Making Decisions

We have decided to homeschool our kids. There are many decisions that just keep coming. We are also constantly evaluating what works best for our kids. When it comes to other people judging our choices, I'm not a fan. This is a response I wrote to a question about homeschooling and associating with others was posted in a group that I'm part of currently. (I decided that as long as I'm sharing some thoughts - I might as well keep track of them - especially since there are times I comment and it's the first time I'm putting the thoughts together in that way.)

First of all - anyone who is LDS should understand the answer of 'This is what Heavenly Father wants us to do with our family.'. (Although, I get when they don't - we've had 'members' think we're odd and a family member that is against it.) People are afraid of what they don't understand. They might just need some questions answered. As for being able to share the gospel - most of the non-members we know are homeschoolers. (We live in Salt Lake.) We have a couple of groups we participate with in our area. I love that we are able to have close friendships with these families. The two main things from that sentence - 1. friendship and 2. families. It takes a friendship to share the gospel (not just someone you sit across the aisle from in class) - reality is that no one considers every other student in the school their close friends. The other thing I love is that we associate with families - not just the peers that are all the same age as my children. Families are the basic unit of the church - you want to share the gospel with families. It's also easier to share it with them if they've had a chance to get to know your family and can see your example. They're more comfortable asking questions. When you know the whole family it's easier to invite them to an event/meeting or to have the missionaries teach them. If it's someone your child knows from school - it's an adult contacting another adult they don't know (or don't know very well) in order to get permission for an invitation to happen. It just doesn't feel quite as friendly. The invitation tends to not go as well if it's awkward. One last thing - community involvement. I think it's easier to work community service in when we are the ones in charge of the schedule. When our kids were at school from essentially 8-4, it didn't leave much time for anything else. That would be my two cents. (Sorry it ended up a bit lengthy.)

Changes

I'm attempting to make a switch. I'm attempting to combine this blog with some other blogs in hopes that things will be more coherent. We'll see how it goes. It seems to be an uphill battle with the technology.

You're Not Alone

I just finished reading 'Mother Warriors' by Jenny McCarthy. It's about mothers (and fathers) who are doing what they can to help heal their children who have been diagnosed with autism. The book got my attention as it was casually sitting on the library shelf. We have an autism diagnosis in our family and I was needing to feel the strength of other parents. We've been working with so many things lately that I just wanted to feel a bit of a breather even though the work is never really done...kind of like cleaning and laundry.

I related to the other parents in the passages that spoke of needing to get help for your children, feeling alone in your quest, feeling like others are judging you/your child, being frustrated because you're not getting the help you need from 'the professionals', and feeling a bit of a loss because your experience as a parent is different than what you thought it would be.

The scenarios are different than what we are experiencing. But, I 'got it' when it came to the parents reaction and what they felt other peoples reactions were towards them or their children.

I already had the idea for this blog before reading the book. But, the book was just one time I felt what I want others to feel when they read this blog. That they are not alone. Parents who have children that need extra help are NOT alone. As I talk with others, I'm finding more and more families that are working with these issues. I also find there are many who don't want to talk about it even though I'm to a point where I can tell when there are children that are struggling with the same things that my children are struggling with on a daily basis. People don't talk about it for various reasons. That just might be a post for another day.