Sometimes It Feels So Good to Stretch
My friend (I’ll call her Lisa) homeschools her three children. We met Lisa and her husband (I’ll call him Jeffrey) before they had children. Now they have three. I’ll call them Austin, Kevin, and Rachel.
Lisa first knew she wanted to homeschool when she was expecting Austin. When Kevin was born four years later, I was the first friend to hold him. Rachel was born four years after that. The children are more like nephews and a niece than friends; they could all call me Aunt Charlene, but, being good Southern children, they call me Miss Charlene.
No two children are cut with the same cookie cutter and that is certainly true in Lisa’s family. She has an academically-oriented child (he’s to graduate this spring), a child who loves to MOVE (he’s 14), and an artist (she’s 10). Lisa has learned what she has to do to teach each of them and to do it well.
However, this did not happen overnight. Lisa has read and read some more. She has tried ideas and discarded them and tried ideas and kept them up. She has figured things out on her own and found people to help when she needed help. Lisa has prayed–a lot!
Though she is very good at it, homeschooling has not been easy for Lisa. God gave her children who would stretch her. One great thing about Lisa is that she is stretchable.
She also knows how to keep agoin’. A year ago Jeffrey got laid off and, try as he might, he just couldn’t find a job here, so they had to sell their beloved house and yard they had worked so hard to make a wonderful oasis and start over a couple of hours away. A few weeks ago they had a “We Survived” party. This year the goal is to thrive. I know they will.
Lisa is good at is letting her children be who God made them to be and good at letting them be children, too. I love when she shares homeschooling stories with me. I got this email when their new semester began in January:
I had to share a homeschool funny with you. [Rachel] made school books for her new bunny to start school today. She had a page of math problems and a page of art and some others. She was showing off what she made and then she came to a page that just had one word on it.
[She said,] “And here’s her grammar. Whatever that is.”
By the time she was four years old, Rachel was amazing us with her drawings. For some time now she has been creating with textiles. Lisa keeps her supplied with materials. Here is her creation from Monday night:
Are you trying to press each of your children into some mold you see around you or one you see in your own head? If you do, you just might miss out on seeing a fabric “Un-Happy meal.” Wouldn’t that be a shame?
In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
Genesis 5:1
When God made your children, He made them in the likeness of God. Sometimes you have to be stretchable to remember that.
Oh my goodness, this is so good for me. I’m still in the “early” years but feeling like I’m failing because this truly is stretching me. Having reminders and encouragement from moms like “Lisa” is like a good cup of coffee. Blessings you for sharing!