Homeschool ho!

Last updated on: January 11, 2013 at 8:23 am by Dave Griffey

Homeschool ho! 2013-01-11T08:23:00-04:00 Dave Griffey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

If I’ve been absent for a while, it’s because a major turn in our life has just occurred I needn’t bring readers up to date with our continued frustration in trying to forge a stable life since we’ve been Catholic. Seven years of upheaval and going strong. Financial struggles continue and show no signs of abating. At best, if things work out, we’ll be able to eke out a living at this point, and hope someone we know and love wins the Powerball Jackpot someday. Standing at the doors of the diocese doing my best Henry IV impersonation has gotten me nowhere. So what was the logical course of action? Why, pulling our kids out of public schools and homeschooling of course!

I know, it seems careless, reckless and ludicrous given our instability. But here’s the thing. Our boys have been pushing for homeschooling for several years now, as the school system has changed, and as a couple of them have run afoul of the institutional school. They have wonderful teachers, and that has not been a problem. Nor is it the fear of mass shootings or flu pandemics. Those happen anywhere. It’s simply our boys don’t fit in the mold, so to speak. They march to the beat of their own drummers, and in a culturally vacuous age like ours, that doesn’t afford them many opportunities, especially when the schools themselves seem to be herding kids along in ways that make schools 30 years ago seem open and diverse by comparison. It just seemed everyone knows our education systems are in disarray but nobody knows how to fix them. The schools continually zig when they should zag.

Are we scared? Hell yes. We have not clue one how we’ll survive. We don’t know how we can make it work. My wife and I are educators, but neither has taught that age group for decades. How can we do it when things are in turmoil? Well, here’s the thing. We’ve been looking for purpose again, something we’ve not had since we left Protestant ministry. Fitting into the Catholic Church has been difficult, since our schedules have been topsy-turvy, owing, in part, to our inability to find solid employment (itself owing to our previous lives wrapped around religious life in an increasingly hostile-toward-religion society. This is not Scott Hahn’s conversion to Catholicism generation). We’ve never known what one month’s schedule to the next will look like. We’ve spent the last seven years more or less bouncing around like a pinball, always wondering if we’ll survive another year, being unable to commit to things, not knowing if paychecks will come or if bills will be paid – and all along, watching our boys get year after year older.

So last Saturday night, our oldest, the one who held out against homeschooling due to his age, came out after the others were asleep and said he actually thought he might like to homeschool. As he had held out for over a year, my wife and I sat there speechless. Earlier that day, my wife broke our silence with her grandmother (people on my blog know more of our struggles than many extended family members), and asked that she pray right away for direction, for purpose, for meaning, for something. I could clean toilets and flip burgers if I had some purpose in my life again. And then it happened. Out of the blue, the last hold-out caved that very night.

Right or wrong, we saw that as a prayer answered, and so plunged in with both feet. We revamped an old notice to homeschool we had, added more information, and submitted it to the superintendent. Wednesday night, we sent a bulk email to the teachers informing them of our decision. Today is their last day. And God willing, we will survive somehow and this will be the start of a new adventure in our lives. I hope so. Faith-wise in our family, something had to happen. Too many were beginning to grumble that we simply could not gain traction since our entry into the Catholic Church. Despite overflowing generosity from Catholics, our ability to mesh with the Catholic Church and resurrect that feeling of purpose just wasn’t happening no matter how loving individual Catholics or even Catholic parishes were. We wanted to fish again, not just enjoy fish given to us.

Are we right? We don’t know. But we know our children needed us, we needed purpose, and on a day a genuine prayer warrior was asked to pray, the unthinkable happened. So it’s homeschooling ho! The beginning of a brand new adventure as an old part of our lives comes to a close. It reminds me of that mournful day when Bill Watterson wrapped up his wonderful comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. For the first time in years, the world looks brand-new. A day of possibilities. It’s time we go exploring! TTFN, and we’ll be back soon!

Uncategorized

Previous Post

January 9, 2013

A Video that explains my boys

Next Post

January 11, 2013 Sledding in a winter wonderland

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Atheism Awesome things Bigotry for the hip American Blogging Books Catholic Catholic Teaching Catholics on the Internet Christian Persecution Christian Unity Christianity and America Christianity in the Post-Modern World Christianity in the world Culture of Death Culture of Life Current Events Decline and Fall of the Christian West Defending Liberty Fun Stuff Global Warming Good Causes Good News Gun Control Health Care History Holidays Homeschool Humor Important things Inspiring Stories Interesting Insights Interesting Stories Islam and the West Liberal "Tolerance" Liberal observations Life in a post-Christian world Memorial Movies Musings News Other Blogs Our Big Politically Correct Bother Politics Popular Culture Post Modern Values Prayers Pro Life Promoting LGBT Protecting Liberty Racism in the world today Scientism Social Observations Sports Strange Stories The Boys The Catholic Church and the Left The Decline and Fall of the American Dream The end of liberty The Faith and the Left The Faith and the Right The Family The Greatness of God The Internet The Leftist Juggernaut The LGBT Question The Media The Pope The post-liberal Left The Power of Propaganda Tributes Twilight of the American Experiment Uncategorized Uneducating Postmoderns When the Church is wrong Why learn from history when we can repeat it instead Wisdom in the Post Modern Age World Events

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE