Memories


I have been thinking about our years of homeschooling quite a bit this past week, for many reasons.

This weekend was the NCHE (North Carolina Home Educators) Conference, which I worked at a number of years. Always scheduled over the weekend of Memorial Day, it was a full but exhausting time as a vendor. This year Dawn and Steven were going to both be working and so I had been praying for them as I knew how tiring it can be.

But the other reason, was that I had learned of Jessica Hulcy's accident. Prior to hearing of it, the Lord had brought their family to mind and I was checking out the KONOS website to see what was new and wondering if they had a high school tour to Europe planned for anytime soon. Knowing this is the busy speaking and traveling time for them, I began to pray, not knowing yet of the accident.

For those of you not familiar with the name, Jessica and Carol Thaxton wrote the KONOS curriculum which I used during our time home schooling.

KONOS to me was more than a curriculum, as it was a tool by which the Lord used to help me to begin to see everything as relating to God and His Word and to teach that to my boys.

As we studied about plants, for example, we spent one day focused on a plant's root system. We read about the main purpose of roots (providing stability, directing air, water and nutrients to the plant), things that help or hinder a plants growth, etc. We even went out into the yard and did some weeding. (Oh you've got to love home schooling!!) As we encountered some weeds that had deep roots and some that had shallow roots that we began to discuss our need to be deeply rooted in the Word of God.

I'm not sure with whom those lessons have stuck the most. The boys may no longer remember that particular lesson, although I trust the truth of it has impacted them. But they have had a profound impact on my seeing spiritual truths that God has shown us through his physical creation.


As I have reminisced about our homeschool years, I have thought of so many things:
  • Joel and Steven cooking dinner in the fireplace as the Dutch settler would have. Poor Heidi. Never sure what she would find when she lived with us that month!
  • Our Tuareg warriors working on their skills in the backyard before eating couscous and goat's cheese for lunch.
  • Finding all the animals from Africa in the SF Zoo
  • Watching a spider spin her web outside our window, amazed at her God-given skills
  • "Potatoes? Oh potatoes!!"
  • Learning and practicing tracking skills as part of learning to be attentive
  • Co-oping with Josh and Justin
  • Planning with Sue over muffins and coffee
  • Videos of former US Presidents, giving their biographies, wearing Bob's old prom shirt
  • Reading Wheel on the School, Little House books, Chronicles of Narnia....
  • Field trips to Wright Brother's museum, Jamestown, Washington, DC, Mint in SF...
  • Building lighthouses, catapults, models of CA missions, castles, erupting volcanoes....
  • The Lord's provision of so many things and His hand in timing. There was a solar eclipse that occurred while we doing our unit on astronomy!
The list just goes on and on. What a privilege the Lord provides us when you gives us children. They are truly a blessing from Him. Although I don't miss the workload that goes with being a homeschooling mom, I do miss the time shared and the daily opportunities to marvel together at all that the Lord has done.





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