Graduating your first child from your homeschool

How can a parents pride of the accomplishments of child and the hopes for their future mingle?  It's a swirling water place.  Perhaps because the water isn't clear all the way to the bottom.  Or the swiftness of the movement of the water.  You ride along almost weightless.
I'm finding it important to carve our moments to savor the view and not always be carried on by the quickness of the flow.

I mentioned to a friend recently that this senior year of highschool went too fast for me.  I'm not sure if it was me holding my breath which made it so breathless or if the view was just so quickly moving.  I have watched other homeschooling mothers and fathers as they send that first child off to school.  I have a dim understanding from an outsiders point of view.  In just a few short weeks, I will begin to understand what it means to have a child leave the nest of safety we have made.

Both my husband and I did the gentle transition to college.  We went to a junior college and lived at home for the first two years.  Even in those first two years of college we both made changes in our life choices.  We didn't finish the initial dreams we had for ourselves.  I'm happy with the journey that our lives have taken us on and brought us to today.  I think that the bumps of life up to this place created resilience in us.

So as I process my own journey forward, I asked my daughter to write a reflection on her years of being homeschooled with a Charlotte Mason approach.  Soon after my request, she was invited to share at a homeschool conference.

Here are her words in essay form that she was willing to share with the public:

How A Charlotte Mason Education Influenced My Life

As a Charlotte Mason child, my education truly began at birth. Atmosphere is certainly so incredibly influential. As I look back upon the almost 18 years of my existence, I am overwhelmed with the amount of blessings and opportunities I have been given through a Charlotte Mason education. Today I will share a few ways in which I feel my CM education has truly influenced where I am today. 

This fall I will make the trek out to Cleveland, Ohio where I will begin my studies in viola performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music. This is, and had been no small feat, and I will be forever grateful to my parents, family, and close friends that have been wonderfully supportive with their help and prayers. Although in addition to this great support, I believe my education has really fostered and encouraged the musician I am today. I can only imagine how a young momma can feel somedays as she’s plodding through the weekly composer study. But yet, composer study is one of the many things that has always been close to my heart and now I’m finding how nice it is to know so much about composers! Most of my fellow music majors don’t have the knowledge, or even the desire to learn more about the composers they plan to spend their lives playing. It’s also super nice to go to an orchestra concert, hear the music playing and be able to say, hey! I know who wrote this! This is the guy that started piano at age 5 and his hands had a span of a whole twelve inches! (I always love the little smirk-smile that fills Mom’s face after one of us kids has a little ahah moment.) And naturally, to my family’s great joy and delight, by being homeschooled I was given the flexibility to spend a whole lot more time practicing then some of my friends.

Another subject I have always loved is, well, I suppose you could call it English? As soon as little me could read, I read. A lot. And reading is still one of my favorite things to do. This past semester I took a composition class at the community college in Peoria, IL. I can still remember the look on my teacher’s face on the first day of class when she asked us all to share with the rest of the class the last book we had read, and why we had read it. I shared that I had just finished the Brothers Karamozov and it was entirely by my selection. Her face was simply priceless. I cannot say that I only read books of the thickness and intensity of Dostoyevsky. However, I can say that I am very thankful that I even possess the ability to read it. I found myself surprised how many of my classmates at this community college didn’t read. In our “normal” American culture it isn’t even “normal” to read. How incredibly sad is that? I will now proceed to thank you for investing in your child’s future by simply reading to them. It is something they will treasure forever. 

Now, when asked to write this I was encouraged to include both the pleasant, as well as the less pleasant aspects of my Charlotte Mason education. Honestly I had to think a little bit when it came to the bad. Honestly I cannot say that anything about my education was truly bad. However I can say that there was at least one part of my CM education in particular that gave me cause to use both the virtues of patience as well as perseverance. This would most certainly be Nature Journaling. (I love the outdoors, don’t get me wrong.) However, as much as I enjoy hiking, observing nature and all that fun stuff, I’ve never been super keen on the artistic part of it. Drawing, painting, sketching and the like, have always been a genuine struggle for me. Although I have spent most of my life being strongly encouraged to put something in my nature journal every day, I’m still working on choosing to enjoy it. I have the years ahead of me to continue growing this lovely skill. 

Therefore, in essence, I want to thank you for choosing to invest in your children’s futures in such a rich and beautiful way. I am forever grateful and I hope to continue this growth of observing the truth, beauty, and goodness in this world and I hope to one day share it with my own kiddos.