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My family background set me up to value education. My mom was an educator. Her parents both taught in the school of education where I earned my teaching degree. My great-grandfather was a Theology and Greek teacher in a university. His father was an upper grade teacher prior to the turn of the century. I did not recognize it until recently, but that legacy of educators in my family has had a huge impact on my tapestry.

My parents also discipled me in God’s Word and brought me up to love God and love people. My dad worked in a church and demonstrated for me what Christian ministry and service to God and people should look like.

My elementary school experience caused me to love school. I had some truly wonderful teachers, who fostered my curiosity and love of learning about any topic I encountered.

My high school experience challenged me to work hard and gave me an academically rigorous education that sharpened my mind but also shaped my worldview in unexpected ways.

My college experienceprepared me to teach in a classroom. My undergraduate degree was in elementary and early childhood, regular and special education. When I graduated, I had already had experiences in more than 10 different public school classrooms.

My first job out of college was in a daycare which changed the way I felt about staying home with my future children. My plan had always been to teach in a school as soon as possible and continue to do so after having children. But, my husband was so wise. From the beginning of our marriage, he made it a priority to set up our lives financially in a way that would allow me to stay home with our children if I wanted to when the time came, despite my insistence that I did not want to stay home. I guess he knew me better than I knew myself.

My first teaching jobtaught me that, while I felt equipped to serve my regular and special needs students, I did not know how to truly challenge my gifted students. So, I went back to school to get my master’s degree in gifted education. This equipped me to teach students at any of the varied skill levels.

My second teaching jobas a resource teacher, showed me the value of working with students individually and in small groups to address specific skills they were missing to help them succeed in their education.

Becoming a momchanged a lot of things, but it made me realize I wanted to be with my children during the day, rather than letting someone else take care of them full time. This put a pause on my teaching plans.

Post-partum depression taught me what it means to depend on God and draw near to Him when I don’t know where else to turn.

My first discipleship group showed me how to actually study God’s Word, and allow Him to transform me from the inside out. It taught me the model for discipling others that Jesus gave us. It also helped me realize it is my husband’s and my responsibility to disciple our children, not the responsibility of the church.

Years of chronic illnessallowed God to teach me what it means to rest physically and spiritually in Him.

Our first year of homeschoolingsurprised me. That year was a gift I did not know I needed. We only homeschooled because covid regulations would have my kids starting their first year of school on a computer in our house. I decided if they were to be home anyway, I could just teach them that year and prepare them to go to school normally the next year. At the end of that year I was thankful for the year I had with them learning together with me.

Our first year in public schoolshowed me how much more beneficial homeschooling had been for my family and made me question why the “normal” thing to do was to send them to school? It showed me how much more efficient we could be with our time when homeschooling. It showed me how much more I could challenge my kids on their level and with their interests than was possible in a classroom full of students. It showed me how little time I was now spending with them compared to what we had always had and how little opportunity there now was for vital spiritual and emotional conversations. Their time in school did not just affect my relationship with them, but their relationship with each other. They had been so close all of their lives, but as they spent all day away from each other, I watched their relationship slowly fade. Above all else, I realized my priority was discipling my kids, and the best way for our family to do that was to homeschool.

My job as ministry assistant in our church when they were in school and our first few years homeschooling helped me develop administrative skills I did not know I would need to start and run a homeschool program as a ministry of our church.

 

Returning to homeschooling with a classical program opened my eyes to a whole new way of educating, that was not really new, but I had never learned about in my teacher training. I wanted to be able to explain what classical education was to my friends and family. So, I began to research what I thought was simply an educational model, but I quickly discovered is a much bigger conversation. The revitalization of classical education in our society is focused on whole person formation and teaching an individual how to learn, both of which I believe are what education should be, rather than simply career preparation. Our time homeschooling has also taught me that an education at home does not look the same as an education in a school setting. Homeschooling is not schooling at home. It is much bigger than that.

 

My tapestry is not finished yet, but I can see some of the picture God is forming. Just as with a piece of art, the artist deserves all of the glory.

 

My goal for this blog is to bring resources and encouragement to:

– Parents discipling their children

– Teachers in a classroom setting

– Parent-Educators in their homeschools

 

Thank you for looking into these resources and enjoy exploring the Rooted Together Blog!