A Beautiful Mess

written by Jessica Prukner

As a veteran, 7+ year homeschooling mom, I constantly get asked, “Why did you choose to homeschool?” In the current day, many homeschooling families don’t feel like they really had a choice but were forced into their situation thanks to the pandemic and virtual schooling. But that wasn’t our story.

When our oldest was in kindergarten at a private Christian school we started our family travels, which gave us a grand tally of five weeks of absences. I kindly asked the school to provide me with my daughter’s work and let them know she would not fall behind. Instead of working with me, they notified me that anything over two weeks missed would receive no credit. I didn’t really mind this policy her kindergarten year, but I knew we weren’t going to stop traveling, and she wasn’t going to fail every grade.

From one of our mentors, my husband and I were told a quote by Mark Twain: “Never let your children’s education get in the way of their learning.” We let that sink in, and it became our motto and the reasoning behind why we started our homeschooling journey. We decided that there would be so much more to learn when our kids could see and touch it versus read about it or look at it on a tablet.

I recently took on the challenge of clearing out my social media account, which had over 6,000 photos. It took me over a week to delete them all but in the week of deleting, I was able to relive five years of adventures and trips on which we had taken the kids to give them firsthand experiences. Homeschooling freedom gave us the opportunities to see the Declaration of Independence in glass under our hands, to climb into the Statue of Liberty crown, to watch the President of the United States wave to a group of fifteen of us at Andrews Air Force Base, and to tour the White House and Capitol Building. We have gone into museums of Pearl Harbor and Alcatraz and biked across the Golden Gate Bridge together. We have seen and held more animals than I can remember! We have jumped off of 35-foot waterfalls and learned about different plant life, tried interesting food, and learned critical survival skills. The list of our adventures goes on and on, all because of our journey of homeschooling.

I encourage every family that has the freedom to homeschool to think and travel outside the box of normality when possible. Every family teaches with different approaches, but handson is always fun and memorable. If your family is on a budget, there are always options for discounts and local volunteer opportunities. Next week, our family is going to be hands-on with pelicans as we help rescue them from fishing lines - all volunteer and no money.

Homeschooling is more than sitting at a kitchen table with your kids doing workbooks or putting them on a computer all day. Homeschooling is letting them experience this beautiful world God created for us. It is feeding and petting a flamingo, smelling the exotic flowers, helping rescue baby turtle eggs, collecting leaves, dancing in the rain, building forts, making mud pies, catching little critters, visiting the zoos, and appreciating the sunsets. At the end of the day, if your children have learned to love God with all their hearts, souls, and minds because they saw Him in the rainbows and the mud puddles, you can know you’ve done a good job on your journey of homeschooling. Be intentional about finding Him and His glory in every day, and every day will be a gift to you and your family as you homeschool together.