hmschlgraduation

Homeschool Graduation – What next?

     One very exciting event that has happened this month is the graduation of our second child from our homeschool. She is 17 and just finished taking and passing her GED tests. We are very proud of her! But now are the questions from those around us… What Next?? Well we have thought about these very things for some time now. Our ideas for our children do not always fit in with the norm around us. We tend to just have different ideas for our sons and daughters. It reminds me of when we started homeschooling. Back in 1987 almost no one homeschooled. So we tended to feel very much out of the norm! People would question what we were doing and we really had no experience and no idea how it would all end, we just walked in faith with the knowledge that this was what God had called us to do. So now as these years come to an end with our oldest children there are still people who look at our choices and do not understand :) Sometimes having different views and feeling some of the pressure from people around me can make me question, “Are we making the right decision?”.    But I have seen in the last few years that homeschooling our children has been the best decision we could have made and how faithful God has been to us over the years as we have made this walk of faith. Now once again I feel like I am facing the same types of feelings. Perhaps some insecurities with our choices and perhaps some concern about the decisions we make, etc… but just as we did when we first started homeschooling, I know that we must pray about our choices and we must make the decision that we feel God is leading us to make and then walk in faith that the outcome will bear much fruit in our child’s life. Trusting that God’s way for us is the best way for us. Which brings me to another point and that is I do not feel that our choices should be the way it is for every family! So as I share what we have done and our choices I recognize that other families will make different choices for their children based on how the Lord leads them.

     Now back to the question, “What next?” How should we deal with high school, college, careers, etc…? Let me share what we did with our son and where we are right now with our daughter.   When our son, who is now 20, started into his high school years we decided that we would homeschool him for 2 years and then he would get his GED and move onto Community College. This was the best decision we could have made. I often question the 4 years of high school and wonder if they are really necessary. We wanted our son to start working towards his future as a man and to be prepared for the world out there. From the time he was young we told him about the need to be able to have a trade or field that would allow him to support a wife and a family. We told him how important it was for a mother to be at home, tending to the home and the children that he would have someday and the need to prepare for that. So it seemed very natural to start him out in a trade at a younger than typical age. He had always had a love of airplanes and wanted to do what his father does and that is aircraft mechanics. So he spent 2 years in trade school and then due to 9/11 had to wait a bit until the airlines were hiring again, and now works for the same airlines my husband does. Making this choice for us did set us apart from the typical choices made today. However I have read that in the older days young boys began working towards a trade at around age 12, so this thought is not completely new!

     Now for our daughters we have very different ideas. Some today would call this a double standard, but we find it fits more in line with the word of God.   Everywhere my daughter goes she is asked, “So what do you want to do for a career?” Or some question of this nature.   We do not stress careers for our daughters. We try to impress upon their hearts the value of being a keeper of the home. This is a tough job, let me tell you! In our culture it seems that this is not a valid career choice or option. So from the time my girls are young I teach them all I can about running a home, planning meals, living within a budget, how to sew, care for and teach children and instilling in them a sense of worth for this “career”.   However we do understand that we do not know ‘when’ our daughters will marry so we encourage them to think of what they might like to pursue in the way of a job or learning skills, something they can put to use until the time comes for them to marry and then set it aside for a much higher calling in life.   We also encourage them to think of skills that might help them earn extra money from their home to help if that would be needed.

     My oldest daughter who just graduated is considering taking a few community college courses, perhaps some secretarial courses. She would like to find part time work this summer to help her prepare for some of the expenses.   She also is learning more and more about horse training and hopes that someday she might be able to make money with this in some way.    But she is mostly excited about the prospect of her future as a homemaker. She has a hope chest (which is just a very large Rubbermaid container and now she has a second smaller one as well). She has been filling her hope chest up for the last 1 ½ years. She has dishes, bake ware, cooking utensils, towels, dishcloths, potholders, etc… and special pieces for a dish set that she likes. She has plans to make a quilt to add to this and spends most of her babysitting money on items for this chest. I could not be more pleased that this is her desire. This is the type of thing we gladly encourage with our daughters!

     I know that our answers to those “What Next?” questions are often unique and that we are making choices that are not always the norm.   I also realize that many will say “what if??”, what if this or that happens and your daughters need an outside career, or how can your son’s manage without diplomas or sports etc… I think back to when we started homeschooling and people around us had many “what if?” type questions for us, we did not have all the answers for them, only the knowledge that the Lord knows all these things and we just need to keep our eyes on Him, follow His lead and walk each day in faith. :)