In the Words of a Homeschooled Daughter
Notgrass History recently held a poetry contest. We received one hundred entries. We were impressed by the quality of our young poets. Natalie McDaniel, a fourteen-year-old homeschooled girl from South Carolina, won first prize. In twenty-four lines, she has beautifully captured the purpose of a Christian homeschooling mama. Get out your tissues and be blessed.
Teach Me the Path
Natalie McDaniel
She gazed at the child with the curious eyes,
Who wiggled his toes and then laughed in surprise.
She wanted to teach him how all the world goes,
To read and to add, and all that she knows.
“We’ll homeschool you, baby, to teach you the truth,
For courage like Daniel and true faith like Ruth.”
So she took the small hand and began to explain,
And answer the questions in that busy brain.
She smiled at the kid with quick-moving hands,
Who carried in frogs and tracked in lots of sand.
She wanted to teach parts of speech and subtraction,
But far more important—pure thoughts and right actions.
“We’re homeschooling, son, to teach you to know,
The basics of school and the way you should go.”
So she brought out the globe, lots of books, and some pens,
And taught math and science, and how the world spins.
She watched the tall man as she smiled and she cried,
As he walked up the stage, she was filled with great pride.
With the rest of his class, in a long single file,
He received his diploma, then said with a smile,
“You homeschooled me, Mom, to show me the path,
You struggled with me through long days and hard math.
Thanks to all you have taught me, I know what to do,
I’ll walk in God’s ways, and for that, Mom, THANK YOU!”
Natalie’s winning poem appears in Star-Spangled Rhythms and Rhymes, the book of songs, poems, and dances that goes along with Our Star-Spangled Story, our upcoming American history for grades 1-4. When we wanted a song or poem to go along with a lesson on the history of the modern homeschooling movement, we decided to have a contest. I am grateful to Natalie for touching the hearts of us here at Notgrass History. I look forward to her poem touching the hearts of mamas and children when they read it in Star-Spangled Rhythms and Rhymes and hear it in the accompanying CD.
Natalie has described the lesson Solomon taught his son in the first chapter of Proverbs.
Hear, my son, your father’s instruction
And do not forsake your mother’s teaching;
Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head
And ornaments about your neck.
Proverbs 1:8-9
