Journey of a lifetime

     Four and a half years ago I started out on an unexpected journey.  Something Tookish awoke within me and set me on a path I would have never considered of before.  Homeschool.  I remember when my boys were toddlers, sitting with a few friends and they started talking about homeschool. They both wanted to and I had no interest whatsoever.  I loved school, I couldn't wait until my kids went, I just knew they would love it as much as I did.
     I won't re-visit my reasons for homeschooling, I have done that in previous posts, but I want to look forward.  Over the last 4 1/2 years I have learned so much, I have experimented with different learning styles, schedules, and ways of teaching.  I have swung from one side, unschooling or natural learning, to the other side with a hyper scheduled day with 12 different subjects, and back again.  I am seeing the Hand of the Lord in teaching me to teach my children.  `After last years fiasco trying to cram in everything I wanted them to learn I burned out so fast and the kids went from enjoying school to hating it all and fighting me every step of the way.  After a lot of prayer, soul searching, research and a little divine intervention in the form of two new friends I learned we need unschooling. I really prefer the term natural learning, after all, learning is so natural.
I began to see how my kids were learning so much just by living their lives, playing, pursuing interests and asking questions.  I began to see missed opportunities because what they were asking to learn didn't fit into my schedule or my idea of what we should be learning.  Glen's desire to play the recorder and learn to play the flute slowly died as he met with "no or not right now" at every turn.  Elizabeth's desire to learn about volcanoes disappeared before we got around to it because I kept putting it off, she also stopped asking me to help her learn to read or work out of her math book because I was always too busy to take the time to sit down to help her.
      I began to see opportunities to learn that I never would have seen before.  Hand writing took the form of writing a book, no tears or struggle.  Elizabeth planted bean seeds to see if they would grow because I said yes instead of "It's too late in the season for a good crop" She even watered right after because she had learned from watching me that seeds need to be kept moist until they sprout and form a good root system.  She brings me scriptures every morning, hungering to learn about them.  Glen began to sing, he wants to join Vocal Point some day.  Benjamin, who loves and is so good at math, but began to hate it when I made him do it each morning, volunteered to make a prime number game for me, but first he needs to learn what prime numbers are.  He is excited about math again.
     I am thoroughly convinced that the surest way to make a child hate anything is to force them to do it.  If you forced a child to eat chocolate cake very day they would hate it.  I know this, I have believed this for years, yet here I was forcing my kids to read, do math, memorize poetry, and a number of other things.  Over the summer I have watched their passion for learning rekindle because I am not forcing them to do anything.  They are learning about Prime numbers, singing,  surface tension and what boats need to stay afloat, how to plant, care for and harvest in the garden, the value of objects and ideas, how to make money, and a million other lessons.
     So now it's time to take a deep breath and take the plunge.  It's time to give up control and trust my kids to learn without me forcing it.  It's time to trust the Lord when he tells me this is the way to do it.  You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink.  I cannot force my kids to learn, but I can help encourage them, introduce them to new ideas, give them opportunities to learn and watch their love for life and passion for learning take them an their own amazing adventure in life.
Homeschool really is the journey of a lifetime.  A journey that will last a lifetime because we are never done learning.  I can't wait to see where this new journey takes us.