Asa, our 17 year old, was 4.5 years old when we were convicted to choose homeschooling for our family. (There are so many words I could say about that statement, but the fact that my oldest baby is 6’3″ and a senior in high school is not the point of this post. Just hand me a Kleenex and keep reading.)
Our reasons for homeschooling were mostly about the blessed additional time it would give us with our kids. Once Asa’s kindergarten year started, we suddenly realized so many extra benefits of schooling from home. Flexibility with our schedule has been one of the biggest perks to our homeschooling lifestyle.
God showed us this blessing just two months into our homeschool journey when my mom was diagnosed with ALS. Knowing we had limited time with her on earth, and knowing Dad would need help with her care, we started making frequent four hour trips south to Kansas. Had Asa been in a public or private school, this would have been so much harder. But with homeschooling, we could just pack up the school books and travel any day of the week we needed to. He could do his school work at Grammy and Papa’s table just as easily as he could do it at our table.
Fastforward through 12 years (because seriously, it seems that life moved at that pace) – and here we are with a 12th, 9th, 7th, and 4th grader. Flexibility has become more and more precious as our boys get older. Specifically last week, we made a very last minute decision to head to Oklahoma on a college visit for Asa. Often, if we know we’ll be traveling or having company come to visit, we’ll just cram in extra school work before we leave so we can have a break on the road. That didn’t work last week since we hadn’t planned ahead.
No problem. We packed the books and laptops. English, math, you name it – the boys just worked as we drove. Matt also picked up some history videos at the library for a fun change of pace, which the boys watched once it got too dark to read.
The boys may tell you differently, but I think this variation from our normal routine can make regular school work more fun. The spur of the minute road trip with a backpack full of books reminded me once again how grateful I am for our flexibility. Now that we’re back home, I’m also thankful for routine. Schooling on the road works and is fun, but it’s also very nice to be back home where our pencils can’t roll under the seat of the van. :)