Two Must-Dos in Every Homeschool Day
Ray and I arrived in Colorado Springs three days before our conferences there began. When I asked our Creation-loving friend Dena what her top picks were for things to see in the area, she said that the train ride through the Royal Gorge was her favorite.
On our second day in Colorado Springs, we drove down to Cañon City to follow her advice.
In uncharacteristic fashion, we arrived long before our pre-scheduled ride. We had time to enjoy the train station . . .
. . . and the Arkansas River that runs alongside it.
When it was time to board our train, our seats were in a section for four, where we faced a couple celebrating their 50th anniversary. We all introduced ourselves, we homeschool curriculum writers and she a retired school teacher and he a retired principal (First, I typed principle and then quickly changed it to principal, thanks to my elementary school principal who used to tells us that we could remember the correct spelling for a principal by remembering that he is your pal.).
Though we came inside on occasion to warm up, none of the four us spent much time in those seats. Mostly we stood out in an open air car to savor the views. These are some of those views we savored as we went clickety-clack along beside the Arkansas River.
We passed under the Royal Gorge Bridge, one of the world’s highest suspension bridges . . .
. . . and on . . .
. . . to the open valley beyond the gorge. And when we reached the end of the run, our engineer put the train in reverse and we went backwards all the way back to the train station.
At the beginning of our trip, while we sat almost knee-to-knee with the retired school teacher and principal, we did what couples do when they meet. We talked about our children, our grandchildren, and how we spend (or in the case of retirees, how we spent) our days.
The lady spoke with joy about her teaching career. She had relished it. She talked about the two goals she had every day while she was teaching:
- To make the children’s eight hours at school a pleasant experience.
- To make sure the children experienced the joy of learning.
As soon as she told us those wonderful goals, I knew I had to share them with you.
For wisdom will enter your heart
And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
Proverbs 2:6-10
Rejoice always.
1 Thessalonians 5:16