Drafts Spring/Summer 2007

Better Off Flipping the Switch on Technology by Eric Brende
(A book I read and enjoyed and perhaps I was going to review it. It was read in the spring of 2007 when we lived in Gainesville, FL)

"This is the first time that I have felt extremely honored by a group for how we have chosen to raise our children. Our time of sharing with one another was so encouraging, reassuring and inspiring. Each family spoke a blessing over their own and many over the group as a whole."
(This was written in July 2007 when we returned home (Charlottesville, VA) from the commissioning of our daughter Grace for interning with an organization that would travel the country training & inspiring others to communicate well on the public platform for Christ. It also stood as the first test launch of sending our children out of the nest.)


When I help my children with their academics, I don't think, oh now I am Mrs. Homeschooler and I never have. Do I instruct my children? Yes. Have I equipped them with the tools for learning? It has been a team effort ( Dan, myself but mostly GOD). Do we continue to guide, advise and provide for our three who are now young adults? Of course, and they still seek us out and want our input for this I am very grateful. My life is very much integrated, I never think now we are on school time and now we are on living life time. Like Mark Twain said, and I paraphrase, I never let school get in the way of education.
Even in the grocery store, its back to school time. And unlike back to school, our family never leaves learning behind. "Oh. I am not sitting down with a textbook, this can't be learning I am having too much fun taking on a cover at the spy museum in Washington DC or listen to David Barton give a history lesson on a Sunday morning in a tiny congregation in downtown Charlottesville, how there were 27 reasons why the American colonists declared their independence from King George" Perhaps most of you are shaking your head, saying well of course that's learning but it is not school and to some in the growing community of home schoolers, that doesn't count, Sat in DC and Sunday in Church.
ALL of life counts!!! (written in August 2007)  (My comment for this particular draft may bring this post to a close. Especially in light of a reflective conversation I had this week with a dear friend. Upfront, I freely admit that I get a little passionate about my convictions and at the same time, I strongly believe that the educational choice of our children's is just that - our choice. Educating my own children  was not something that I was "cut out for" in fact, I would say that clearly, I did not see it coming but I am so grateful to have had that time with our children and to introduce them to the world of learning. Grace graduated from college this spring. Katie and Michael are both college students. As I continue to learn, it is becoming evident that experiential as well as textbook learning are becoming more acceptable these days. It is just one of those things that I strongly believe in.)

I am looking forward to looking through the rest of my drafts. I enjoy laughing at myself as well as strolling down memory lane.