Saturday, December 27, 2008

A Tribute to a (Homeschool) Mom

This is for all the mothers who have sacrificed their own careers to stay at home and be a “mom” to their children. This is for those mothers who could have sent their children away to a daycare, a preschool, or to public or private school but decided that they would rather be a mother and teacher to their own children, so they could pass along their own love of learning to their children.

This is for all the mothers who sit up all night with a sick child, rocking or holding them as they cough, or as they vomit and tell them they will get better. To all the moms who pray for God’s healing for their child and know in their heart that God has heard their prayers. This is for the moms who prayed and God took their child anyway. This is for the moms who never get a sick day or a vacation day, let alone one that is given with pay!

This is for all the moms who got up every night to nurse their child, knowing that they were the only ones who could feed their baby. This is for those who decided to rock their baby to sleep one more time because they knew one day their baby would no longer lay in their arms and fall asleep. This is for the moms who cried, knowing that their child would soon be weaned from their breast and those who rejoiced at their newfound freedom!

This is for all the mothers who don’t get a paycheck, but are always working. This is for those moms who do get a paycheck and sacrifice their own convenience by working from home or in the evening or at night just so that dad or mom can stay at home with them. This is for the moms who have to explain to their child what a daycare is, rather than show them!

This is for the moms who don’t get to buy the new car or van every year, but drive the old beat-up Junker that everyone stares at when you drive down the street. This is for the moms who cannot buy new clothes for their children but shop second-hand stores and rummage sales for underwear, socks, and jeans without holes and who sew the rest. This is for those moms who hope this year they can buy a new dress for Easter, but then sacrifices that new dress so that her children can wear those new clothes instead.

This is for those mothers who tried endless times to get pregnant, and finally adopted a little one or two and thank God for putting those precious little feet into their home.

This is for the moms who travel from baseball to soccer, to piano and ballet – knowing that dinner must be made because there is no extra money to “eat out” this week. This is for the moms who plan a balanced meal every day and who show their children how to eat a kiwi, crack a coconut or make homemade cookies. For the moms who would save time by mixing up that cake by herself, but would rather use every opportunity to teach her children fractions, measurements, science, and family chores. This is for the moms who don’t mind stopping in the middle of laundry or dishes to watch her child climb a tree, pull apart an earthworm, or blow a white-haired dandelion.

To the moms who search the library or internet to answer profound questions from her 5-year-old or to look for a book that you know your child would love to read with you. To the moms who aren’t afraid to say, “I don’t know, but we can find out.”

To all the moms who realize that their children will not remember a clean house and “decorates” her home with family art, posters, wall hangings, learning books and toys. To those moms who know they have only 15 or 16 precious years to shape the hearts and attitudes of their child, to instill a healthy fear of God into their lives, and who realize character is more important than knowledge; to those moms may you forever know that your sacrifice has not gone unnoticed.

This is for all the moms who teach their children to pray, to trust in the Creator God, and don’t expect anyone else to teach their children about anything. This is for the moms who rejoice when their children recite their ABC’s, count to 100, add, subtract, multiply and divide and for those moms who taught their children to read. This is for the moms who learned history all over again so that they could teach their children how God works in the affairs of men, and for those moms who must always explain why socialization is not a problem when you homeschool. To the pioneer homeschooling moms, this is for your vision to see that while everyone else said you should put your child in school, you persevered so that others could see that homeschooling still produces the most well-rounded, best educated child!

This is for all the homeschooling, stay-at-home moms who know that the time their child will live in their home is short and they want to enjoy every minute of it with them!

Send this to every mom you know and let them know you are blessed to be a homeschooling mother!

Written 5/1/2003 by Camille Cantwell

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