Will They Remember Homeschooling?

I was reading a post today on a homeschool blog called Gypsy Road. I don’t often do so since those days are over for me, but it brought back memories and made me think, will they remember homeschooling? Will my kids remember the fun times we had during our homeschool adventure?

Our homeschool journey began over eighteen years ago and came to an end last May when the youngest graduated. It’s hard to remember the early days but if I put my mind to it, especially after reading posts like the one I read today, then it all comes tumbling back into my realm of remembrance.

Will my oldest two remember that we usually launched our homeschool years off with a fun educational day? Will they remember the year our first day of school was a canoe trip on Blue River in Indiana with Uncle Daryl and Aunt Leah while baby Luke stayed home with the grandfolks? I hope they do.

Will they remember the chilly trip to Bernheim Forest with hiking, a picnic and throwing a football around with Dad?

Will they remember the trips out west and the journals they kept of the many sights we saw? Will they cherish those journals as much as I treasure them in my heart? Do they remember the play dates and the attempts at getting them together with other homeschool families for “socialization” in the early days, the days before we found and joined a cottage school we loved?

Will our kids remember the trip to Disney World in 2001, and being evacuated from EPCOT on 9/11 due to the devastating events to our country that day?

Will they remember “The Four Heads” (Mt. Rushmore as Luke called it), and waiting to see Old Faithful, except two of the kids had to go to the bathroom and Dad took them and they actually missed it?

Will they remember the sleepovers and trips to museums with other homeschooling families? Will they remember how they each were able to take a friend when we visited a nearby place of interest?

I hope they do and so much more.

Will they remember the Lewis and Clark trail we followed from the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky which ended (for us) in Montana (I think)? Or the time we visited all the homesteads of the Ingalls family of The Little House series?

How about the staged gunfight in Jackson Hole? Or the vast depths of the earth as we gazed into the Grand Canyon?

Will they remember the “snow days” we had when we finished school early so they could go play in the wet, white stuff?

I know I do. I loved being a homeschool mom for the most part. Not the academics part exactly, but those precious hours and years I was able to be with my kids, watching them grow and learn.

Will they remember how amazed we were that they not only chose to participate but loved their years spent in Master’s Conservatory drama group; these kids of ours who were a wee bit shy who would deliver their lines so well? Do they know?

I guess my mind usually goes to the not-so-good times we had during our years of homeschooling, and the trying times we experienced as a family. I know they remember those, but I hope not to the point that it overshadows the many good times we had while we learned and discovered together.

There are many things I would change about those times I must admit, but after this time of reflection I know there are many good things they have to hold on to as well, if they only remember…