how prepared are you?

This week of Christmas has been absolutely wonderful ... I just love spending time with the whole family. Tuesday will come so quickly here, the day life must return to some sense of " normalcy " as my husband needs to return to his other job ... the one that pays in money. but before life gets too mundane, I thought I would share a dream I had this week, and shared at our church this morning.

See, I used to be a runner, though not necessarily by choice; rather, it was thrust upon me. I was on the High School rowing team, and part of our daily regime was to run for an hour if we weren't on the water actually rowing the boat. It was a lot of hard work, but it paid off in the end when we won our races. Anyway, in my dream I was running in some type of school building with lots of stairs, and I knew I had either 31 or 33 laps to run in total. This should have overwhelmed me, as I have exercise-induced asthma in reality, but I was primed and ready ... in spandex.

I looked good. ( this is a dream, you remember ). What caught my eye were the people I saw slumped against the walls of the hall. Each person on the ground had someone on either side of them, though I did not hear any encouraging words or notice any help being offered ... just an awareness that some had given up the race. I stopped. I said to one woman across from me, " how prepared were they anyway? "

Not the politically correct thing to say.

She looked really peeved, but I repeated myself nonetheless ... " no, really ... how prepared were they?" The woman started to run ahead of me, and on the staircase I begged her, " Look at how long my legs are ... they come all the way up to here! " ( I really do have incredibly, rediculously long legs ... am often called crazy legs campbell, but that is another story, for another healing session ) I digress ... I begged her to look at my legs " I was made to run ! " and run I did.

Our Pastor's wife then approached the front of the gym where we meet for service, and said she had a dream only last night where we had all been praising and worshipping Father in song. It must have been 4 am, she remarked, and a priest came into the room and questioned her, as she was the leader, saying: " how can you keep doing this? "

Her easy response was " I was made to worship."

I believe we were made for a purpose that only we can fulfull. I believe that Father has put this deep into our DNA. I believe with all my heart that when we are doing the things we were created for it enables us to look into the face of our Maker and feel His presence even more deeply. It is a knowing that slowly creeps into the very fibre of our being and simply resonates. Like a wet finger caressing a crystal goblet until the sound fills the room, and you wonder at its beauty. That painting that becons you to take another look, drawing you in until you are captivated by its complexity. That feeling that comes over you at the dinner table as you silently observe your family enjoying the fruit of your labours and you are reminded of what a good thing "home" is.

Homeschooling is one of those "things" that I feel I was made to "do", and my children feel it too.

Are we really doing our best by them?

Let me begin by stating the obvious: I am in love with homeschooling ... the concept of it, the wonder and hardship of it, and the actual execution of it, though somedays I wonder why I do it.

What makes me angry is other people. You know the ones I mean ... all those " they say " ers who live and breathe just to make judgements on anyone who doesn't stir their tea just the way " they say " you should. My friend was out the other day with ALL SIX of her children and her handsome husband, happily shopping when it happened. She braced herself in her usual way, but was a little unprepared for all three " they say " ers to launch their attack at once. Outpoured the usual barrage of stupid unnecessary questions like,

wherever do you buy your curriculum ... what education do you plan to give your children ... are you a teacher ... did you go to University yourself ... how do you manage everything ... why????

It only makes matters worse when, in natural, encouraging, self-defense, one answers such prolific questioners with a simple " oh ... anyone can teach their children at home ... you don't need higher education at all! " Ah yes ... a response only a homeschooler could love.

I ,for one, only need to look in the eyes of my two handsome young men to know why I do what I do ... and that I am doing my best by them.

I leave it to you to decide whether I am edjemicated ( or not ).

lapbooking

This week, as things are winding down for school, we are attempting to complete a lapbook that I purchased at www.homeschoolbuy.com

I am completely impressed...except that Pocahantas did not live in a teepee...none of the Powhatan Indians did actually, though the booklet for her is in the shape of a teepee. Gotta love very observant homeschooled children, eh? The lapbook I purchased is from www.knowledgeboxcentral.com

Well, Pollyanna is over and I am trying to get back into the swing of regular life here, until the auditions next month for our next play! Even my oldest will be auditioning for the young company tonight, for a play called the Phoenix Egg. I am so thankful that we homeschool, for it allows us the luxury of sleeping in if need be, and it also allows us to appreciate our time together each and every day...so night time rehearsals are not a real kink in our family time at all. I love putting the home in school!

Our local newspaper not only ran a featured article on the three Redick sisters in our play, but came to view it also, publishing a second article, a review. This was such great publicity not only for Pollyanna , but also, most importantly, for homeschoolers in general. These young women are happy glad to be home-educated, clearly exhibiting love in their interactions with each other and the cast and crew as a whole.

I am ever so glad to be back at home today, and readying the house for Christmas ... and enjoying the remembrances of the day I was married ... 13 wonder-filled years ago today.

I love you, Neal ... you make me the gladdest. happy anniversary.

homeschooling is difficult

I recently came across a book's quote that I edited to fit a day in the life of a homeschooling family. Here goes,

HOMESCHOOLING IS DIFFICULT. We leave drawings unfinished and stories unwritten. We do work that does not feel like our own. We repeat ourselves. We stop before we have mastered our materials, or continue on long after their potential is exhausted. Often the work we have not done seems more real in our minds than the things we have completed. And so the questions arise: How does homeschooling get done? Why, often, does it not get done? And what is the nature of the difficulties that stop so many who start? (taken from Art and Fear)

Or, perhaps, better still to ask what is the cause of such reticence to begin at all?

Where have all the renegades gone? I have yet to personally meet one whose only goal is to please the Creator, who doesn't care one lick what the neighbours think.

Some days I think I would like to be known as a John the Baptist kind of homeschooler.

I would love to be a voice calling out in the desert places...perhaps a visit to the desert would be a good place to start.

It is awfully cold outside, afterall...

Maybe honey in my tea, sans locusts, is what Father is calling me to revive my spirit with.

Taking the time to rest in Him. To remind myself why we homeschool in the first place.

To rejoice...at home, with my children around me...all day.

In quietness and confidence to find my strength.

- and that's ok.