As I was wondering about what to write about today, I thought I should start with defining the word that has captivated me for at least the last few years, “wonder”. I have learned on my journey homeschooling my kids that much gets lost when we don’t lay a framework of definition before beginning a discourse. According to the Oxford Language dictionary, Wonder is described as “a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.” I love all the adjectives used to describe the something that caused the surprised feeling mingled with admiration.
I think over the last few years most people have had to slow down at some point and evaluate life and the choices that got them to where they were. One choice I evaluated was homeschooling. I have been consciously homeschooling since my oldest was four. Eight years later, we are still at it and realizing that that choice to homeschool is what really gave birth to my whole perspective of wonder.
Before I started homeschooling, school was a box that you went to between the ages of five or six to 18, to learn all the things necessary to go to college. As my dear husband and I explored more and asked tough questions about what the purpose of that endeavor was, we decided that the outcomes we wanted for our kids were beyond college, and more about character and wanting them to become awesome humans that loved the Lord and each-other. Not that you can’t also achieve those things going to school, we just trusted ourselves to input those things more than we trusted the government to. So, we decided to homeschool. (More on the why’s will come later, I’m sure.)
When I began homeschooling, it was still a box for me, one that needed to be checked and put away, just like any other task or responsibility. As we progressed, I learned that homeschooling is actually a way of living. “Homeschooling” is actually a horrible name for the endeavor of becoming and creating life-long learners – beings that value and love to learn and grow and become. As a result of this pursuit I have changed. Stopping on our daily walks with toddlers, for example, to analyze each leaf, every rock and stick, name them and talk about their parts, tell stories or sing songs about their beauty, I have slowly been transformed to a being that wonders. Before, I would get to that mailbox, grab that mail and check that box. I am now one that walks to the mailbox and is stopped by a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable, even if it’s just the leaves on the trees, or the blades of grass underfoot, or the beautiful flowers growing in the front yard of our neighbor’s house. Everything is such a miracle, a wonder from our creator as little gifts to us each day. This is most effectively realized when we slow down enough to breathe them in and marvel at them.
Those sweet babes we chose to homeschool have come a long way over these last eight years. I am constantly in wonder at this young man and young women that I keep looking up to see sitting across form me at the dining table. I am constantly feeling a sense of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by one of the most beautiful, unexpected, inexplicable creations and gifts that God has given me in my children. Thank you Lord for the beautiful gift of wonder.