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A Moment with The Homeschool Minute ~ Relational Homeschooling – Diana Waring

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Relational Homeschooling    

Diana Waring

Dear Friends,
There are moments when our normal, everyday life stops and the big experiences of life appear: births, marriages, deaths. It is a time when family comes together and shares in the rejoicing or grief–sometimes both at the same time. And that is what I want to talk about today.

Last week, one of my favorite relatives in all the world died. Aunt Mary was one of those people who made you feel safe, loved, and valued. When you walked into the room, her eyes would light up, her face would crinkle into a huge smile, and her huge Texan heart would welcome you in a way that instantly made you feel like you were precious to her. She was one of the most wonderfully relational people I have ever known.

Listening to the stories of Aunt Mary this past week, I was struck by how much influence this wife/mother/aunt/grandmother/sister/nurse-turned-teacher-turned-elementary-school-principal/church-goer had in the lives of those closest to her. Statements like, “She always brought out the best in me,” and “She made me feel like I really WAS smart,” went far beyond the normal comments one hears at a funeral, because everyone making the statement had a gently surprised expression on their face.

It was in this setting that I remembered a pivotal conversation I had shared years ago with Aunt Mary. She had driven down to the Dallas airport to pick me up, shortly after I had begun traveling to speak at homeschool conventions. I was more than a little nervous to be in the car with her for the long drive back to her home, because she had her master’s degree in education and was the principal of an elementary school–and I was a relatively inexperienced homeschool mom, who was hoping that this experiment with my kids was going to turn out okay in the end!!

As we settled into the car, Aunt Mary turned to me, and in her gentle Texas drawl said, “Now, Diana, your mother has told me that you homeschool your children. I am SO interested to know more about that. . . Can you describe to me what your normal day is like?” With her kindness enveloping me, I began to share the ups and downs, the ins and outs, of teaching three little kids (9, 7, 5). I talked about books we read aloud, nature walks, M&Ms (math manipulatives!) marching around the house singing “Yankee Doodle” and making play-dough sculptures. There was nothing in this conversation about academic prowess, or skipping grades, or studying Greek. Instead, it was the fairly commonplace experience that we homeschoolers share.

It was at this moment that my aunt’s remarkable approach became pivotal for me. She turned to me and said, “Diana, what you are describing is a GIFTED program. EVERY child should be educated in this way! What a wonderful thing you are doing for your children . . . I am so proud of you!!”  Aunt Mary went on to describe to me that, due to the lack of school funding, there was only a limited amount of “gifted” education available for her students once a week, and she would have loved to give each of them what I was giving to my children all day, every day.

Right then, something changed in me. I went from nervously hoping that I wasn’t ruining my children’s opportunity for education, for careers, for life (as my mother kept insisting I was doing) to confidently homeschooling my children with delight, laughter, and creative exploration. Every time a fear of failure would attack me–from that moment until they graduated from high school–I would remember that, according to one of the best school principals in North Texas, I was giving my children a gifted program every moment of every day–and that EVERY child should learn this way!

Aunt Mary’s pivotal words to me–one of the many pivotal conversations that she had with many people–has not only impacted my life and the lives of my children, but continues to impact the lives of homeschooling families around the world as they read the homeschooling books I’ve written or use the homeschooling curriculum I created.

And I just wanted to share a bit of her life and legacy with you.

Remember, stay relational!

Diana

 

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Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. - Proverbs 22:6
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