Inquiring Minds.........

As summer is drawing to a close (read: screeching by at such a pace, I can barely catch my breathe) it is obviously that time of year where everyone with school age kids are gearing up for school to start. I've had quite a few interesting conversations with friends and family about our decision to teach Kaden at home this year - mainly because NEVER in a MILLION years would I have EVER thought I'd see the day where I would do such a thing! So, those who know me well are equally as surprised as me! It's all good.

This whole journey of parenting never quite looks like we think it's going to look back in pre-children days! Goodness me, for many years before I was married, and for even the first few years of our marriage....... and for even the first few months of CARRYING Kaden, I wasn't so sure of this whole mothering/giving birth thing! (I felt like there was a little alien trying to escape out of my stomach. I should NEVER have watched that movie...) I would much rather have surrounded myself with baby animals as opposed to baby people!

But look at me now....three little hoodlums....and I could easily do another some day. Although Kev says on a VERY regular basis that he is "at maximum capacity!" So, we shall see. But I digress...... All that just to say - you never know what life (read: God) just might throw at ya!

So here we are about to embark on a whole other journey. People keep asking me what my reasons are for doing this? To be honest, I guess I have quite a few. But the really big "main" reasons aren't what most people typically think. My main reasons are not to protect my kids from the big bad world. I went to public school my whole life, and those are the years where my faith grew the MOST! I think there needs to be Christian kids in public schools - along with Christian teachers. We're supposed to be salt and light. I know that's a HUGE topic for debate - not my intention here - I'm just saying that I have many a committed Christian friend who has intentionally decided to send their children to public school for those purposes, and I have deep respect for that.

I think this decision is deeply personal for everyone, anyway. When we were candidating for a pastoral position awhile back, someone asked Kev: "Homeschool? Christian School? Or public school?" And Kev's answer was "YES!" It's a decision that each individual family has to make for themselves and their children. I can honestly see our little family maybe trying out a number of things throughout their school age years depending on where we are at and what we are doing.

For the here and now - for THIS YEAR - my main reasons are as follows:

1. I'm not ready yet (read: I'm not WILLING yet) to have something or someone else dictate my life and my schedule to me. The time will come for that soon enough, but it's not going to be this year.

2. Maintaining - or at least fighting my hardest for - SIMPLICITY. This goes along with reason #1, I guess. I'm not yet willing to drive a half hour both ways for 3 hours of school and then drive a half hour both ways again. I would also be needing to disturb the baby's nap for one of these drives.

3. A simple reason: It suits our lifestyle. It keeps us free and mobile.

4. Because I CAN! There may come a time when this would never even be an option for me, but for this year at least, I am blessed to be able to stay home with my boys.

5. I'm looking forward to this intentional time with my oldest - my boy who is most UNLIKE me and who thinks completely differently than I do. I feel like I need this time with him. We may just about kill each other by the time the school year ends, as well! I am fully aware of this. This is why I'm committing to one year and one year only. We shall see what the future holds for us.

6. Remember my committment to being real? Well here's a biggy reason: I am a workaholic at heart. When I get my mind set on something, I have a laser beam focus until it's finished. I would like to get my master's degree someday. I would also like to go back to school to be a midwife or a nurse. People tell me ALL THE TIME to just pick away at my classes during these years that the boys are little so that by the time they are bigger, I can just fly into my career. Maybe some people can do this, but I cannot. I know that it's a growth point for me - to learn to just "do what I can" and "take whatever grade I can get," but that is just not me. If I started down this path, I would think of nothing else until it was done. I would stretch myself way too thin, and I would be no good as either a wife or mother. I know this. Sooooo, largely because of this flaw, I am trying to instead focus that energy on my family and my home. This year - school being part of that equation.

7. Life is short. I worked at a little Christian school for 8 years of our marriage, and during one of these years one of my co-workers pulled her kids out of school because their Daddy was battling cancer. She told me that this might be his last year with them, so they adjusted their life in such a way that they would have as much time with him as possible. Obviously this is a more extreme reason, but I AM often struck with thoughts like - "If I knew that I had one year and one year only left to live, what about my life would I change?" For me - for this year - I want to give this whole homeschool thing a whirl. I will have no problem at all if next year Kaden tells me that he wants to go to a "real" school. I've put my time in there - I know the good, the bad, and the ugly - and I love that place. That's not really my point. In fact - I'm quite sure that he might even learn more with the Kindergarten teacher over there. She totally and completely rocks. That is not my reason at all for trying this.

8. AND simply enough, I don't want someone else to have more hours of the day to be with him than me - the BEST hours of the day. That time will also come soon enough.

There's more, but that's good for now, I guess. Life is crazy. It is at breakneck pace. I have no idea how Kaden even got to be school age. When I blink again, he'll be out of our home and on his own. And that's okay. That's a good thing. That's how life works. But for the here and now.........we're slowing it down. We are savoring. We're going to try a crazy adventure because we can. Because life is short. Because I want to savor. Because I want to TRY it, and because I feel that this is what the Lord has placed on my heart to do this year.

So, for the Booker family - for the school year 2010-2011 - "HOME'S COOL!"
We hope.