Homeschooling…revisited

Last winter was long and it was cold.  By the first months of the new year, there had been over 20 days with temperatures below zero.  By March, my husband packed us up and headed for his homeland in the Southwest.  We stayed for an entire month, and honestly, I didn't really mind.  The fourth week was overkill for me, but I too had "had it" with the snow.  I'm not sure spring came.  I'm pretty sure that winter lasted until June, and then it was summer.  Ahh. Summer.

But the winter haunted me.  My husband longing for sunshine, eight energetic children bursting with life…and being trapped within our four walls by the arctic blasts outdoors.

I seriously considered an addition to our home.  I also considered, for real, school.

Brick and mortar. The Catholic school just down the road.  I know many good families, big devoted Catholic families that I trust, who send their kids there.  Our best neighborhood friends go there too.  Why not just send the kids out of these four walls?  

Sometimes asking these questions is extremely telling...

I can't do it. 

Well, first I prayed hard that the Holy Spirit would help me to be open and to trust, and I honestly asked my husband if he would consider it.  Amazingly, he didn't think twice.  He wasn't even tempted.  The relief and encouragement and joy I felt surprised me.  I don't think I knew how much I loved homeschooling.  My mind started racing with new lists of classics to fill our shelves with: Little Women,   The Secret Garden, The Sign of the Beaver.  Maybe I went crazy and bought a whole bunch of cute new "beginning reader" books about Biscuit and stopped my spree when I saw how much MagnaTiles cost! (dang).  I am dreaming of homemade finger paint and play-doh recipes, art easels and new paint supplies.  I'm planning hikes and feast day pilgrimages.  I'm dreaming big dreams, idealistic dreams, and I know the day-to-day will never be as shiny and sunny as my hopes, but if I don't homeschool, I don't even get to dream!

And you know what? You'd be surprised how many shiny and sunny days there are…amidst the spilled milk and dinner dishes.  You'd be surprised how fun it is to read history aloud to a group of middle schoolers who are totally pumped about the Catholic resistance to the French Revolution.  My six year old had his soccer socks pulled up over his knees and he said "Look, I'm the Scarlet Pimpernel"!  (Did you know that comes in a movie starring Jane Seymore?)

So what about those long winter days?  I guess I'll just have to keep trying to fill them with stacks of books, play dates at our church's gym, and maybe we'll just end up out of state again come March.  I'm not really worried about it.  Mostly, I'm just really really happy, thankful, grateful to God that I get to do this again, one more year.