Lily Elizabeth

My sweet big princess.  She is getting so.big.  It is hard to imagine that in less than two months, I will be kissing her precious cheek good bye as she walks into her Kindergarten classroom and starts the school year...

I was for sure going to be homeschooling her as of about six months ago.  I love the idea of homeschooling and have felt a conviction in my own heart that I want to do it with my kiddos.  My mother's heart yearns to keep them close to me, to take part in the wonder of teaching their sponge-like minds.  To enjoy the simplicity of keeping them in my home with me (although that might be a bit of an idealistic mindset, considering that most days with small children are anything but simplistic and add schooling on top of that--WOWZA :-)  But a mom can dream!). 

Then another mom on the base here (who home schools her kids...actually almost all moms on this base home school) and I were hanging out one day and she mentioned that she was thinking about sending her youngest to public school this year because she found an incredible school that is very near to us that has a very high rating.  This is very rare to find in LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) as they are notorious for poor ratings and dangerous schools.  Her youngest and Lily are the same age and just happen to be close friends.

She shared with me that she has seen the benefits of starting kids off for the first couple of years in organized school to help them understand how to take authority and obey someone else besides their parents, learn what the concept of school even is, and get some of the basics of the three R's under their belt.  She added that this can make the homeschooling process quite a bit easier for moms once their kids know the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic.  She invited me to think about sending Lily there along with her daughter.

I still wasn't convinced but I told Benjie about our conversation anyway as we were driving one day.  So, we prayed together that if it was the Father's will for Lily to go to public school this year that He would speak loudly and clearly to us seeing as to how dead set I had been on home schooling her.  We decided to keep pondering it in our hearts before the Lord to see what would come of it.

About a week later, I was at the house of some good friends eating dinner for their daughter's birthday.  This friend of mine is the mother of four children under the age of 10 and she home schools all of them as well.  Her third is a week or so younger than Lily so I asked her if she was going to start home schooling him in the fall.  She replied to me that she thinks it is best for children to spend the first few years of school in organized school and then proceeded to tell me the reasons she thought so, which matched exactly what my other friend had said to me!

I was shocked and felt this clearly resonate in my heart as confirmation for Lily to go.  The final piece of confirmation came to me when Benj and I reconnected on the subject and he had felt that this was God speaking to us as well.  We had another confirmation come from someone else we respect.

So, we are sending sweet Lily to school this fall and I am a ball of emotion about it :-)  I realize the Lord is wise, though, because I can't imagine nursing a small baby, having a three-year-old running underfoot and trying to get home schooling accomplished all at the same time! 

I am thankful to the Lord that He is our Guide!