The curious thing about having High Schoolers is that they have their own goals. While Kurt and I as parents still want to be a large influence in their lives, and we want them to graduate High School with a quality education, there are other things to consider each day, week, and month of this journey.
The biggest consideration is what God wants then to do with their lives. Where is He leading them? Besides that, each girl has their own likes and dislikes, their own strengths and weaknesses to learn with and through. This makes each day a little different from the one before it and behind it on our path. In the nitty-gritty of life, each girl has a sheet with their assignments for the semester. Book titles, not chapter breakdowns. I am always trying to be available to help them work out how much needs done in each subject, yet things so often overlap that its not always easy to say where one ends and another begins. Both Emily & Arlene tend to work things in a block schedule, doing subjects like history and science only two or three times a week, but in larger chunks than in a traditional schedule. Math is probably the one subject where they need to keep working daily.
I know I could push them really hard to achieve some huge world-inspired educational goals, but that would not serve God's purpose. I believe He wants them to first and foremost learn to trust Him with the everyday details. Reading your Bible is a daily thing here. No, we don't all sit down together and have a family devotional each morning... if you're having a difficult time with this concept, because it doesn't look like your home, look back at our post about working while home educating. The girls do read their Bibles, and we talk about what they've read. We also do a lot of talking these days about all the bad examples in the Bible... people we don't want to be like. Emily has been reading Judges recently... if she thinks that's bad behavior, wait until she gets to Kings! Arlene and I more often talk about the sermon from Sunday, and how thankful we are for Christ's finished work on the cross.
How did we get to this time with High Schoolers? One day at a time. As I've gone through old photos for the posts this week, memories surfaced of so many fun, crazy, or weird things we've done. There was that one exhibit at the State Museum about hair art...
Did I organize my photos or scrapbooks this week? Nope, sorry Michele, I don't think I'll get to week 13 of organizing my photos anytime soon... unless I title it "How I didn't do any cleaning this week"-LOL! Did I enjoy looking at the pictures of the girls when they were little? Definitely! Will I continue to take photos of our girls and randomly use them for blog posts? Probably. More important is the fact that this journey of Home Education is far from over. Even after they graduate from High School, Kurt and I will keep leading this lifestyle of experiences over things. It was who we were before kids, and I'm sure it will continue once they've moved out. So yes, I DO see a small light at the end of our tunnel, it looks a little bit like Arlene's graduation, but it's still along ways off. What will God have planned for Kurt and I then? I have no idea, but I know that God will reveal it in His time.
Wherever you are along this journey, I hope you've enjoyed this peek into the real life of our homeschool. If you're still thinking about whether or not to educate your children at home, I have one word of advice - PRAY! God has His answer for your family ready and waiting for you to ask.
Now go hug your children again!
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I have a while until we get to High School, but it does sounds a bit intimidating! I love posts like this, such encouragement :D
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