Since my son, George, graduated high school last year, I could finally clear out all the homeschool papers, books, and records that I have held on to for 13 years. But, rather than just throwing them all away in one big heap, I decided to go through them to reminisce about our homeschooling days. I’m very glad I kept those samples of school work and that I decided to look through them before throwing them away. By looking back, I could see the big picture (or bigger picture because I don’t know that I can fully see the complete picture just yet) for our homeschooling journey.
George had so many learning disabilities that I felt overwhelmed and helpless many times. Thoughts like, “he will always be behind” plagued my mind. Those are the exact types of thoughts we as homeschooling moms have to guard against. They are lies from the enemy. In Jeremiah 29:11, God declares, “For I know the plans I have for you … plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” God has a plan for you, your homeschooling journey, and for your children. Psalms 33:4 says, “For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does.” Whatever plan He has, He will be faithful to fulfill it. We just have to be obedient.
In going through George’s work (I’ve only gone through K- 2nd grade), I could see where he used to be and how far he has come. And, he has come a long long way! Since he had trouble with his vision and reading, teaching him writing seemed a moot point. But, not wanting to neglect the writing process in his education, I taught him the basics of how to put together a paper. In his early grade school years, I would give him a writing prompt and we would talk it out. Using the web writing organization method to arrange his topics, he talked and I wrote down his words for him. This allowed him to learn to brainstorm and organize his writing, while letting his creativity shine through. One of the papers he had to write was on what he thought heaven would be like. Here are just a few lines from his paper: “It’s like a square jewel.” “It’s like a huge castle.” “I’m talking big! Huger than a human!”. The rest of his paper is filled with the sweet imaginings of a six year old. After reading through some of his work, I don’t know that I will be getting rid of all of it. I will probably end up hanging on to some of them, storing them away, and pulling them out again several years down the road to reminisce again. He can write his own papers now, by the way. He is in college and doing just fine, my fears having never come to fruition. I’m so thankful that I have all these wonderful samplings to look back on all those homeschool days!
Written By: Jennifer Barankovich