Another Homeschooling Year

The above cartoon is funny to me. Funny things always seem to contain a curious blend of truth, a stretch of that truth and a bit of fiction. Funny thing is, the fiction parallels the truth so closely that it’s hard to make a distinction sometimes. Well, so the above cartoon is funny to me. And if it weren’t so symbolic of different conversations had in our own van, I’d likely be smug and not laugh. But I am laughing bcz we have had those conversations… or similar ones. That’s another thing about “funny” things… you just can’t make that stuff up.

I think I might have said those things more frequently in the days when I was trying so desperately to do all the right stuff. Get up before the crack of dawn, dressed in my jumper, hair done (long, soft curls), family devotions (or what we used to call “wisdom searches”) and breakfast completed along with house top-to-bottom tidied before 9am. Those were the days of measuring up to some unspoken rules and high ideals (and there were too many to remember). Then came the long days of no TV, no worldly music, no movies, no… no… no… and then we had a crash of sorts.

We hit the wall of reality. And we began to ask: why are we doing what we’re doing, and is doing this accomplishing what we set out to do in the first place? No. No? Well then, let’s get down to doing what we set out to do in the first place!

To train up a child in the fear and admonition of the LORD. Not of men, the LORD. Period. Thus ended the regimented days and the longer list of no-no’s than yes-yes’s. Thus ended the days of measuring up to a standard of man’s design and the beginning of, or the return to, simply seeking the LORD and *His* ways.

Yes, get up and get going. Yes, gather at the table every morning… yes clean up top-to-bottom… yes, do your work well… yes… sing, play, have a wonderful day… yes, keep all the good stuff. But all the oppressive so-as-to-be-seen-by-men stuff? Good bye, stuff of the school-of-the-Pharisee. What are we here for? To love and serve the LORD. To know Him and testify of that love and salvation to others. To study well, to learn well, to accomplish all that we can for the sake of serving, pleasing and honouring the LORD. So, yes: read all you can, study all you can, learn all you can, excel at what you’re doing, and apply it. Have a reason for what’s studied and then study to achieve to that purpose. Know the why’s and learn the ways.

So whether a morning dictates an early rising or a later rising, whether a morning dictates top-to-bottom spic-n-span clean or just a thorough once-over after the family gathers… it’s all good. And about home education? Do it. Just keep stepping forward every day. And if a step ends in a trip, get up, dust off and keep stepping.

Special Thanks to Family Man Ministries for the laughs and the cartoon posted above.