What on earth was I thinking??? I am no more prepared to homeschool a high school student than I am prepared to fly to the moon on my own! Yikes!!
Actually, that’s not quite true. I have quite a bit of curriculum that will work well for high school. I have teachers manuals for many of them, and I have access to many more. Even more important, I have the ongoing confirmation that what I am doing for Miss M (henceforth known as Mallory) is not just my own doing but is clearly God-led. I know many are praying for Mallory and me as we move forward. That’s encouraging. And comforting. But the things I’ve seen come together in the last 10 days (since this decision was made) can only be God things.
It’s been things like needing to replace a specific book in the set that I have. Book 3 has been missing for a long time and I’ve never found a hardback copy in the right edition. Until last week…when I found it for $4, with no tax and free shipping!! Then I wanted a specific resource for me as a guide (grading, giving credits, creating transcripts, etc), but it’s a $25 book that I really don’t know how much I would use. You have to remember that I’ve not done high school before, and the little guys are only in Kindergarten! God has provided a copy to me for $5. I also needed a very important resource—the instructors guide for the US History curriculum I already own. I’ve owned it before, but someone borrowed it and never returned it. I debated and debated about whether I could do this without the manual and decided I had to have it. I knew it was not particularly cheap, but I had exhausted all my options. I went to order it and discovered that because I have ordered it in the past, I am entitled to a 50% discount. And I get a 10% discount because I have ordered so many materials over the years from this source. And I had a $25 credit with them that I didn’t know about. And because I am a long time customer, they don’t charge me shipping on any of my orders! So…God provided my $85 resource for $15. More confirmation that we are on the right track. Other pieces have fallen into place without problem: finding incredible study guides for the history books that could serve as test questions. A 4 page list (complete with discussion questions!) of movie resources for the time period we will be studying. A college level health and nutrition book with the right chapters for the study we’re putting together. Ideas and resources for pulling some of Mallory’s loves (photography, cooking) and some of the things she needs to learn (chemistry, writing) into a large, long term project. A friend who is a food scientist, and willingly shares her knowledge of ‘kitchen chemistry.’
All the worrying I have done? Worrying about whether I could really do this. Worrying about how to make sure that Mallory learns what she needs to learn. Worrying about making sure that we do this without taxing her mom’s finances. Worrying about how to evaluate and do tests. Worrying about how I’m going to balance the needs of a high schooler and 2 kindergartners. I need to make sure they all learn appropriately. Worrying about how to make sure that Mallory completes enough credits to be ready to graduate in June 2012. All of it—for naught. Guess I should have known better. God’s hand is in this. It’s been all over it from the beginning. He provides. I just have to trust. Then sit back and watch, with a smile on my face, as I see HIM rain down His blessings on those who are willing to obey His call, even when it makes no sense. To a feeble human mind, anyway. Guess it’s a good thing He’s in charge!
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:25-33, emphasis added
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