Homeschoolers are sometimes accused of sheltering our children from "Real Life". I'm sure that there are some families out there that are over-sheltering their children, but for the most part, homeschooling allows for much more "Real Life" than having kids spend so much of their lives in school. Today I'm just going to talk about one aspect of this issue.
Three years ago, our family was down South, visiting my and Mr. Math Teacher's extended families. We had a wonderful time, particularly getting to see Mr. Math Teacher's grandmother, who had just turned 90 years old. We got into town on Saturday night and spent until Tuesday with Mr. Math Teacher's family. We drove his parents (Grandma and PawPaw) to the airport on Tuesday morning. Then, we went to visit my parents for several days. Late Tuesday night, we received a call that PawPaw had died suddenly, soon after arriving home.
As you can imagine, we were devastated. We immediately packed everything back into the van and drove from my parent's trailer in Mississippi to Grandma and PawPaw's house in Tampa - a twelve hour drive. Our kids were with us through this entire time. They were there with Grandma and the other family members and friends who came to visit Grandma before the funeral. During the viewing, I took our kids and their cousin to the viewing for a little while and then back to the hotel to swim. Then, we all were at the funeral together. PawPaw was buried in Louisiana, so we drove Grandma to Louisiana with us and went to the burial service together.
During all of this, the children were active participants as much as they were able. We didn't shield them from what happened. We encouraged them to participate in the remembering and grieving with the rest of the family. I only kept them at the viewing for a short period of time and they were not required to do anything they didn't want to (except be polite).
This Monday, my dad was sent to the Emergency Room because he continued to be ill. He was admitted to the hospital Tuesday morning and surgery was scheduled for tonight (Friday night). Wednesday morning, the kids and I flew down here to be with my mom (Grams) and dad (Grandpa). We have visited Grandpa, made dinner for Grams, and generally tried to be helpful. We are planning to be here until next Saturday.
During both of these episodes, the kids have been completely "off school". But, really, they are learning more from these events than they would from books. They are learning about illness and death - things that our society handles very poorly. They are learning about taking care of each other during difficult times. They are learning to be unselfish. What will help them more as an adult - learning decimals at the right time of their life or being with their family in a crisis? The answer seems obvious to me. This week is another demonstration of why we homeschool - to prepare them for "Real Life".
1 comment:
First of all, I will keep your dad in my prayers.
I completely agree with this post. And although this is not directly linked to homeschooling in my case, I am amazed at the people who react with shock that I take my five-year-old to funerals and visitations. These are facts of life that must be taught.
Post a Comment