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If you'd asked me about homeschooling before 1995 I’d have said,
"Any parent who does that must be crazy."
Well, count me crazy.
Here I am going into the tenth year with three kids.
How'd that happen?
Some years into our
marriage my wonderful husband John and I began talking about having
children.
We had to see the doctors first, because I'd been told that I
probably would not be able to get pregnant.
We went through all the
fertility stuff.
Miracle of miracles--
I got pregnant! I was on cloud
nine!
Then I miscarried. I was
so angry at God. How could He do this to me! How could He give me hope
and then snatch it out of my hands! But, alas, that little life is now
with God, even though only 6 weeks old. Someday I'll get to hold that
child.
After many more tries we
both decided to stop. Besides, my biological clock was running down,
and the procedures were taking all the romance out of our life.
We
began discussing adoption through
fostering. We realized there were older kids who may never get adopted,
since most people preferred babies, so we specified we were
interested in children over the age of 4 years. After a few classes
and screening by the county, we were approved. Sometime later we were
called about a 5 year-old little boy named Daniel. He came to us in
January 1993. Three years later in August 1996, Everett, who was 7,
and Angela, who'd just turned 6, came to us. Oh yes, I can’t leave
out the family dog Chewy.
He’s adopted too!
Our family has truly
been put together by God himself. We call ourselves “God's Ice Cream
Sundae Family!” You're probably saying,
“What’d she say?”
OK. Let me explain. John
has a pinkish cast to his skin because of his German heritage, so he’s
“strawberry.” Daniel's complexion is very white, so he’s “vanilla.”
Everett has Hispanic heritage, so he’s “caramel.” Angela’s India and
Hispanic completion makes her our “little chocolate girl.” My ancestry
is Cherokee, so I’m “butterscotch,” which is John's favorite flavor.
We are God's own Ice Cream Sundae! The kids add that Chewy is
sprinkled over the top because he’s the nutty topping!
I learned to
read later than most kids, so I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d be homeschooling. I was
forced into thinking about other possibilities
when I realized that Daniel was having a horrible first grade year in
regular school. I prayed and prayed. What should I do? God kept
bringing homeschool parents into my life. That was great for them, I
thought, but not me. My sweet husband had complete confidence in my
abilities, but I didn't. It took a while, but as God
continued to work in my heart and mind I finally decided that this was
the best direction to take for Daniel.
I started homeschooling
in September 1995. It was good to get one year under my belt with
just one child because the next year I had Everett and Angela.
Homeschooling actually helped us bond as a family.
It was at this time that
my love for reading began to blossom. I discovered the classics and
was having a great time reading them to the kids. Unfortunately, I
didn’t know then what I know now and I did a lot of things wrong.
Believe me, I can tell you exactly how to make your kids absolutely
never want to hear you read out loud to them again! Yep, I did just
that. So, you see, I’ve had to learn from my mistakes, and I’m so
thankful that God’s grace covers a multitude!
When people ask how many
hours we homeschooled each day I tell them that we never stop. They
get an odd look on their face and then I clarify our
philosophy. We never stop learning, so we never stop homeschooling. We
try to capture each “teachable moment” as it presents itself with
the kids. We call this a “lifestyle of learning.”
When a person decides to
homeschool today there’re lots of mistakes they can avoid simply by
being informed. Now that I’ve done this for a while, I love to
share what I’ve learned about homeschooling with others. It’s such a
joy to teach parents the simple ways to go about this noble
occupation.
Contact Nancy
Homeschool Links:
First Class
Christian Homeschool Co-Op
WATCH =
Washington Association of Teaching Christian Homes
WHO =
Washington Homeschool Organization
HSLDA = Home School Legal Defense Association
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