Education at the kitchen table

"What was it that Mary said in response to the announcement?" I hear my husband asking.

"And why did she answer in thst way?"

And something happens, their faces light with understanding, and an answer is given that you can't believe these little children are able to perceive... Then you realize that you have taught them something that is going to form the rest of their lives. Forget carrying them in your womb, forget giving birth to them. They don't remember that, but these things we're teaching them around the kitchen table, these are the things that will shape their decisions, birth their futures, and bring forth in them what is great and good.

Homeschooling isn't always easy, or fun. A parent has to find how their child learns, and what they are interested in learning, and recognize when they just want to go be kids. But when it clicks, when you find the right way to speak and the words to use...you're suddenly not only a parent but a teacher. Even if you know very little on the grand scale, you know everything to your kids. Wow, Mom, you're smart! It makes me laugh when they say things like that. And laughter is what makes a household.

We started out homeschooling not knowing what the heck we were doing, or how to do it, or really what it meant. We're grown a lot since then, and even in the hardest moments we've begun to realize that this is something special. I can't imagine not being the one to teach my children to read, showing them the depths of history, the complexity and simplicity of numbers, the beauty of God's Word. It gets you when you share something with them that if they were away in school you might not have them there to turn to and explain to. Then, when they come running to you to share something they think they've just discovered and want to return the favor, you're floored. We're teaching more than math and reading, without intentionally doing so, while teaching math and reading!

Homeschooling is more than just teaching your children at home. In teaching them, you learn more about yourself, about your failings, and your successes. Somehow you end up relearning a few things, and you learn them with a deeper understanding. You learn the understanding of a child, something that is pure because is not not tainted with worldliness. Children are fascinated by everything new, excited about everything they grasp, and they fail very well, able to get back on the horse and try again with open eyes and open hearts.

I don't know if we'll homeschool through twelfth grade. I don't love it every day. But I thank God for this opportunity, for these children, and for His guidance when my husband and I teach them. May they not stray from it.