Homeschool Schedule Part I

June 25th, 2008

I have had a few requests recently on how my typical home school day goes. The first thing I would like to say is that, nothing is typical in homeschooling. That is what is so great about it and what makes it equally as hard. I thought I would spend some time writing a few posts on the very thing, so that I may more completely “own” the reasons why I feel we should do and not do the things we are doing in our sweet little homeschool here in sunny south Florida. If you have read my blog much at all you know that we use the Charlotte Mason method for homeschooling via Ambleside Online and I am heavily influenced by Maria Montessori. For those of you who know who those people are, you may understand me a bit better, and if you don’t know who those people are, no big deal. Google them and you can learn a bit but it isn’t important for this story necessarily. After having a full year under my belt, there are some things I have learned and many things I have unlearned. This little exercise will give you a bit of a glimpse of that from my view point.

As I began thinking about this, I was thinking about the road that brought me here and how it has shaped and continues to shape what we are doing as a family that schools non traditionally. The story starts many, many years ago, but I don’t need to start there for you all. I only mention that to say, there is always more to every story then these few inscribed lines. I distinctly remember 18 months ago, sitting here at this very computer, feeling the most depressed, stressed and overwhelmed I had ever felt. (I will tell you about that in a second.) I was crying out to God again for Him to lead me and guide me. I remember shifting slightly in my seat to grab something on the floor, and felt like God said, “I AM RESCUING YOU!”. It was not audible but it was as clear to me as my own breathing. Have you ever read the story of CS Lewis and how he came to faith in God through Jesus? He said he went out for a bike ride to the zoo. When he left his home, he did not even believe in Jesus Christ and when he got to the zoo He did. Just like that. I love how the Holy Spirit can give you almost instant understanding of something that up until the point of his supernatural working, it is fuzzy and unclear, and then in that moment it becomes as clear as crystal. In that moment, I realized some how I had gotten lost and off track. I was out in the thicket somewhere and the Good Shepherd was coming to find me. (Oh how I love the parable of the Good Shepherd. I am always that little lost sheep who is being found. Maybe you are too.)

So why was I overwhelmed you ask? Well to make a long story short, we were in a state of utter financial disaster. Firstly, the town home we are now in, we unfortunately bought at the highest point in the market, without having our other home sold. We took some time praying about it before we moved to this current home, and felt like God said to move, so we did, and then we continued to wait for him to deliver us. We continued to try to sell as the prices fell and fell and fell, and then finally, because we had no way of covering 2 mortgage payments any longer, we rented it out and hoped the market would somehow rise again. Well, we all know were the market is now. A few tenants later, and a marvelous real estate agent who really educated us about the market and were it was going, and how we may move forward in our current situation, we “short-saled” that home and were free from the financial burden of it. I know you are thinking, “What does this have to do with homeschool schedules?” You will see!

At the time of sitting at the computer we where unable to sell the now seemingly “cursed” previous home, and I was sitting with a business that was in the throws of dieing a miserable death. (Maybe I will tell you about that business some time, and how that story shapes what I am now doing, but not today dear friends. Read on!) We were in so deep, I saw no way out. We now had 36K in credit card bills (thanks to trying to hold the house) and I had a business that was no longer “viable” and our budget was all based on my income coming in. When I no longer had an income coming in, we found ourselves leaking 2k a month in our monthly budget. Now you know why we had the 36K in credit card bills. No we were not buying boats or Prada shoes or anything. It was in the midst of this reality, that I heard God say he was rescuing me and that I needed to just let go and stay home with the kids. I knew down deep that we all would be better for it and that the next season we were entering into was one of discipline.

Wow this is getting good. I love how God makes “beauty out of ashes”.

See you all tomorrow~

Entry Filed under: Homeschool, Life