 |
| A man who lives without honor will not gain from education. |
The summer of 1981 presented me a fourth child in ten years of marriage along with a mystery illness. I was thrilled to be a new mom again but felt something wrong in my body. After two rugged post-partum hospital stays, the doctors sent me home with more questions than answers and a batch of random medications for the infection, pain, electrolyte imbalance, and bizarre neurological symptoms.
My mother and dear husband cared for all five of us as I fought to get back on my feet.
As I began to recover, Mom casually mentioned one day that she had read about the work of educational professionals Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore. They advocated the delay of formal education for children until the age of eight. Though homeschooling was not part of their early theory, they eventually became known as the "grandparents" of home education.
I read their book Better Late than Early and immediately knew God was speaking. Frankly, it ticked me off. Hadn't I given enough already? Being a wife and mom was all I ever wanted in life, and I loved that calling with everything in me.
But my body was sick and tired, and I wasn't even thirty years old. I assaulted heaven with a torrent of reasons why educating my children at home was a bad idea.
Heaven was unimpressed, unmoved by my impassioned excuses. God was calling.
I knew.
Not one person thought I was doing the right thing when I began to prepare for the fall of 1982 school year. My mother, worried about my health, was horrified and blamed herself for starting it. My husband thought it a bad idea, too, but promised his support.
I broke down and cried the first time I tried to read the curriculum we had purchased. I didn't know the first thing about educating my children or comprehend "phonics," having learned to read with Dick and Jane. The first year, I only kept going out of stubbornness. I got through each day by promising to quit "tomorrow."
Then I burned through the resentment, surrendered to God, and began to press into the task before me. We all just learned together, including how to work together, how treat each other, how to problem-solve, and how to love our God. Watching my children's eagerness, their little heads bent over their lessons each day, captured my heart forever. The day my son read his first words while seated on my lap, I was hooked. How could I have ever imagined relinquishing this blessing to a stranger?
My husband and I educated all five children at home, beginning in 1982 and graduating the last child in 2006. We worked hard, enjoyed each other's company, and made many wonderful memories. I cherish those days, living on the edge of faith as we pioneered in a fledging movement. Homeschooling has come a long ways from the days we had to fight to make it a legal educational alternative.
Did we do it perfectly? Of course not. Did we all ride into the sunset on our white horses? Nope. We gained five wonderful children who have given their lives to Jesus. All our grandchildren either graduated from homeschool or are currently being home educated. Growing up together in God, at home, prepared us for the hard roads we have walked in the years since. I believe we would never have emerged victorious through the challenges we have faced, had we not had those beautiful, innocent years together.
In the weeks ahead, I will share from my files and my heart what I learned in my nearly quarter century of home education. There will be beauty and ugly. My prayer is that something we experienced along the way will encourage you as you seek out God in your own family's life.
Blessings,
Pam Thorson
No comments:
Post a Comment