I wrote this article a few years ago just after our oldest went off to college. The time we spend with our kids moves so quickly, but when you’re trying to remove gum from your dog’s fur it sure doesn’t seem that way, does it. It’s good to take a step back and see the results of pouring into our kids, whether your kids are in public school or not! *** (Be sure to read my clarification at the bottom!)
We homeschooled…
Immediately you get either an oh cool, or do your kids have friends, look.
When I first started out teaching at home in 2002, I felt the need to justify my reasons, like public school was not a good fit for my autistic son. At the time, the school system thought they could discipline the autism out of him. Or, my daughter liked reading more advanced books than they thought she should. And, the other biggie, we didn’t like doing four hours of homework every night. Needless to say, public school did not fit our family. We tried, we really tried. I had people telling me I was nuts, we weren’t qualified, or the granddaddy of them all, our kids would be social outcasts.
We made the leap anyway and started the incredible journey. Was it easy?
Heck NO.
Year after year we made adjustments, fixing and tweaking things until we graduated our oldest. Suddenly, I no longer felt the need to justify my decisions because she landed a huge (Yeah, $52,000) scholarship at her university. Family members who used to shake their heads at how sad our kids’ lives were, now wanted to know what we did.
Seems we might have done something right. The hard work we poured into them paid off. Our kids had some manners, loved learning, and actually wanted to go to church with us.
Since I’ve written this article our family has gone through some changes. We gained a daughter! Our son graduated high school and married an awesome girl. College wasn’t the right road for him, but he works full-time and lives about an hour away. Pretty awesome for a kid who spent his first few years of public school locking himself in the school bathroom so he could calm down.
Our youngest attends university in southern Indiana where she studies broadcasting. She’s also won numerous scholarships, as wells as, winning runners up to her schools Miss VU. She advocates for people with depression, and she’s a star in the making! And our daughter, the one who won the big fat scholarship, went on to teach in Dubai for two years and now teaches in China.
Are my kids perfect? NO! Was I a perfect parent? A resounding NO! But our efforts have yielded some fantastic results.
All of this got me to thinking…
I actually didn’t screw up my kids.
1 Corinthians 9:26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.
***Okay clarification time, cause many of us moms can beat ourselves up over this.— Homeschooling isn’t for everyone, not everyone can and should do it. AND there were times I sent my kids to public/or private school because I thought it best for that year. As I’ve said before, you know what is right for your kids! Now, go be awesome parents, but whatever you do, pour yourself into them!!!
Sonia Poynter is a professional freelance writer for hire, blogger, and author. She writes books with a common thread of wonder. She found that golden string under the crumpled leaves of her favorite tree when she was but a child, since then she has been unraveling it and weaving it onto the pages of her books. Her first book, The Last Stored, was published in 2015 with Anaiah Press. Since then she has gone on to write many other manuscripts and articles.
Sonia’s vivid imagination often got her into trouble throughout school, but as an adult, she learned to cultivate that creativity into world-building, and storytelling. For more than twenty years, she worked with teens and young adults as a youth leader, speaker, camp organizer, event planner, and homeschooling teacher. She is a mother of three children and married to her high school sweetheart. At the age of five, her son was diagnosed with autism, which ultimately led her to homeschool all their children. Now grown, she often advises others on how to navigate the tricky waters of raising kids with autism. Their oldest teaches in China, and the youngest is a CBS TV reporter, while her son surpassed even her goals by marrying the love of his life, workes as a receiving manager, and the couple has a baby boy.
CREDENTIALS
Founding member of YANA Sisterhood where she published many writing how-to articles
Semifinalist in Pitch Wars 2017
Attended Midwest Writers Workshop Intensive 2016
Attended WriteOnCon 2017
Member of American Christian Fiction Writers
Launch member of Querying Authors Facebook group
Guest Posts for Numerous Blogs