigger before the new week begins. Â I need to see the messy picture of our life and realize the best-laid plans are happening.
Just not mine.
Waiting For Perfect
It’s the week before.
The week before we enter another year of school. Â We’ve been homeschooling since our oldest was a little Five in A Row pre-schooler and she’s now entering her 4th year of grade school. Â Her little sister enters 3rd, younger brother kindergarten, and littlest sister begins a year of playing with blocks along side our lessons. Â Five years on this homeschool journey, which sometimes feels like Mr Toad’s Wild Ride.
For some of you this conjures sweet pictures, the really good days of  learning at home-everyone gathered on the couch casting everything else off for another chapter, sharing in a great prayer time or singing verses of the Bible, or the big wow moments when letters come into focus and character falls into place.
For some of the you the idea of  the whole family at home each day conjures the harder moments of homeschooling-the loneliness, the guilt when you feel like you’re not doing enough, the routine which can feel like a trap after endless winter months.
This summer, for the first time, an ever teasing truth(usually spoken to me by non-homeschooling moms) landed on me with a vengeance: what I’m doing is hard. Â When my olders went off to art camp and the bickering lightened and the youngers and I swept about each day fancy free without the guilt that I should be doing something more, a thought found it’s way through that I’d always kept at bay, “This is what’s it’s like to have kids go to school.”
But let me add in some context. Â I had already girded myself for last year, knowing that our young babe would add an extra challenge to the days. Â What I failed to armor up for was a 4 month hospital stay for my father and all the other details that go into that story. Â I came out of this year reeling. Weighted down by relentless responsibility and my vision cloudier as each day of guilt and effort continued.
Heading into the next year, none of the extra weight has lifted. Â I walk through my house and climb into my car with a whirlwind of thoughts that must be a visible blur of movement.
How will I keep 18 month old baby sparkles satisfied while we truly dive into the Word, great books, and stories from history?
How will I also set  the olders off and running to independent learning so that I can sit and enjoy every shaky step and misspoken word of Sparkles?
How can I keep up the myriad of chores, lessons, character teaching required each day without making myself sick from my own voice and it’s constant call to work, move, produce?
Will we find time to be in the here and now, to laugh loudly, to celebrate moments that have nothing to do with what’s on a list?
How will I recharge in the evenings when I’m off checking on my Dad, how will detailed school planning happen, when will I stop, breathe, and be responsible for nothing and no one but myself for just a few short minutes.
The thought “Why are you choosing this path if it’s so hard for you right now?” is a growing whisper in your head. Â Stick with me, I’m getting there.
Tonight my schoolroom sits in shambles, shelves half rearranged, old curriculum thrown to the side, clay projects from two years ago with no place to call home. Â For the last few weeks I’ve fed that hungry whirlwind with lesson plans, strategies for Baby Sparkles, new chore charts to smooth out the care of our home. Â I see the countdown to monday is bearing down and I keep thinking that a good year for us all hinges on my ability to get everything just right. Â If the schoolroom is perfectly organized, if the lessons are perfectly written down, if I have a chart that breaks down the day’s duties, if I can just calm the whirlwind into perfect control, we’ll be alright.
Does anything seem faulty, this idea luring me toward skewed priorities and a dependence on the wrong thing(my control) to keep us afloat this year? Â So I left the schoolroom dangling and sat down to give myself a kick in the pants.
A few weeks ago, in a moment of calm weather(outward and inward), the Lord held back my good intentions of planning and helped me write a mission statement for our school instead. Â It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years, hoping it will be a compass this year, when inevitably(the first day most likely) things will slip right out of my hands. Â By looking at it right now, and sharing it with you, I hope that it will remind me that the reason our family has chosen this path has little to do with a schoolroom organized by the dewey decimal system or whether we finish our first year of american history in exactly 36 weeks, or whether my 18 month old acts like a perfectly normal 18 month old!
I haven’t spent too much time editing this or adding in verses to guide each letter of the acronym, this feels like enough to steady us this year.
GUEST FAMILY HOMESCHOOL MISSION STATEMENT
“-that you may shine like the stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life-“
PHILLIPIANS 2:15
Learn for a life time: about God’s world through history, science, and art in order to see His beauty and creativity, power, and love, that we might praise Him and trust Him more.
Identify: journeying with each child as he/she discovers the talents, gifts, passions the Lord has uniquely given them, making a path for those passions to grow. Also helping them to embrace their unique personalities, celebrate their character strengths, and encourage their weaknesses.
Give generously to each other as we honor others above ourselves, building a family who loves, encourages and enjoys one another. Â As a family we will give generously to others, instilling a purpose that is outward and sacrificial in God’s love.
Honor the Lord with our bodies and minds, learning lifetime habits of prayer, study, healthy eating, and exercise.
Teach God’s word, instructing our hearts through the Word of life, learn His ways above the ways of the world, knowing that His Word gives light to our path, gives joy to our soul, gives wisdom to our heart. This will be unique with each person in our household-each will have a unique relationship with Lord, focusing not on perfect outward behavior, but hearts that yield to the Lord.
I hope the above answers the “why” I’m doing this even though it’s hard. Â We’ve been called to run this particular race, and run it with perseverance and endurance, hopefully shining a little more as we go. Â A homeschooling mom of five shared with me just the other day that she’s been praying for God to give her a strategy for this next year. Â I loved the prayer immediately and thought surely He would give me great specific ideas to quell all of my worries. Â Though I’m sure He does care about those details, I think the Mission statement He’s given me is my strategy. Â It’s a strategy of a greater purpose and of an even greater God.
