Thursday, December 11, 2008

Cultivating World Changers



Our homeschool journey began over 20 years ago when our first child was born. Being the amazing parents that we were, and having such a smart and precocious first-born, we wanted the very best education that money could buy for our daughter. If we had it to do all over again, we would still want the very best education for each of our children, but we would recognize that we were pretty average parents and while each of our children is smart in their own way, none of them would be labeled geniuses. We're a pretty normal family, living in rural upstate NY ... but we all have the potential to be world changers!

I learned two valuable lessons while homeschooling our children ... 1) Both homeschooling and parenting are very much like gardening. There is a lot of time, effort, sweat, frustration, and enjoyment that go into the process as you cultivate young plants and young children. 2) Homeschooling is also a journey. There will always be someone ahead of you on the path that you can look to for guidance, and there will always be someone behind you on the path that you can encourage along the way.

My hope is that I might be able to offer some encouragement to YOU, now that we have come to the end of this phase of our homeschool journey. All three of our children have graduated from our homeschool ... one has graduated college and married her sweetheart ... one is honing in on the end of her college journey ... and one is in the thick of his college experience. While my journey may have taken a different path than yours, it is likely that you will encounter some of the same roadblocks and obstacles along the way.

One of the most valuable things I have gained from those ahead of me on the homeschool journey is their recommendations for success. As I cultivated our tender young "plants" along the way, others would come along and offer suggestions for watering and fertilizing and pruning that were ever so helpful. Perhaps you will find something helpful among my shed full of tools.

So shed your gloves and kick off your garden shoes ... grab a glass or mug of your favorite beverage, and relax in front of your computer.
  • Request a FREE Sonlight catalog - it's a great tool for planning
  • Browse around Sonlight's Homeschool 101 pages
  • Read through my blog at your leisure, you may find something valuable there!
  • Check out Sonlight's blog - some of my co-workers and I love to offer our opinions on a variety of topics
  • Most importantly ... email me if you have questions or would like to chat about homeschooling and/or gardening. I have changed the world a little bit at a time as I cultivated those young plants along my path ... you can do the same!
Still on the journey ... 







3 generations of world changers!

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