The clouds parted. Angels began to sing. Little birdies fluttered down from the trees – even though it’s winter – and twittered lovely melodies. What brought all this about? One simple sentence, uttered by my son:
“You know what, when I do school with a good attitude, it goes faster and I get all the answers right.”
Trails of pixie dust fell from the sky onto my waiting head and I felt myself begin to fly. Years of telling him this exact same thing. Years of saying, “Let’s just do it, and it will be over.” Years of cajoling, enticing, trying to make it fun, feeling frustrated when he didn’t realize that yes, it is fun … and suddenly, he gets it for himself.
I feel like I’ve won the lottery.
We know we’ve made the correct decision for our family by homeschooling. We went into it with a lot of thought, consideration, and prayer. We have felt good about our decision from the very first, and yet, there are days when conveying that to the children doesn’t go over quite as we’d like. We’ve told them that when they get older, they can decide if they’d like to attend public school. In the meantime, we try to help them have a good experience with learning so that wherever they attend, they’ll have a positive attitude about it. It doesn’t always work, especially with this one son, who has never seemed to quite get it.
“Why do I have to do school at all?” he grumbles. We explain, once again, that no matter where he goes to school, be it at home or at the building down the road, that the state requires a certain amount of education.
“But I don’t need an education to be a Lego designer,” he says, listing his top career choice.
We sigh. He sighs. We go the rounds, explaining what employers look for, what he’ll need in order to get by in the world. He acts somewhat mollified, and then a week or so later, we go the rounds again. He has never just sat down to do school willingly.
Until yesterday.
Dare I hope, dare I dream, that he’ll remember his breakthrough moment? Will it flicker in the back of his brain, a whisper of a memory, or will we start going the rounds again?
Well, if he does forget, at least he had understanding for one day … and I can hang on to that and pull it out to relive when he gets grumpy again. Moms have to take what they can get sometimes.
Related Blogs:
What Role Does Willingness Play
Are You Trying to Fit a Square Peg into a Round Hole?