Why Do You Look at Me Like That? Uncovering Homeschool Myth #5

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  1. OUR KIDS ARE UNSOCIALIZED

  2. YOU HAVE TO BE PATIENT, ORGANIZED & CRAFTY 

  3. WE BREED LIKE RABBITS

  4. WE ALL WEAR GLASSES AND LIVE TO BE ON THE “GEEK SQUAD”

  5. WE KEEP OUR KIDS IN A BUBBLE SO THEY WON’T SEE OR HEAR EVIL

“Those kids have no idea how to live outside their parent’s home. They’ll still need Momma to cut up their meat when they’re 30!”

I remember the first time I made my baby cry.

He was about 6 months old and playing contently on the floor. I reached past him to grab something lying on a table, when I accidentally knocked whatever it was over and it came crashing down on my son’s head instead. Thankfully it didn’t fall too far, wasn’t too heavy or sharp – but it made my precious baby cry. It was a cry I hadn’t heard before. It said, “OOUUCCHH! Mommy that hurt!”

I think it hurt me more.

As life moved on and my kids have gotten older, there are more of life’s objects that crash down on their heads. Accidentally or not. Some leave bruises, or even scars.

I’m still left with the same aching heart – I wish it wasn’t so. I wish they never had to feel the pain of an accidental blow or intentional stab to the heart. It hurts. I wish I could continually lie across them and take the hit myself.

But I can’t.

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Knock Knock Christians, Anybody Home?

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I just read an article about James Dobson’s panel  discussing the events going on this week in the Supreme Court. I am outraged.

I’m not outraged that the highest court in the land is hearing a same-sex marriage case. I’m outraged at our response. The comments to this article and articles like it have left me scraping my jaw off the floor.

Here’s just a sample of what I mean:

 “It’s because of hateful leaders like Mr. Dobson that Christians will be hated. Drop the hate, leave the Old Testament behind and practice the teachings of Jesus and guarantee you will not be hated.”

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To the Lady at the Sears Checkout Line 

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You blessed me today.

We spent most of the afternoon looking at luggage for our big family adventure. We compared prices, scanned Amazon, perused clearance deals. We felt the material, sat on the frame, unzipped all the pockets trying to imagine what exactly we need. My heart ached with how expensive the necessities of life add up to be. My brain pulsed from calculating how much things cost – how much I have and subtracting the difference.

My stomach felt the knot tighten.

Then, with items in hand we made our way to the checkout counter. You greeted us with a warm, beautiful smile while we waited on the cashier to return.

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Why Do You Look at Me Like That? : Uncovering Homeschool Myth #4

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  1. Our kids are unsocialized

  2. You have to be patient, organized & crafty 

  3. We breed like rabbits

  4. We all wear glasses and live to be on the “Geek Squad”

  5. We keep our kids in a bubble so they won’t see or hear evil

So now that I’ve played Tim Hawkins for you, I’m going to change the subject. Are you familiar with the story of Seabiscuit? Seabiscuit was bred a race horse. Except when put on the track, Seabiscuit went every way but straight. He was wild and unruly, walked with a strange gait and was just slow. But something about the horse caught the attention of a cowboy named Tom Smith. He says the first time he saw him, the horse looked straight through him. I have a daughter kinda like Seabiscuit. Set her down with “school-work” and she’s all over the board. From the day I first put words in front of her to read, my daughter has fled the scene like a dog chasing a squirrel. Thinking she was being rebellious, lazy, obstinate or missing a few tools in her toolshed, I pressed in harder. I tried every curriculum I could get my hands on, buying the sales pitch that this one would be the magic solution. Continue reading →

What No One Told Me About Being a Mom

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“But Mom, Loren has her fingernails done!”

“I know honey! I’m glad. I bet she loves them!”

Have you ever had that conversation with your child? I have. It was in that moment, I also realized I’d had a similar conversation, except I was the little girl, and I was talking to my Heavenly Father.

Why does the Lord have to convict me when I’m talking to my children? I mean, I have a very good point I’m trying to make with them, and He always has to bring it back around to my relationship with Him.

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37 Reasons Why I Can’t Sleep

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I need to stop thinking about blogging and actually get some sleep tonight. My body aches, my brain is fuzzy, and my eyes are bloodshot. It’s from deciphering all the Widgets and new WordPress lingo.

I tell myself I can do this, but then, I don’t know. I’ve never been popular or had the perfect word to say. What if I totally goof up and all this work is for not?

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Dear Meme, What I Wish I could Tell You

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 Today marks two years since we lost you. I still miss you –

I miss you when I take my first bite of chicken spaghetti,

And when I smell broccoli cheese soup simmering on the stove.

I miss you at Thanksgiving when someone else is sitting next to my Papa.

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3 Ways to Build an Absolutely Stronger Family

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 I bet if you compiled a list of all your daily responsibilities, activities and “need-to-do’s”, you would soon be looking for a chair to sit down in. Staring at that list is like peering down into the Grand Canyon – it just goes on and on. If not anchored, you’ll lose your balance.

That’s how I feel at least. The demands of being a mom and teacher to my kids, plus the maintenance of owning a home and a dog, often times leaves me toppled over. That’s when I resort to re-organizing my schedule to see where I’m blowing my time budgets. Still, no matter how I try to spend within my means, I’m still exhausted.

So I’ve decided, rather than look at my schedule and see if activities/assignments/chores are properly allotted, I need to make sure I have a nice inflatable pillow at the end of my rope so that when I topple over (because I will!) at least I will have some cushion.

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Why Do You Look at Me Like That?: Uncovering Homeschool Myth #3

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 1 . Our kids are unsocialized

 2.You have to be patient, organized & crafty 

 3. We breed like rabbits

 4. We all wear glasses and live to be on the “Geek Squad”

 5. We keep our kids in a bubble so they won’t see or hear   evil

I could use this space to talk about my sex life.

       Or, argue the cons to birth control…

But I’m not.

Instead, I’d like to uncover the underlying reason why this is a common home-school myth. Deep down inside all of us lay a funny little quirk we like to do in our spare time: Categorize people. Like filing away papers to be stored in a cabinet for tax season, we file people away into their proper folder. It sounds something like this:

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Why Do You Look at Me Like That?: Uncovering Homeschool Myth #2

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 1. Our kids are unsocialized

 2.  You have to be patient, organized & crafty

 3. We breed like rabbits

 4. We all wear glasses and live to be on the “Geek  Squad”

 5. We keep our kids in a bubble so they won’t see or  hear  evil

 

       “I don’t know how you do it. I just don’t have the patience to homeschool.”

I       I want to scream “OOHHH! And you think I homeschool because I’m patient?!” Julie Steck is many things, but patient is not one of them. Ask my mom. She always made me wait on things. (Love ya Mom!) I think just to get back at her I married at 18. Not really. I honestly didn’t see the point in waiting if we knew we were going to get married. So it went from “we’ll get married after college” to “how bout after 2 years of college” to “Well, maybe after 1 year” to” Why wait at all? July sounds great!”

Definitely not patient. Why put off till tomorrow what you can do today!

Hear me say: Don’t cross off homeschooling for the wrong reasons. If God has placed this on your heart, He knows your character and personality. He will either mold you (and chip off a few jutting out pieces) into what you need to be, or fill you with His Patience anyway. This task is too big for your own strength or patience. Either way, you must rely on Him rather than your own natural ability.

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