Thursday, June 24, 2010

homeschooling,canoe paddles, and summer sleepovers

I do not choose to do "year-round school". And yet, there is never a day that learning does NOT take place. Yesterday, Tim and I got to canoe down a river whose bed had totally been changed by the recent flood. We were reminded of the last time we had been there with Luke & Lamarkus. Lamarkus had never canoed--and Luke had limited experience by himself, but we decided it was time to LEARN HOW.
I loved watching them do the hard thing of steering as a team against a hard current, learning the pull of the paddles, and learning to negotiate and communicate their efforts (sounds like a great marriage analogy :).And although, it was hard, they felt such success after tackling something which they thought was too hard for them.
Our choice of homeschooling is HARD. Do not believe anyone who says that it is carefree and constant fun. I personally love a "break" during the summer to re-charge and seek new ideas, curricula, and books. This summer looks different because of our oldest son's family living here with us.
One of our daughter's college professors had her write a paper entitled "Ten Things My Parents Did Right". One of her listings read : "I cannot remember a summer that my parents did not open their homes to someone who needed to live with us." Until I read that, I had not realized that this was truly one of the themes of our life. We have had family members, displaced church friends, friends of our kiddoes,my parents after the fire, and an older man from church live with us for extended periods of time.
So, in God's fashion of asking us to do hard things and then COMPLETELY equipping us for His task, we have this summer laid out for us. It is such a privilege for us to watch how Will & Sarah are also coping with all the hard things that the flood has thrust upon them. They are dealing with loss, being displaced, and having a newborn at someone else's home with such GRACE.
We are all LEARNING how to co-exist with new schedules and territories.
Just as the flood changed the landscape of the river bank, the flood has changed the present order of our lives. We are learning how to negotiate the new curves, the rapids which were not there before, and the new dangerous overhanging uprooted trees. But the river would be so boring if not for the new challenges!! So, hold on for the fun ride!

2 comments:

  1. I know who your boat's captain is. With God steering how could you get off course? You are unique and wonderful. I have witnessed every time you have opened your home to people and it seems to come so natural for you. Amazing!
    I hope I don't end up having to live with you because one day you are going to SNAP and I don't want to be there. I love you.

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  2. Hi Karen,
    This is my first visit to your blog. I love it! Keep up the good work.

    Tracey Ries

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