I am a recovering "almost" hoarder. What is that? Well, you can walk through my house without crawling over boxes, bags, and books, but getting through the garage and the floor by my side of the bed can be a dangerous feat. Of course, my dear husband of 27 years is orderly. Thankfully God usually pairs us up with someone who has qualities we need to learn. After 27 years, I guess you can say I am a slow learner, but in all honesty I have had so many higher priorities on my plate: raising three children, homeschooling for thirteen years, helping with tutorials and Bible Studies, writing anything and everything, learning relationship skills, and enduring therapy for past 10 years to recover from an very abusive childhood. Beside that, I have been twiddling my thumbs (in my sleep).
Did I tell you I now have a house of teens? Each age has its cherished points and its stress points. To be honest, which I normally am, being a mom of teens is my very favorite stage of raising my children. Finishing therapy may have more to do with it than the age of my children, since I am more now who God originally created me to be. God has brought great internal peace, joy and clear thinking to my being. (A plug for the benefit of trauma therapy by my psychologist who is a Christian.... lots of very hard, painful work, but it is so worth it! Therapy is not for everyone, but it is for those who God directs to counseling.)
My oldest son is a senior this year; he is finishing up school using Abeka Streaming Video Online academy. I would highly recommend this to any parent wanting to supervise but also release their child to independent study. I encourage my son to work out his own schedule, balancing 20 hours of work, 25 to 30 hours of school, a few home chores (very few: put up bathroom personal stuff, lift clothes off the floor, place dishes in dishwasher after emptying, toss out empty food containers, practice creativity by visually imaging that his bed is made) and his social activities. While I am here to help, he needs to learn to take flight. I wont be one of those hovering parents, waiting for the text, wondering who he is with, following his daily schedule, etc. Over and over my advice to him has been to enjoy college... he knows that doesn't mean to get plastered or to party through his classes. I want him to develop relationships, to learn some thing, to try out new activities, to experience school sports and campus organizations. We just need to find which college he will attend... one of the many things on our 2011/2012 school to-do list.
I am very happy that my other two children (David - sophomore - 16 and Angela - 8th grade -14) are doing two courses together: Starting Point (learning worldview perspectives) and Mystery of History Volume 3. I like doing some school together as a family, and the temperament of these two make working together encouraging and beneficial to both. From the bottom of my heart I love to learn and teach, but we rarely get a lot of time for this... too much required-by-law hoops to jump through for a high school diploma, but I will address this in detail later in the year.
Right now, I am going to savor any moment we get together and even if we have scratchy throats I want us to finish our 2nd day of school to keep on track... the best we can... We might still be working late tonight, but this is the luxury of schooling at home. I keep praying God will touch our bodies and bring us back to full strength physically. If you have time, pray for us. I ever keep in mind that I am in the enemy's world, that he hates Christians, and especially homeschool families. But in Jesus, we are overcomers!
So how is your week of school going?
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