Monday, May 4, 2015

Year 3/Week 34: A Bittersweet Aloha

This is my last homeschool blog post for Midlife Homeschool Mom...I think. Since I am tearing down the classroom to make it into a dining room again for my oldest daughter's wedding shower this weekend (we have four more weeks of school but it can all be done without the classroom), I thought it would be the right time to give an appropriate send-off to my first/best/only attempt at homeschool in this lifetime.

The first thing that I realized when I started packing up the classroom was how much STUFF I have accumulated! A lifelong bookworm and pack rat, this adventure in homeschooling was a total magnet for every book, notebook, game or other shiny doodad that I ever wanted to find its way into my home. I know now that I probably love learning more than either of my boys because the neat stuff I found for every subject was definitely more interesting to me than they turned out to be for them!

That's also the sad part - I wanted to give them my true love for learning, but I don't think I accomplished that miracle. I think I did break down the barriers between home and school so that they will always carry the idea that learning can be anywhere, but I don't think they'll ever read or research for fun the way I did (for goodness sake, I read the ENCYCLOPEDIA for fun when I was a kid - who does that?!?!) But at least I got to do a lot of that with them and we had a ton of good times along the way.

I don't think it's a coincidence that I restarted my own education two years into our schooling and at this writing, I'm three weeks away from completing an entire course in Medical Coding that should start me on a brand new journey in my life - one that requires lifelong learning to keep up my skills - so that should take care of my curiosity these days!

Anyway, it's been a privilege, a joy, a relief and a blessing to have had these three years with my boys every day and teach and learn with them. Since my husband has been working from home this whole time as well, we have had a rare opportunity that many families in our country no longer have - 24 hour a day family time combined with work and school. Sometimes it's been very hard to be together so much all the time, but mostly it has been the most amazing experience that I know we all will remember and cherish the rest of our lives.

So, to these last three years and all the magical (and NOT so magical) moments we've had...I've decided to say "aloha". Since it means "hello"and "goodbye" to us as well as the original Hawaiian meanings of "peace", "affection", "compassion" and "mercy", it seems the perfect word to sum up our experience. And since it doesn't mean a definite goodbye, it also means that we - and life - are always ready to embrace this experience again if it is meant for us in the future.

Thank You, Lord, Thank You, Homeschooling, Thank You OLPH school for taking care of my boys after this....and Aloha.

Midlife Homeschool Mom