Unrecognizable paths ahead of us...children grown and married, another a new adult stretching her wings, and three more stretching, stretching, stretching. For me to be who they need to encourage them, yet caution when needed.
To be the mother who nurtures and the mother who is wise...
Life is such a balance...in every season. This is our last year of homeschooling after fourteen years. Well, my son will be doing a few studies at home for his senior year, but that is considered very low involvement after schooling five at a time for many years.
This is a HUGE transition for me. To have a part of your life over after more than a decade is like a death in a way. Dreams that I thought would always be a part of me, but with life comes transitions.
I teach my kids to ebb and flow with life. I know how to do this too. It's the bigger transitions and the ones that not everyone understands full well that tend to smart a bit.
I trust my girls to have a wonderful time in public school. They have a great gaggle of friends. It's not that aspect....its the family time lost...
What I have found that I will do after being reminded by Ann when she said,
“God doesn’t ask me to be perfect; He asks me to praise.”
is to praise and be thankful. That is will take the sting out of the hurt a bit and soften the blow.
Dealing with the fall-out of another person's decisions is a life-long road to walk. Someone's choices will always affect ours. Sometimes we walk it with more ease than others and sometimes it just plain hurts.
It's our choice as to how we will navigate it. I choose thankfulness and praise.
Boy, there is a lot of decluttering of books from millions of years of schooling at home...and with each tear slipped there will also be words of praise for the years my kids spent right here at home with me.
Lori
xoxo
Why are you stopping the homeschooling? Do they want to go to public school? I find this all very interesting as a public school teacher...My daughter is in a religious school and she would love nothing more than to be homeschooled, but I can not make it work as a single mom, with little to no support...financially or otherwise. Seeing it from the otherside...kids who are homeschooled and I am assuming wanting to move into public school is a new perspective!
ReplyDeleteHeliotrope,
DeleteI have been able to navigate so far as a single parent homeschooling when we can at different times of the day. After doing that for years it isn't working so well anymore. I want the time that I get to spend with my children to be as a parent-child relationship and not an educational setting. Time is so limited for us to be together anymore.
I understand you totally with not being able to make it work as a single mom...that is me and it has only worked in the past by the Grace of God and having teens homeschooling too. My older children are all graduating or on the verge.
The two younger girls (13 and 10) are starting to look forward to it and with that I know it is the right time for us all.
Lori