On Home Schooling

These are excerpts from a letter my mother wrote to her cousins about home schooling. She wrote this while I was finishing my 9th grade year. I believe her words reflect how much she loved us, her children, and the joy she experienced while educating us.

She writes… “It always seems overwhelming but I feel committed to this. I guess some day when it is all said and done I have to feel good about how I raised my children that is in every area. I hope that I never say “oh, how I wished I’d….”. I can’t tell you if the education is better public vs home, it is a feeling in year heart, and mind just knowing it is the right thing to do.”

Later she describes what some of her days were like… “ There are days the housework never gets done because we don’t stop due to being on a roll. Field trip days we don’t do as much school. I try to cook easy meals. I have to do at least 2-3 loads of laundry a day to keep up. …The first few years I worked through what I liked and didn’t like. Changed rooms where we did school and desks to find the best way to do things. Some times of the day work better then others do. … sometimes things interrupt and you can’t get much done…We work at the kitchen table a lot.”

About our family she shared… “Our kids are close to each other and for the most part enjoy it. The have a wide range of friends in age groups, which is good they can get along in any group of people. I feel our kids are well rounded with a wide variety of ideas.

Her perspective on teaching… “Every opportunity is an educational one. Just turn it into a fieldtrip, or learning experience. This is the case even if they’re in (public) school. I think a lot of people think once their child is in school then their job as a parent and teaching stop. This is not true.”

In closing she writes… “As you can tell I can talk about this subject for a long time and my heart is there…I enjoy the lower ele. levels so much I will miss them when JR is done. I have at least 6 more years. Just today the kids built out of play-dough a volcano and lake with a boat and waves as a project.”

Remembering 3 Years

I made this video as a way of reflecting on the season of life that surrounded us as I experienced my mother’s passing and the years that followed. I started making my video in the spring of 2008 and finished it in 2009. I forgot to mention in my credits that the funeral photos were taken by Richard Lem on behalf of our family.

A gift for Janet

This is a video I made for my mom's sister Janet. They had a very special bond.

Remembering You

Remembering You

Why are you gone?
We don’t understand.
We want to be with you,
To just hold your hand.

Your last days had been
So long and so hard,
But we all could see
That your faith was unmarred.

We told God we needed you,
That we wanted you to stay,
But that wasn’t his plan
And he spirited you away.

Your time here was done,
It’s not ours to know.
Each day is a gift
‘Til it’s our time to go.

You touched so many lives
And had so much to give.
You helped us understand
What it really meant to live.

We know where you are
And are happy for you.
And maybe we are
Just a bit jealous too.

It’s just hard to be
The ones left behind
With the big hole you’ve left
In our hearts and our minds.

What a reunion you’ll have
With the ones gone before.
At last you will see them,
Together once more.

So what you have taught us
Is to live as the wise,
To defend our convictions,
And never compromise.

So when we are at
The end of life’s road
We can look back and smile
As our story is told.

That we lived and we laughed
With purpose of heart,
And by remembering you,
We were never apart.

by Paula Carroll