Thursday, February 28, 2013

Regret?

    
     Recently, while the whole family was having fun in the pool, a woman from Canada asked me "Does your daughter regret not going to public school?" Now I'm used to the socialization question but this was a new one for me. What a strange question. Since Haley was at the other end of the pool I answered for her "She enjoys all the great books she is reading and she loves how quickly she can get all her work done. She has more time for riding her horse and other activities."
     When you homeschool you get a lot of strange questions and comments. A very sweet older family member once said they were sad my kids would not have any friends. I said "Have you met my kids?" The truth is they have gobs of friends. They have more free time now to spend with friends than they did when they went to school. When we are home in NY, Macy sees her best friend 4 times per week. In fact, her friend spends enough time at our house that her parents affectionately replace her last name with our last name. Haley sees her closest friends on Tuesdays when we go to Community Bible Study. This year she started doing all of her science labs with 2 of her friends who are going through the same book. (We are missing those sweet girls while we are in FL but with texting and facetime we are somehow muddling through). Honestly, when we are home in NY, my girls are in too many activities (something I want to re-evaluate when we get back)...swim lessons, gymnastics, karate, Friday co-op (HLACNY shown in picture), plus instrument lessons, horse lessons, and church activities. Unsocialized these kids are not.
    Once someone told me that my kids needed to go to school so they could learn how to handle bullying. Wow! I'm all for learning conflict resolution. My kids get loads of conflict resolution practice (we are spending 3 months in a camper after all). We have even had some small scale bullish behavior from kids for friends and kids in the campground... These are excellent opportunities to teach the girls to not take offense too quickly and to forgive... But bullying is a whole different animal in my mind. Bullying destroys self-esteem. It doesn't "teach."
     Back to Regret... Will Haley regret being homeschooled? I hope not. I hope she views her parents through the lens of mercy. We truly feel homeschooling is giving both girls the best education we can give them (academically and emotionally).  I hope she realizes that regret for the past is just a waste of spirit.  I hope she knows that God will not waste one little experience but will use it all to make her into his child.
     I did talk to Haley about it. She said she likes homeschooling. She remembers going to school and how long everything took. She loves to read her history books and readers. She does miss a few of her school friends but she has wonderful homeschooling friends. She also gets to come to FL and spend time with Grandpa, Great gram, Aunt Kerry, and Uncle Ken. You know, now I'm glad this Canadian lady asked me this question. I'm glad I had a chance to talk it all over with Haley. What an amazing young lady she is.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Flying School, a play by Macy


Monkey- Wake up!! Wake up!!!! Time to give flying lessons!!

Bird- HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU???

I DO NOT GIVE FLYING LESSONS!!

Zebra- Okay, okay!! Stop arguing about the whole flying thing or whatever it is.

Monkey- Zebra, this is our argument! Please stay OUT!!!!

Zebra- Okay, but stop arguing!! All of Africa can hear you guys!!

Bird- (Raspberries the zebra)

Monkey- Okay, back to argument. Looks like somebody forgot bed time last night.

Bird- I DID NOT!!!! Now if you do that ONE MORE TIME, I will wake you up and tell you to give me swinging lessons!!

Zebra- ENOUGH WITH THE FLY-

Poacher 1’s gun- BANG BANG!!!

Zebra, Monkey and Bird- WATCH OUT!! DUCK!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

(All duck and cover their heads)

Bird- Come on!! Let’s go somewhere else! I have a feeling that those poachers are out today.

Monkey- Yeah!!

Zebra- Come on!!

(Curtains close)

(Curtains open)

Poacher 1- Where did those animals go??

Poacher 2- I dunno.

Poacher 1- Hey, look! There’s a rhino!

Poacher 2- Shootitshootit!!!!

Poacher 1’s gun- BANG BANG!!!

Rhino- (Charges the poachers)

Poachers- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

(Curtains close)

(Curtains open)

Bird- We need a plan.

Monkey-For what?

Bird- To drive the poachers away, silly!

Zebra- you’re right!!

Monkey- I know!! I’ll bite their fingers off!

Bird- No No No! this was my plan. Zebra, you neigh to distract them.Then monkey, you run in front of them. Then I’ll peck them. That will drive them away!!

(Curtains close)       

(Curtains open)

Zebra- neigh! neigh!

Monkey- (Runs in front of poachers)

Bird- (Pecks the poachers)

Poachers- LET’S NEVER COME HERE AGAIN!!!!!

(Curtains close)                 (Curtains open) (bows)

Friday, February 8, 2013

Encouragement?

     I'm not a good blogger. I think of a lot to say but... then I procrastinate forever on actually typing out my ideas... until it seems that the news is so old. I think it makes me feel vunerable to have my thoughts and ideas "out there" for the whole world to see. I much prefer math (it's so objective). BUT, I'm going to keep trying...
     Last month I took a trip to Denver. I flew out of Orlando on a Monday. Now, Monday is the best day of the week to do anything difficult. (Why? you ask.) Monday is the day that my dear CBS ladies are together praying. I know they were praying for me and my trip. I also prayed. I prayed that everything would go smoothly and that I would be a blessing to my seat mates... Well, that is not what happened. Instead, my seat mates were a blessing to me.
     On the first flight from Orlando to Atlanta I sat next to a young college student. He was a very enthusiastic Christian with many thought provoking questions and comments. He was very interested in homeschooling. His comments were SO encouraging. We also talked about my mom and her upcoming surgery. The last comment he said to me as we parted ways was "I'll be praying for you and your mom."
     As I walked through the Atlanta airport I asked God "Did I need encouragement Lord?" The truth is yes, I did need encouragement. I still do. Homeschooling is hard. Choosing the curriculum is the easy part. Scheduling the work is not too bad. The hard part is weathering the storms. I struggle with keeping my temper through the whining and complaining. I struggle with self-doubt. Am I doing what is best for my kids? It was refreshing to hear a young college student enthusiastic about homeschooling. And once I think on it more... I can't picture doing anything else. I get the huge blessing of being intimately involved in my kids lives. I know them better than anyone else on the planet. I'm trusting God to use all the hard work for the benefit of my kids. I believe that this is the best education we can offer them. I think I just need to be reminded of all that from time to time.
     On the second flight from Atlanta I sat next to another young college student. This time a girl from Georgia on her way to Colorado for a skiing trip. This girl was in a pre-vet program and was earning money for college by training horses. I told God "you're very funny." If you know my Haley then you know horse training is her dream. God is good to me. He gave me two examples of amazing young people because he want to fan the flame of my hope in the future. "OK God. I get it. I need to stay the course and believe you have good plans for my kids. Thanks God."