Ten Days of Blessings — Blessing 2: No carbon copies.
Did God use a cookie cutter when He made your children?
It’s okay if your child is different. Children just are different. Some learn to read when they are four; others learn to read long after that. Some children learn in an unusual way; others learn in a more “normal” way — whatever in the world that is!
As a homeschooling mama, you can help each of your children learn in his or her own way. When our youngest child was three or four years old, I learned about an evaluation we could have performed at the local school district. I wasn’t worried about her in any way. I just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to have her evaluated. I was shocked when they recommended that I place her in an early intervention program. Guess what her “problem” was. She was too shy! If our income had been at a certain level, she would have qualified for a special preschool. I am so grateful that she didn’t qualify and that she stayed at home with me.
As it turned out, our daughter did have a different learning pace than our other children. She didn’t learn to read and to spell as quickly as our other children. Looking back, I know now that she was simply on a different schedule than our other children. Today she is a wife, the homeschooling mother of four, an avid reader, and an excellent and prolific writer. For the last twenty years she has directed a homeschool drama group, as they perform her original musicals, complete with original songs and choreography. Casts now number more than 100. She began the society when she was fifteen years old.
I am so grateful that we did not place her in that public preschool program to cure her of her shyness. I’m glad she hid behind my skirts when she was a little girl. As it turned out, she was simply waiting in the wings to march out and star at center stage!
I’m thankful that we could provide a comfortable cocoon where our little caterpillar could rest and grow and mature in the gentle environment of homeschooling because once that cocoon time was complete, our butterfly has never stopped soaring.
Just because something is true for a child right now does not mean that it will always be true. Just because a child is not at a certain point at a certain time does not mean that he or she will never get there. Strict timetables are for buses, trains, and planes — not for children.
If I tried on something in a store with a one-size-fits-all label, I would look like a sack of potatoes. You have a wonderful opportunity when you train your children at home. You don’t have to make your child fit anyone’s one-size-fits-all program. Be brave. Don’t be afraid to find what fits your child. Enjoy the drama as you watch what God is doing in this child’s life and thank Him for making this child exactly as He did.
God created man in His own image,
in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:27