Since a new school year has started, I thought I would repost this article I wrote about homeschooling. I hope it encourages you, especially if you homeschool.
I knew of Sarah Palin long before she came on the world scene. She was governor of Alaska in 2007, and I’m from Alaska. Now don’t get me wrong, I really like her. I like her politics and I like her as a person. I also LOVE my mother. She and I are best friends. So you have that straight in your head before you continue reading.
Back in 2007, my mom came to stay with me for a couple of months. Dad said it was because she needed to warm up a bit in the Californian sun. Well mom came down and she was all about Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin was governor of Alaska! Sarah Palin was the first female governor of Alaska. She has four kids…and she’s governor of Alaska! She’s married to Todd Palin (who I knew of, growing up in Dillingham). She’s a mom AND governor of Alaska! She’s a real go-getter!
I heard EVERYTHING about Sarah Palin. Not only was she governor, but she was so down to earth. She fired the chef when she got into the Governor’s mansion. She sold the plane, the last governor bought. She’s shaking things up in Alaska.
I heard these comments over and over again, while I dragged around in my raggedy shorts and shirt (my home schooling uniform). I heard about Sarah Palin, while I sat down to read with my kids. My mom would say, “Do you know Sarah Palin walks her kids to the school bus everyday…and she’s governor of Alaska!” I was starting to resent Sarah Palin. I had only two kids, not four. I wasn’t governor over anything, except maybe my little kingdom at home. I wasn’t going to be governor of anything and I was in this home schooling gig for the long haul. That meant my raggedy shorts and me were going to drag around the house for quite some time.
I was starting to get discouraged about home schooling my kids. I have a Master’s degree that I wasn’t using. Almost everyone I knew was sending their kids to public school. Why was I making all these sacrifices for my children? How come I wasn’t governor over anything? Was it worth it?
I was really resenting Sarah Palin…the governor of Alaska! So I started attacking this person who I was being compared to. “Yeah, she walks her kids to the school bus everyday…but that’s it. Big deal. She’s not doing the hard work of schooling them!” Like me in my raggedy shorts. “She’s not parenting, she has a big job of governor of Alaska…she can’t do it all.”
I got my licks in a few times, but I didn’t feel any better about myself and my raggedy shorts. So I got discouraged. Really discouraged. And then I prayed. What I always do when I need help. I prayed to God and asked Him why I was doing this. What was the point? I’m not governor of anything. I just drag around in my raggedy shorts schooling my children. Really, did I need to do this?
And God answered me (like He always does). My mom was gone and I sat down on the couch (in my raggedy shorts) to read to my children. They were sitting on either side of me. I was reading the Bible and the story of Saul and David. I know my children well, so I was pulling out descriptions of Saul and David to crystalize the story for my kids. I know what appealed to my son and what appealed to my daughter. As I was talking to my kids…God spoke to me in my head, “Wendy, nobody will do this, but you.” WHAT?!? “Nobody will do this, but you.”
Thoughts formed in my head. Ohhhh! “You can’t pay anyone to teach your kids like this. Nobody will do this, but you.” No one would volunteer to care as deeply for your children as you do. “Nobody will do this, but you.” It was a revelation. I can’t be governor of anything because, “Nobody will do this, but you.” I can’t go get a big job because, “Nobody will do this, but you.” I couldn’t pay anyone to do what I did as a mother of my two kids. And though, sitting on the couch, reading to my kids the story of David and Saul may seem insignificant, God apparently didn’t. He asked me to home school my kids a long time ago. And I simply obeyed. He knew my discouragement. He knew my anger. He knew it all, so He simply reminded me, “Wendy, nobody will do this, but you.”