The Rat Race

I have spent a couple of my most recent posts  begging for your prayers of wisdom. I have been at a loss, not knowing how best to love a family that is close to ours that is having some difficulty, and now that we do  have some concrete ideas I find that I am back to begging again because the ramifications of putting these ideas into action would have a significant effect every member of our (not so) little family.

Big changes.


So, here is where we are at:

1. We are considering inviting the teenage-girl we have been praying for to live with us for however long God would have her stay. She has before, but she was a preschooler then and well... did I mention she is a teenager now?

 Our hope is that this would give the family some space to breath. There is a lot of raw emotion in the home and we all know it is easier to deal with things clearly when our emotions are not constantly raw or agitated. Our biggest hope is that there is restoration of fellowship for everyone (in the broadest sense possible), and oddly enough this seems to fit.

Logistically, for us this means more cramped quarters, especially for the little girls who would be sleeping four-to-a-room (I never in my life would have dreamed that one day I might need three sets of bunk beds to house my children). We don't live in a large home, but God usually does not seem to care that all the conditions are 'right' when he asks us to do things, now does He?

Darn. I love it when my conditions are 'just-so'.


2. None of my children have ever set foot in a public or private school. We do a home school co-op on Fridays as a family and that is the closet thing they have ever gotten to institutional learning. Our guest, on the other hand, has never known anything but public school and at the current time, traditional public Jr. High is not doing her any favors. However, I am completely overwhelmed at the thought of homeschooling someone who may not welcome it and who will be having enough changes to deal with, thank-you-very-much, without me yanking her out of her comfort zone entirely. So What to do?

Like I said, traditional Jr. High? Not a pretty picture. There is one option that has come to mind, and that is the K-8 magnet school in our town that resembles what an unschooling home might look like if they had a couple hundred children.

We are thinking of taking this route and putting the three oldest girls in together.
One of my girls really wants to go, the other wants-to-want-to-go, but has always had to own the idea of something before she dives in.

We are going to go visit next Tuesday; It is a lottery process to get in but if one member of a household is accepted, any others who apply get to get in too.

We like the size of the school, the fact that it places emphasis on bringing the whole family into the school community (I would probably volunteer one day a week), and yes, I do love the fact that the only assigned homework they give is nightly reading.

That leaves our evenings for us, just as it should be.

We are also hoping that we will be able to still attend our homeschool co-op on Friday mornings while it is in session, because the relationships we are forming have been amazing and our kids L.O.V.E it.  I also want this sweet girl to see true Christian community and only hope that lasting relationships would be formed for her as well.

So yeah, we may be entering The Rat Race.

If you remember, it would mean the world to me to know that you were lifting our situation up.

Not going to lie -I am a bit anxious.

If this is the way He is calling us to serve, then I'll get over the anxiety; Mostly I just need clarity.

We are committed to walk through any door that He opens.

Any words of advice or encouragement are welcome too.

Notice of Intent

I just stumbled across an article in the community section of our paper that featured several locals who were reminiscing about their first days of school. Isn't it amazing how the memory of certain experiences never diminish? I remember my first day of first grade so very well. It began the evening before with a new 'Tom and Jerry' book bag and a soda shared with my father. I remember feeling very grown up despite the fact my toes couldn't even touch the floor from the restaurant chair where I was sitting. I loved the sensation a swinging my legs back and forth as I paused from my excited chatter just long enough to sneak another peak at my new school supplies below. That night I was to stay at my neighbor's home because my father had to work. I did not mind a bit either, because my neighbor had promised to do my hair up nice in the morning. Dad was good a lots of stuff, but styling my long hair never topped the list.


I woke up the next day long before there was motion anywhere else in the house. I don't know how many times I was sent back to bed before I finally had the green light to throw off my covers. I was ready to go to school and I was ready to get those curlers off of my head. I had high expectations for the day and I wanted to waste no time.


My dad waited with me at the bus stop with the other kids' moms. Finally, the bus came and off I went. When I arrived at my class I was seated next to a girl named Teressa. Our desks were bumped together and placed smack dab in the center row, right in the middle of the classroom. Teressa did not say much, but kept looking at me funny. I was the one to break the silence. My first words to her were,"Don't worry, my hair doesn't always look like this." She remained a girl of few words. All she could come up with was,"Good!"


The rest of the school day is now a blur, but what I do recall is getting off the bus from the return trip and bolting as fast as I could back to where I knew Dad would be. When I swung open the door to our apartment I was crying and declared that I had no need to go back. After Dad did a bit of sleuthing he discovered that I was mostly upset because my teacher was a 'boy'. Up until that one devastating day I had not known that men could be teachers. It's interesting to note that this scene would be repeated on the last day of the school year after I discovered that this same teacher would not be mine for the Second Grade. It turned out that he was a GREAT teacher and I was going to miss his cartwheels during spelling. That day however, I just wanted to be home with my dad.


It is now twenty-six years later and tomorrow is the first day of school in our school district. I am absolutely convinced that homeschool is the right thing for our family, but it still causes me to pause when I think that I won't be gathering with other moms at the bus stop and that my daughter won't be entering a first grade classroom without me, even though she is now seven and has reached our state's age of mandatory enrollment. She won't learn what text books are, or about the need to look like everyone else. Tomorrow she will be home with Mom and Dad, her sister and her brothers. We will read about Mr. Popper and his penguins and we will cook. She will undoubtedly empty her jar of money onto the floor to be counted just as she does everyday, even though she has added nothing to the total since her last calculations.


Yes, I have learned a huge lesson since my very first day of school. Not only can 'boys' be instructors, but moms and dads can too. Tomorrow my husband and I will remain her teachers and life will be her classroom. We will do cartwheels out in the yard together and we might even wave at the school bus as it passes by our house.



THIS WAS A RE-POST FROM A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. IT WAS THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL IN OUR DISTRICT TODAY. WE WERE AT THE PARK... AND THE LIBRARY... AND THEN RED ROBIN (ENJOYING THE LACK OF CROWDS) SO THERE WAS LITTLE TIME TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING ORIGINAL. THIS POST'S SENTIMENT PRETTY MUCH SUMMED UP TODAY, ANYWAY. HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED YOURSELVES TODAY TOO-IN WHATEVER FORM SCHOOLING TAKES AT YOUR HOUSE.