Homeschooling is...

a funny thing.
I know, I know.  I say lots of things are funny things.  Well, having 5 kids has robbed me of my ability to use a thesaurus correctly, and despite my year of teaching my child to write rather eloquently, I can't seem to find a better way to say it.  SO, Homeschooling really is a funny thing.  (Note the use of the capital H, indicating Homeschooling as proper noun.  As it should be, since I consider homeschooling to be a special, properly crazy thing to do...)
Well, let me begin again.  We are fixing to head into our 4th, (yes, I made it this far...) year of learning at home.  Ironically, it will be the first year I am teaching 4 students.  Yup, just like my family expansion, I am doubling my number of students...Does this mean I can double my wine consumption?  (Well, that's a given.  DUH.)
Having just wrapped up our 3 day practicum with our homeschooling group, Classical Conversations, I find myself in an unexpected place.
I actually didn't NEED this practicum to get motivated this year.
Huh?
Now, let me just preface this by saying that I am not going to write one of those irritating, "Oh my goodness, homeschooling is just the best thing ever and I am just so lucky to be doing this!!!" blogs that make most of us homeschooling harpies want to vomit.
Homeschooling is HARD!  Exhausting, overwhelming, frustrating, time consuming, expensive!
But...it's also pretty stinkin' wonderful.  I (mostly) love spending my days watching my kids learn the things that God designed them for.  I love watching the "lightbulb" go on when they get it.  I love the fact that Charles & I determine the rhythm of our days and the priorities of our lives.  Most of all, I love that I get to follow God's design for raising "arrows."
But, I'll be truthful here...it's taken me almost 4 years to get to the point that I don't need anyone to motivate me, I don't need to dissect the classical model into 800 little parts and I certainly don't need to understand the Quadrivium, (I'm still trying to figure out the bloody Trivium...) to get me all pumped up so I can survive another year.
I'm good.
We (Charles & I) do this because we feel called to!  And... I finally accepted the fact that because He called us to it, He is seeing us through it.  He has surrounded me (& my family) with an extroardinary community of Christian families who endeavor in the same way, for the same reason, to the same end.  We do this because we believe God has called us to.
We do this to raise our children to know God and make Him known.
And, finally, we believe that raising children to love to learn and have the tools to learn whatever God leads them to do is our greatest calling.
Somewhere along the way, in this slightly odd summer, I got it.
So, thank you, Classical Conversations, for your wonderful parent practicums and your amazing staff...but...
This time, I could have just gone to the beach.
And that, my friends, is the best feeling ever.

love,
tiff
p.s. disclaimer here...I love the CC practicums, I love the community, the wealth of knowledge we share, the time with my friends, the joy of a common goal & the time to refresh and recharge, I'm just super pumped that, for the first time ever, I was motivated anyway! HAHA!