Learning to make bilums in Simbai, Papua New Guinea, Photo Credit: Amy Wagner
Learning to make bilums in Simbai, Papua New Guinea, Photo Credit: Amy Wagner
Sometimes the timing seems off in seasons of life. Looking back, we can see how the Lord actually used that seemingly “off” timing for good to bring about an important change in the paths of our lives. The fact that the Lord arranged for me to turn five in October rather than by September first, was just one of those life-changing path-shifters.
Background Info
In Pennsylvania, I had to turn five by September first in order to start Kindergarten with my friends who were just a few months older than me. Neither the local public school nor the local private Christian school would put me into Kindergarten. My parents were seeking what to do and decided to get an evaluator’s advice. After she met with us, she shared with my parents that she could see my love of learning, as without intentionally trying to “school” me, my mom had already taught me to read and do simple math. She also relayed her concern that if they put me into Kindergarten at that point, I could become bored and frustrated and lose some of that love for learning. Her recommendation was to try homeschooling me for a year; we could see how we liked it, and then they could put me into school next year if it wasn’t for us, but it couldn’t hurt to try. My parents had never had any intentions to homeschool. Their exposure to homeschooling had been quite limited and had not produced an appealing prospect. But as new Christians, they thought and prayed about it and felt the Lord leading them to give it a try. Little did we know at that point that God was setting the stage for a great adventure.
A Series of Great Adventures–Small and Large
Homeschooling gave us incredible opportunities to experience learning come to life in engaging ways like visiting Old Bedford Village to learn about life in the eighteenth century or a field trip to Bald Eagle State Park to learn about conservation from a park ranger and scientist. Getting to actually experience the concepts we were learning in relevant ways made life feel like a series of adventures, like we were characters in one of our beloved books living an extraordinary life worth writing about–not because we were so special, but because we served a great God Who loves to give us good gifts (James 1:17); and one of those gifts was learning together as a family both at home and on the fascinating field trips and learning activities the Lord allowed my parents to introduce us to.
A Grand Adventure
We believe the Lord asks each Christian will you follow me anywhere, anytime, to anything I ask you? When my sister and I were in first and third grade, the Lord asked our family if we would serve Him in the remote Simbai region of Papua New Guinea for seven months so my dad could oversee a building project to help some overseas missionaries be able to get back to the ministry they went there for. My parents both took leave-of-absences from their jobs and because we were already homeschooling, we could just pick school up and bring it with us. Homeschooling enabled us to go on what we came to see as a great adventure with God and for God that changed our lives forever.
Look for the continuation of this story in another blog post. I'd love to hear why you homeschool! Leave a comment to let me know.