School Plans

Update on January 15 on my other blog.

I'm honestly not sure even where to start, with such a huge topic, so I guess I'll just blurt it out. In early January, our oldest will start attending a charter school (technically still a public school, but more like a private school, in this case with a science and math emphasis) for his second semester of 8th grade.

The reasons are many and this is not a decision we have rushed into or taken lightly. In many ways (schedule, especially) the change will actually make our lives (at least my husband's) even more complicated, and we know it will be a huge change for everyone involved, but we are convinced this is direction God has led our family for this season of life.

Since we have home schooled since birth, more formally since age 3 or 4, this will be a total culture shock for both of us. With my level of brain damage (from the strokes last year), I humbly must admit that I am not giving him all he needs at this point. I have come so far, from not knowing that 2+2 was 4, but I still am not where I need to be in order to keep leading him forward at the rate he needs to go. Multiple options have been prayerfully considered, but this is where God has thrown open doors that we thought were sealed shut.

If all goes well with J. this year, our younger two are already on the waiting list to hopefully join him there in the fall. Apparently the younger grades are much harder to find spots for enrollment, but siblings of current students have first priority, so their chances of gaining enrollment in the fall are fairly high.Edited to add that this later post tells a little more of the story.

After being know as a homeschool mom and blogger for years (even advocating for why homeschooling was our best option for years, even with my previous chronic illness), I am having a bit of an identity crisis over this. More so, I will miss my babies! But, as my husband says I am giving up my dreams (being a homeschooling mom) for their best interests under the change of circumstances, so I just have to trust the rest to God.

Honestly I'm actually excited for my kids and all the cool opportunities their new school will offer them. I'm also a little relived, because the weight of responsibility and my own lack have been so profound this fall! And I'm thankful that I still have several more months with my two youngest at home, so change won't all happen at once! If you think of us, please pray for our whole family over these months of transition!

Update to list my homeschool sale in early/mid July, 2013,  as we clean out our old school room.

Edited to add: I am so encouraged by Tricia Goyer's August, 2013 article, Sometimes a Homeschooling Mom’s Role is Finding Help Beyond Her Home. Different situation, similar thoughts. (So far, we are less than a week from the new school year and our 10-year-old remains on the charter school waiting list, so I may start this next school year teaching one of my three at home again.)

Today's Shooting

Today's (and other recent) tragedies leave us reeling. Rather than trying to speak on an issue I am still trying to process myself, I direct you to the free chapter PDF (for a limited time) of the book Hope for the Weary Mom. My heart just absolutely aches for all the brokenness, and emptiness and horror these families face today. Praying for God's comfort, peace and grace to see everyone involved through these very dark waters!

From a friend's wall on Facebook. No artist credited. :(

Unfortunately, I have a sliver of an idea of the pain these families are facing right now (as do many of my friends), the unexpected loss of a precious child, right at Christmas time, though under very different circumstances. I have talked with my (earthly) kids about this much, but have no idea how to begin broaching the subject of why such evil  exists in the world. How and What to Share with Your Children offers some good starting points.

Find more thoughts, in the form of a helpful prayer by Max Lucado, here.

HH on Sale!

Hannah's Hope is currently on reduced price on the NavPress website. I don't know for how long, but right now it is $8.99 rather than the $14.99 list price! https://www.navpress.com/product/9781576836545/Hannahs-Hope-Jennifer-Saake

Sing Noel

From Facebook, (not mine)

I've been thinking about a couple of my all-time favorite Christmas songs. For years, well before the strokes, Rick knew if Christmas Shoes came over the radio, I would be a blubbering mess, no matter how dressed up I was or where we are headed,

Now, it is impossible to hear this song and not think of my own children, a while not cancer, or some other long-term illness that's slowly ebbing my life away, how very different last Christmas could have turned out for them! I am no longer sad at the thought of the Mama of this song, herself, moving beyond the veil from this life to the next, but my heart hurts for those left behind!

One of my very favorite songs (not such a tear-jerker) is Mary, Did You Know.