How We Got Here in the First Place, Part 2

It was the 4th of May in 2004 when our oldest was born.  Everything was new.  Each day, something new and I felt clueless, but at night, when she would finally fall asleep, I was grateful.  Grateful for the time I was able to spend with our baby.  Grateful for watching her grow and become her own little person.  From the beginning, she was an old soul.  Something about there just seemed more mature.

Our days went like this:  eat, play, read, sleep. repeat.  From the time she could crawl, she would bring me book after book to read.  I began looking for book lists on board books to buy.  I bought a few from our library book store.  I took her to Barnes & Noble for story time and would pick up a book while we were there.  Pretty soon, we had a cute little collection growing.

When she was 3 and a half, we had our second child, a son.  We decided not to send our daughter to preschool, just because I wanted her home.  We were having a pleasant time, and she needed to get to know her baby brother.  

So, our days continued: eat, read, read, read, sleep, eat, read, read, read, read, eat, read, sleep.  We would go out to the park and play and discover, but our days revolved around the books we read.  

When our oldest turned 4, she began to read on her own.  Beginning with Hop on Pop, Dick & Jane, and a few othersSo, I did some research and found out about a book Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  Every night, my husband would go through the lessons with her.  Once her lesson was done, he would read a chapter from our newly gifted to us series of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House Books.  From the advice of a homeschooling mom at our church, she recommended I read Little House books and Beatrix Potter.  That was it.  Just read for now.  "It's the perfect preschool!"  

But wait... I still wasn't going to homeschool.  I was just getting her kindergarten-ready.

That summer of 2008, we went camping in Yosemite for a week.  I was pregnant, in my first trimester of our 3rd baby.  I was tired and kind of cranky.  I really didn't feel like leaving the tent at all.  The day after we arrived, a couple and their 2 teenage daughters arrived.  They were friendly enough and we chatted while they set up camp.  A young family joined them later that day.  But I was being anti-social.  ;) The looked over and saw that we were reading a Little House book to our daughter and the mom of the teenagers, Renee said, "Oh, that was our daughters favorite!  It was one of the first living books I read to them."

I looked at her an nodded.  'Living book'?  What the heck did she mean?  So, I asked her what she meant.  She began to talk about homeschooling, Charlotte Mason, Clay and Sally Clarkson, and how the LORD calls each family differently with regards to education.  They felt called to homeschool.  She asked me, "What about you?  Do you think this could be something you might be called to do?"

I was taken aback.  A perfect stranger, but sister in Christ... asking me about my calling.  I just sat for a minute finding the right answer.  I blurted out, "I think it might be."  Before I could even stop the words from coming out of my mouth, she smiled.  A great big excited smile.  Something in her eyes lit up.  Her daughters looked up at me and grinned.  

So, that whole week, I gleaned.  She spoke.  Her husband spoke.  Their daughters spoke.  That young family that joined them?  They all spoke...  about the gift of homeschooling.  The gift of living books, good literature, character building, discipleship, and the bond of homeschooling.  My husband I took it all in, soaked it all in until we were brimming with ideas and more questions.  But we knew.  It was clear:  we were going to homeschool our children.  THAT was God's perfect hand, RIGHT THERE!

Renee gave me a list of books to look for, a website to check out, and her email address, and told me that if I ever needed any help, to please contact her.  Our week in beautiful Yosemite was over.  It was my very first ever Charlotte Mason conference, my own personal one!

As soon as we went home, I ordered these books.  Thus, my homeschooling journey began...

Fast forward 9 years, I am now homeschooling our 3 older kids while keeping the nearly 4 year old out of trouble  We have jumped in to Ambleside Online 100%.  This journey has been an exciting one, but not without it's challenges, fears, and even hurts.  But the LORD has been right there-  gently guiding, bringing in people to come along side me,    and reminding me to just show up every day and trust that God will do the rest.

Just show up and trust.

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