Our School, Our Home..

I’m feeling very nostalgic this morning as I start a new school year out with Bug. I think a lot of people don’t understand why we choose to home school him. Sure it has a little to do with his autism diagnosis, but it’s so much more than that, too.

From the time he was six months old when I gave up my job at FUMC as Mother’s Morning Out director to stay home with him, he and I have been learning at home together everyday.

Those early days of play school fun with Eleanor, Carter, Morgan, Levi and Baby Charlotte taught me to multi-task and Bug learned to share his mommy as he recited his ABCs. We learned baby sign language, made hand print paintings and sang silly songs.

The quiet days of that big house all to ourselves in NOLA restored us and gave us time for long, lazy mornings together and contemplative afternoons. The big picture window in the kitchen shone its light into our work space as it cleansed us and his grand big boy room helped him begin to learn to see himself no longer as a baby. We learned our lower case letters, spent time communing with nature and played endless hours on our peaceful porch “playground."

The time spent away from Nola in P-ville at Mom and Dad’s was a necessary step toward the progression of our family that was both hard and ultimately so good. It was a time that instilled in Bug even more the precious gift that family is and how wonderful home away from home can be. We watched Daddy-o mow the yard, enjoyed long mornings basking in the light of the sun filled living room and took prayerful walks together.

Those early days as singles at BGC when we worked in C 2 and C 11 grew us immensely. Again, Bug had to learn to share his mommy and this time his daddy, too. But he made such wonderful memories with the new friends surrounding him. He has adjusted slowly to this life where in reality he, too, works right alongside us, a missionary to these kids where we serve, off days and on days, 8 days here, four days there, and all the time one big, hectic, fast paced and amazing life! We learned to sing Moon River, went puddle jumping and we grew to love life on a ranch.

He made a home with us in C 3. The girls there became his play mates, his co-teachers, his sisters.We learned of his diagnosis, we made some adjustments, but mostly we just kept doing things the way we'd always done except that we learned to see the world a bit differently. We carved out a place for a home school classroom in our back quarters and sporadic as it may have been, we did our best to make school happen in a meaningful way. We learned to recite our state capitals, to count to 100 and went to gymnastics.

 The move to College and Career was once again a time of resting in so many ways. Our quiet lakeside views, our patio where he could dig in the dirt and our long slow days filled to the brim with family time gave us the renewal we needed. We went fishing, we rode our bikes, we had a dog party.

Our time with Ms Michelle and Ms. Ashley at Promise Kids School with Haddie and Lucas was just what we needed, too! Friends for Bug and Mommy and lots of learning and play time taught us to build relationships. We went to the splash pad, we made a volcano, we learned about God’s love.

Our move back to C 6 was unexpected to say the least, but God has used these boys who have become sons and brothers to grow us in ways we never thought we would. We were able to finish out the year strong and in a place I could feel good about despite our abrupt shift in locations and mindset. We played basketball in the gym, we did puzzles, we learned the joys of reading!

Once again mom and dad’s new house in Orange has become a place of solitude for us. A respite on our days off and a house that Bug truly feels at home. We have picked muscadines, lazed on the back porch and enjoyed home school days at our second home and with his substitute teachers.

It is not lost on me that this is 9 different locations in only 6 years where school has happened. But somehow I think the beauty of home schooling Bug is that, that's okay. Ultimately, its he and I on this journey as a family and no matter where we are, we are learning how to do this life God has given us together. 

Today he and I read a book that I have come to love by Jonathan Bean called, This is My House, This is My School.  A creek bed can become a science lab, a night sky an astronomy lesson, a bedtime story a reading assignment. Its such a simple book, but I was having to hold back tears at the end as I read it to him because it is so beautiful in its child-like way of saying what I've been blubbering on about for many paragraphs now. We choose to do Bug's school in a our home. And even though the location may change, home and what that truly means to us, does not. This is one of the most stable parts of who he is. Just a precious little guy soaking up every ounce of learning he can in life from the comforts of our nest as we follow after God wherever He leads us.