{booking}

As an educator, I've evolved.  My ideas about learning aren't the same that they were almost 10 years ago when I possessed a W-2 and roll call of 22+ children.  My horizons for instruction have lessened much like my student class size.  I full-on sense the absence of checklists and standards breathing down my neck.  Stripped away much like my paycheck,  I am noticing the profit that comes from this no-income decision.

Recently I was asked by one of my college professors to give a statement to his Sociology of Education class for future teachers.  The topic was home schooling.

The question:

"Why do you home school and what benefits do you see this decision has on you children?"

My answer:

Kenny and I chose to home school because of the deep conviction we have for the power of a close relationship.  Specifically, the impact it has with regards to learning.  Simply put, connections ignite knowledge.  We believe in quality over quantity.  It's not how far you can stretch, but how deep you can grow. Learning at home provides a safe environment where flexibility, versatility and reality can infuse passion, administer to strengths and pinpoint weaknesses with ease.  It is also within these 4 walls of home that a child can feel comfortable and compelled to find autonomy in their own learning process at a very early age.

That and I coulda just said:  BOOKS.

I didn't grow up a reader.  I grew up pushed to read though.  I noticed my Mom's vibrant love for the spine bound.  And I can remember my Dad reading Cinderella to me when I was a little girl at bedtime.  But I can't remember much past that.  The only big ideas on reading from my family that I can recollect are "you should do it a lot".

But I didn't.

Home schooling has allowed me the beautiful chance to invest in this natural seeking of knowledge, be it pretend or quite factual, with my children. At home & unpaid has gifted me the opportunity to see countless books through from cover-to-cover and together with them by my side.  Taking turns reading, changing the voices of characters, talking through the dialogue & story decisions: all of it.  I've been there to see it happen.  Watch it build. And feel it elevate to a point of independency & intrigue.

This Christmas celebration is like any day for us during the school year.  My boys read. Growing up as a non-reading child, it was so important to me as a parent that Eli & Casey latch on to the goodness of the written word.

My guys know the beauty of books.  They enjoy the library. They have built a sound enough taste of genre to know what to seek when those glass doors open to bookcases bursting full beyond their wildest dreams.  They know which authors they call their friends, too.

This Christmas season we have been reading.  Christmas literature chosen by each of us.  We've read together and apart.  Paired together just as much as quiet-alone.

We've compared and contrasted the Christmas themes so beautifully found in our books. Themes like giving & kindness.  Sacrifice & generosity.  Plenty & barren too.

And we've stopped for breaks to Lego while we discuss a little more about what Christmas means to them.

The boys are in the process of writing their very own Christmas story.  Both very different, and yet so very true to the nature of the Christmas theme.

Booking it.  That's what I've chosen to bring to Christmas.  Piled under blankets or sprawled stretch-legged-out on the floor, I've opened this gift everyday with a happy heart.  Joyful for the opportunity to gift my guys the goodness of story.  Thankful to field questions about character flaws or sad plot twists while Legos click & scatter around me nearby.

Connections ignite knowledge. And with this class size of 2, I am hopeful to gift the world 2 pairs of fresh eyes complete with full hearts for the love of the written word.

To read more posts from this {bringing to Christmas} series, visit here.