The Time Has Come

Christi Braschler contemplates the beginning of her family's homeschooling journey.

The time has come.

To make the changes that have been restlessly stirring inside of me for two years.

I've fought it.

I've resisted it.

Still ...

The time has come.

If you had told me I'd be doing this two years ago, I'd have laughed and laughed and told you to leave; then continued drinking my wine alone on the porch. Because two years ago was remote learning and it was awful. So awful, that even hardened soldiers couldn't handle the rigors of a poorly constructed remote learning curriculum.

In fact, remote learning was why I refused to consider homeschool.

"I can't do this."

"This isn't for us."

"Not a chance."

But the feeling of needing to try continued inside me and grew stronger and stronger.

I prayed.

I discerned.

I found homeschool people to bother with many questions.

I researched.

A lot.

I decided to do it.

I decided not to do it.

I decided we were doing this.

I decided we aren't doing this.

I told God, if You want me to do this You need to make it very clear to me, because I'm so stupid sometimes. And clarity He gave me in the little things and the big things. I got certainty, courage, and strength in my decision.

With courage and strength, I gave myself permission to be okay with letting go of structured academics.

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The time has come.

For us to slow down.

To hit the pause button.

To make up for the areas and subjects my kids have fallen massively behind in, thanks to their “structured” education.

To simplify our schedule.

To focus less on "standards" and more on "learning."

For my kids to reconnect and learn to work together.

The time has come.

For me to embrace my vocation as a mother.

To fully manage my children and what is needed most for our family right now.

The time has come for me to educate my children the way they need to be educated.

The time has come for me to learn more about them and them about me.

Click to tweet:
The time has come for me to educate my children the way they need to be educated. #catholicmom

The time has come.

For us to try this.

Am I scared?

Absolutely.

But it's only one academic year. One at a time anyway.

I need to scratch this itch.

I need to see what this is about.

Mostly, I think my family needs me to do this. And probably, so do I.

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The time has come.

To die to myself and reconnect with the life I chose when I said yes to marriage and yes to babies. To give up the plans I've been wanting to make to embrace the role I was given nearly twelve years ago, because perhaps this is the moment for which I was created (cf. Esther 4:14).

It's my time to step up and love them all in a way I was always meant to.

It's time.

It's actually past time.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings." (Lewis Carroll, "The Walrus and the Carpenter")

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