Brotherly, Sisterly and Ancestorly love

Ancestorly might not exactly be a word but work with me here. :)

It dawned on me the other day just how loved my children are. I was at a family reunion for my husband's side of the family and I was watching people watch my kids and the other grandkids, nieces, nephews etc play. There were alot of people I knew from previous family gatherings but most of their names escape me, even so as I watched them watch my children I could see the joy in their faces as they saw them play. They asked us about our lives and listened attentively and it dawned on me..."These people actually love my kids." They may not see them alot and they may not have a deep relationship with them but still they love them. They hope for the best for them and are excited about their successes. It got me thinking about all the people on my husband's side of the family and on my side of the family that love my children. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of even those on the other side of the veil and their interest on our behalf and I realized we have no idea how many people are rooting for us right from the get go. There is so much excitement when another little one is born into this world. Everyone wants to know if the baby will be healthy, who the baby will look like and what personality traits him or her will have. It's funny how genes really play a role in our attributes from parents, to grandparents and aunts and uncles. Someone somewhere up the line can relate to how you feel, cause they got that gene too!

Years ago when I was pregnant with Jaidyn I felt the constant companionship of a loved one on the other side of the veil. I don't know her name but the name Beth always came to mind when I thought of her. I had always felt like she was probably an ancestor looking out for me but after that day at the family reunion I have no doubt she is one of my ancestors, for some reason I imagine from my dad's side. I was going through a rough time. Carl James was a little over 3 1/2 and the twins were a little over 2. Carl James was going through an emotional time and was being very defiant and the twins were into everything! Let's just say my patience was not what it should be but having Beth around saved me quite a few times. I vividly remember one time I was doing laundry and I heard commotion in the other room, I remember my blood was starting to boil and I was ready to go into the room yelling and impatient. It was as clear as day when I heard Beth say "Be nice." Those were the words but the emotion conveyed was much, much more. There was the love of a mother and grandmother in the room. I felt understanding from her about where I was coming from but also compassion for my tiny growing children. I felt patience emanating from her and I could almost feel her touch my arm gently as I went to go scold the children.

Sadly I didn't stay as calm as I had hoped but having that reminder and one that was filled with so much love made me see with different eyes. Instead of seeing what my children were doing I was able to see what my children needed. I was reminded how little they were and since her correction of my attitude came from a place of love and understanding I didn't beat myself up but instead just resolved to do better. I didn't waste any time wallowing in sadness I just decided they needed more, they needed better and I could do that. I felt her presence with me alot during those few months and I will forever be grateful to her gentle reminders and her constant companionship through such a rough time in my life and a time that my children needed her as well.

These experiences combined help me to see much more clearly how much love is out there in the world. We often feel alone and like we are navigating this life alone but we have no idea how many people are just waiting to be asked to help. We have no idea the people beyond the veil just wanting us to ask for their presence and their heavenly help. I imagine if I could see with clear eyes that my children are constantly surrounded by angels. My mother has a quote in her bedroom and it says "Legions of angels watch over the children of parents who pray." Legions, that's alot and I don't doubt it. That has always brought me much comfort. I never imagined growing up that those legions of angels are most likely my ancestors. There is a quote on facebook that I recently saw that is on "The Mankind Project" fb page it says "Suddenly all of my ancestors are behind me. 'Be still' they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands."  I felt that the other day as I sat in the park realizing how loved my children are. As I thought of the people before me I was overwhelmed with love and  it was that day that I realized how loved I am and how loved you are.

Never forget "you are the result of the love of thousands"

To just "Be"

Have you ever had a time in your life where you needed to "just be"? A time where no one demanded anything of you other than just being yourself. A time where it wasn't about what you could do for others as much as it was about who you are and wishing others just appreciated that as a gift. A time where you could be free of guilt for not adding more to your plate than you can handle. A time that was just about your growth and nothing else. A time where you could literally just be you and that would be enough.

We all had that time at least once in our lives. We came into this world as tiny infants not able to do anything for ourselves. We had nothing to contribute and you could easily say we weren't very useful but regardless we were loved beyond measure. Just our existence brought joy to others. Every tiny progression was celebrated. Even something as simple as our first smile. The first time we learned to show affection was cause to celebrate. We were appreciated, we were loved, we were accepted and we did NOTHING to earn it.

When did that change? When was it that we decided that we had to do something, volunteer for something, or have a certain talent to be loved and appreciated. When did we stop feeling like we bring joy to the world just by being ourselves? When did "being me" stop being enough? When did our tiny, tiny progressions stop meaning something and when did our small setbacks start meaning so much? When did we stop smiling just to make others smile back at us? When did we decide that the reflection in the mirror was anything short of miraculous?

I think a certain degree of selfishness is healthy. You can call it self preservation or self love if you like that term better but somewhere in the mix "self" has to matter. I think there is something to be said about just being you and the joy you bring to others by being yourself. I think as we come to be more true to ourselves our priorities are aligned alot better and we are drawn to do things where our talents and our passions are best put to use. There is a time and a season for all things. I think we often feel guilty taking time for ourselves for our own healing and self reflection and understanding. There are times when other things must take the back burner so that we aren't the thing on the back burner anymore. There is nothing wrong with just being you and taking a breather.

For each of us that will look different but the thing that will be the same is that something somewhere will have to go in order for you to find that balance and the time needed to rejuvinate and look inward. While you are there it is important to remember the little things. Know that others appreciate your company, your wisdom, your laughter and your presence and it's okay if that is all that you give for a while. Honestly I think we are drawn to give where we are most needed and useful. Try to tap into what you are drawn to and over time you will probably see a pattern. It's okay to not be interested in every volunteer/service opportunity out there. Be open to the possiblity that it's NOT where you are needed.

I get easily sucked into doing the good things that I think others think I should be doing. Then I can get resentful or worn out and my life at home suffers because I'm being pulled too many directions. I keep having to relearn that sometimes letting go and saying no are the hardest part. The Lord has his own expectations of me and where I should be spending my time and talents. If I get too wrapped up into what I think my spouse, my neighbor, my friends, my parents, siblings, inlaws etc want me to do then I lose who I am and I lose purpose. I have to get right with God and that is IT. I don't need to seek anyone else's approval because no one else's vision is as clear or wide as God's is. If I allow myself to ask God what he wants me to do and I trust that I can find so much more inner peace than trying to make everyone understand my choices.

I realized that by trying to help everyone understand my choices I am not helping them at all. Sometimes we as humans are judgemental of others circumstances and it doesnt matter what they say. We don't get it but over time God can teach us to be much more loving and accepting than we had previously been. So if I make a decision about my family and someone doesn't understand it and it causes them to see me in a negative light then God now has the opportunity to teach His child a higher way to see, to love and to accept but if I spend my time trying to cater my life and decisions to others views/opinions then God loses that opportunity to show His child another way of living or seeing through me.

So much of life is way more about us than it is about others. Even as a mother it's more about me than my kids. Most people will tell you they learned more from their kids than their parents. Kids have a way of really teaching us about ourselves, about life and if we are listening about God. So it's okay to "just be you" for a while. That's actually a pretty hard job in a world that is always throwing so many opinions and views your way.

Playdough Recipe with Essential oils!

I woke up this morning with every intention of cleaning my house and doing several loads of laundry. In the last few weeks my house has flooded and we went on a family camping trip. I still have piles gathered either from the flood or from camping. Twenty minutes into cleaning I was out of breath and my stomach muscles were tired. I blame the stuffy nose on pregnancy hormones and the tired stomach muscles from being 30 weeks pregnant! I quickly readjusted my expectations of the day. I thought "Maybe I can just get the camping stuff out of my dining room and do a few necessary loads of laundry." I was laying on our study/homeschooling room floor resting when I saw Kylee in the hall upset from a recent fight she had with Morgan over fair wings. 

It was then that my eyes were averted to our bin of craft supplies and once again the focus of my day changed. I thought "Maybe I should add in some quality time with the kids".  Kylee and I started talking about what we could do for our craft and after several minutes of searching the web we decided to make playdough! Of all the things I had planned for the day this was not one of them but it sounded like a much better alternative than the things I had planned anyway. :) So to avoid further fights and contention we headed off to the kitchen to make playdough! I figured if I was going to be doing it I might as well document it and blog about it. Of course my counters were filled with life happenings so I had to clean them off in order to make room and get a nice picture of course!

In life there are always trade offs and today I decided that instead of washing all of my pots and pans by hand they were going in the dishwasher for a faster clean up and some time with my kiddos! Thank goodness for a dishwasher. So what do you need to make play dough?

Supplies Needed

• Oil, Salt, flour, cream of tartar(I used baking powder), food coloring and water
• Also a pan and something to cool the play dough on I used wax paper but a plate would work

Playdough Recipe

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar (I used 1/2 tsp baking powder)
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 Tbsp of cooking oil
• Food coloring
• 6-8 drops of essential oil (optional)

Directions

In a saucepan combine flour, salt and cream of tartar

add in the cooking oil, food coloring and water and mix until smooth.

 At this point you can add in your essential oils or wait until you knead the dough. I added lavender oil and decided to add red food coloring to turn the playdough purple. Turn on the heat to medium-low and stir until the mixture forms a ball. 

It was at this point that I had lost the interest of the kids and they went and grabbed their already made Play-Doh.

Once the mixture has reached the consistency of playdough you can remove it from the heat and allow it to cool for about 5 minutes.

If you didn't add your essential oils in the saucepan you can now knead them into the dough, or you can omit this step. Since my kids had been fighting earlier I decided to use lavender oil which has a calming effect. I loved the smell of oils in the playdough and so I couldn't stop there. Plus what fun is only one color of playdough? Kids love citrus oils so I decided to use some wild orange, lemon and lime.

The kids seemed to have a great time and got the benefit of essential oils with it!



Talents taken for granted

I started the morning by cooking breakfast with my youngest daughter Jaidyn. Before we could cook we needed to clean the counters off, part of that involved taking garbage to the outside garbage. On the way back in she said "I came in before you." A few seconds later as if to reiterate her point she said "I came in before you and you came in after me." I jokingly said "Yes, that's usually how it works." In my mind though I was reminded of the time last year that I took my son to speech therapy. While there she mentioned that he struggled with his prepositions, before and after being one set of them. He was 7 at the time and Jaidyn is 3, so I was proud of her that she could differentiate between the two as well as use them correctly.

Something that perhaps before I would have taken for granted. I have had a lot of things like that come up over time. My sweet husband is very hands on and mechanically inclined. He can encounter new machinery he has never seen before and just by looking at it tell you what it does and how. He always wants to know how things work. His talent for seeing how things function is something he has always taken for granted and usually calls common sense. What I see as a knack or a talent he sees as just plain common sense. It took some time with him being married into my family to realize that not everyone has this "common sense". I hope as time goes on he can better appreciate the gifts he has been given.

Another moment I was reminded of was when Carl James was in physical therapy as a baby and toddler. We had to do certain exercises to get him to sit up independently. Later we had to teach him how to get up from a sitting position into a standing position. If we were to stand him up on his own two feet he could stand for just a second on his own or longer while holding onto something but he could not go from sitting to standing on his own. We felt it was very important for him to have this kind of independence and to not need something to pull up on to do it. The physical therapist taught us a way to help him get to a standing position on his own and we worked with him on this technique for weeks if not months.

 

He eventually mastered this and took his first 5 steps at 18 months.

 Getting my twins to stand and to walk was a much easier task though. One of them started walking at 9 months and perfected it at 10 months. The other started walking at 10 months and perfected it in a week. She might be a little competitive. :) While I was there with my twins when they were learning to walk and stand there were many moments where they were learning independently which is true for my son as well, there were just more moments that I was there working with him and teaching him.

 

My twins are very agile and flexible. Something that comes natural for them. Kids at the park will envy the way they can climb and manipulate their bodies. Just the other day we were at the park and I had to tell them to climb out of a tree because they were too high.

 

 

Even though they were so high I was only slightly nervous because I know their capability. Still it seemed the wise choice to have them come down. We each have something we are good at. Something that comes natural for us. I have a brother that is very charismatic and does great in sells. Even though he is only 23 all of my family expects him to make a lot of money cause they know his set of talents. Things that come easy for my husband aren't necessarily easy for my brother and the reverse is true as well. It's easy to see others talents and dismiss our own. As I have struggled with things and seen others struggle I have come to have a better appreciation for the simple things. Even things as simple as being able to walk, balance and stand in one place. I am much more appreciative for my body after having had a child with physical limitations than I was before. I spent much of my youth jealous of the girls that were able to dance and do gymnastics or tumbling. It wasn't until I had my twins and started watching other kids at the park that I realized I was much more capable physically than I had ever given myself credit.

 

I might not be the most coordinated person when it comes to sports or dance but I do have a lot of strength and control over my body. I have been loving aerial silks and realizing that I am starting at a different spot than each woman in the room and it's okay to be where I am at.

 

 

Cub Scout Day

I write from a place today of awe and gratitude. There are so many times that we see the weaknesses or the evils of mankind. When you turn on the news or the radio, as you drive down the freeway encountering people with road rage, when we have our quarrels with family, friends, neighbors or coworkers the flaws of mankind become more and more evident. Today though I witnessed the opposite. Today I saw the strength of mankind through strangers compassion and consideration. It reminded me how much the small things we do really do matter. Today was cub scout camp day. I had hoped my husband could take my son so that they could have some father bonding time and I knew my son would enjoy it more with his dad rather than his mom. When I found out that my husband would not be able to get work off, I cried.

If he weren't disabled he could have joined the scouting group on his own without either parent but I knew he would need lots of one on one attention and would need help with toileting needs. Sometimes the hardest thing about having a child that is disabled is the day to day heartaches rather than the surgeries. Since my husband wouldn't be able to get off work it meant that I would need to get a babysitter for my 3 younger girls and impose on someone else's day. It also meant that I would be out in the heat at 7 months pregnant helping my son stay balanced, climb things and shoot the bow and arrow while stabilizing him in a standing position. I was really worried about this since I have been very fatigued lately from the pregnancy. I wasn't sure that I could take him or that either of us would have a good time. I wasn't sure how far the distance would be from one activity to the next since I had never been up to the camp. I decided late the night before though that I would take him.

My sister was very generous and even though it was last minute she said she would watch my 3 girls. I knew with my girls there I wouldn't worry and I would be able to concentrate on Carl James. So we all got ready for the day and headed up to my sisters and then camp. I got to camp much later than expected and was worried about what he had missed. The camp staff were very helpful in helping us find our group and even gave him and I a ride up the hill to where our group was. It turned out that we had only missed archery and the "leave no trace" activity. Soon after we arrived they were ready to move on to the next station which was the hike. The camp leader that was up in charge of the hike was very on the ball and noticed his crutches so she gave him the option to go try out archery instead of the hike since the hike was a steep hike. With a little coercion from me he decided to do archery.

Once again they gave us a ride down the hill and to the archery station.

After the archery he said "I was nervous cause I thought they were real bow and arrows but now I am glad that I decided to go here instead." After archery we went on a canoe ride where he got to have his own paddle which he thought was pretty cool. While there on the canoe ride I could hear him laughing at the funny things the other boys would say and do and so I knew he was getting more comfortable and enjoying himself. He always takes a minute to warm up to a group and so it was nice to see that this process was starting even though it was only his second activity with his scout group.

One of my favorite parts of the day was seeing how he reacted to the rope bridge. I had been asking him if he was going to try it and his first reaction was a straight up "No." So I decided to let him fall back in line and just watch the other boys. We continue to talk about it and his answer slowly softened from a straight up "no" to "I want to try it but I don't want to try it." Eventually his answer was "I want to do it so I can send dad a video but I kinda don't want to do it."

As the boys took their turns I watched his facial expressions and I could see that he was not only warming up to the idea but working up the courage. The time finally came for his turn and it was wonderful! He did an amazing job and at the end was as proud as could be! The look on his face was priceless! Later in the obstacle course there was a beam that the boys were to balance on. He absolutely loved conquering that! We actually had to go back through the obstacle course to get a video for his dad. :)

 

At the end of the day I was filled with joy and gratitude. I ached for him to have the experience that I knew this could be for him. For him to enjoy the company of the other scouts and the leaders and for him to be able to feel confident and accomplished as he completed each task. I knew how life changing an experience this could be for him and I also knew it could go south really fast. I had prayed that he could have the experience I hoped he could. I was irritated when I got to camp much later than expected but as the day unfolded I know the Lord was looking out for us and had an interest in our day and how our day went. He answered my prayer and helped us arrive at just the right time and had just the right people there to help this be a great experience. I am so grateful to everyone that took the time and noticed his special needs. As small or big as their accommodations were. It made all the difference.

My favorite picture of the day. I saw this proud look so many times through the day. It warmed my heart.

It isn't about reading

The other morning I woke up determined to actually do some school! I decided we were going to read first since it's such a crucial part of my children's education right now. I presented the idea in the most cheerful voice I could muster yet still my children just groaned! I had the urge to put on my "boss hat" and just make them read with me but I felt impressed to do something entirely different. The thought came to my mind "Teach them a lesson from the 'Before they turn 12' book."



It's a book I bought at Seagull book that goes over the principles taught in "For the Strength of the Youth" manual. This thought seemed like a distraction from my current goal and so I fought the idea but it came yet again. So I decided to at least open the book and see what pops out. I opened the book to the table of contents and the heading "Education" stuck out. I knew right then that sometimes it isn't about reading at all. I recognized that my children needed a testimony of the importance of education.

I took the time to study the lesson and we had a great discussion on why it's important to be educated. We talked about whether or not Heavenly Father wants us to be educated and how being educated could help us in our lives. That in order to know our talents and skills we need to be exposed to different things to first find our interests. That the Lord instilled in us certain talents and certain desires to fulfill our earthly mission and that by reading and studying we could unlock those things. We talked about how it's hard to learn new things if you cannot read. What is most important is that when I thought I was skirting the issue I was really addressing it to it's core. I am thankful to a Heavenly Father who guides me daily and moment by moment in how to raise His children. I am a much better mom thanks to Him.

So when your child isn't reading...ask the Lord, He will tell you what to do. 

Loving the present and looking forward to the future

It's a Sunday morning. We are all outside enjoying the cool weather after the rain last night. Carl is in the garage

making essential oil holders


and the kids are riding their bikes.

 

Even the dog is enjoying the weather and company.

Each of them has had a chance to help daddy sand in the garage. It's days like this where I think "Life is good." Even though last week our entire basement flooded and we sort of got our house put back together and then decided to still go on the camping trip we had planned for my husbands birthday and now we are living in total chaos. Not to mention my husband has gotten less hours at work and credit card bills have started to take their toll. Life is hard, life is busy but still life is good. We currently live in a state of chaos and a state of poverty (although I think that's using the term a bit too loosely) yet I still can't shake the feeling that one day it won't be like this and I will look back at our chaos and lack of resources and laugh and maybe cry at the way we had to do things. There is nothing hinting that things will get better. If life could be read like an 8 ball then it'd probably say "All signs point to NO" yet still I think we will get the house we want, the vacations we long for and the land we hope for our children to grow up on. It might take time but to be honest I'm enjoying this experience that I am having now, appreciating that one day it will be gone and hoping I can learn everything I need to from it.

Jaidyn playing in the sawdust left from Carl's project

Recently I have had the desire to be able to support my husband in his role as the financial provider in a different way than I have in a long time and see how I can help supplement his income. It's interesting thinking of going back to work or doing something to make money from home. Time has become even more valuable to me. The freedoms I enjoy as a stay at home mom are even more evident to me. I have always known that I "have it good" and that I am lucky to be able to be home with my kids but the idea of going back to work and having someone else tell me what to do with my time and when to be there is a really frustrating thought. I have gotten used to the fact that if I do not want to go somewhere at a particular moment in time most things I need/want to do can wait.  Sure there are some responsibilities like doctor's appointments (and we have a lot of those) and such but for the most part I am able to govern how I spend my time. That's a luxury! I don't mean to say that my children don't demand my instant attention it's just that I enjoy raising my children and so their interruptions don't bother me like a work schedule would. :)

Like the twins asking me to braid their hair and then take their picture. A happy "interruption" in my day.

I am determined to figure out how to help my husband make money from the skill set that he was blessed with. Too many mechanically inclined men are struggling to support their families and where would we be without their mindset and their skillset? I know that my life is much easier having a husband that can fix or rig things up for me. I have pretty much come to the conlclusion that if I need or want something my husband can figure out how to make it or rig it so that it fits my needs and my wants. Now that's a service that should be well compensated, don't ya think? Sadly it's not. To give you an idea of his talents here is a picture of a shed that he built.....

It isn't finished yet cause of lack of funds but it's amazing isn't it?! He can just figure this stuff out like it's no problem and when he has something he is struggling with he can always find someone who knows the answer. He is very friendly and very resourceful. I can't wait for the day that he can see his talents for what they truly are and that he can be compensated for using and developing them. This post is to remind me of that inner peace and determination that I had even before things were looking up! Here is to our future!

Academic Advantage

It's funny the different perspectives on homeschooling. When I was younger most of the speculation about homeschooling was that if you were homeschooled you must be socially awkward. I think some people even thought there was some kind of secret that we must have been keeping. Now that I am homeschooling as a mom there is still that speculation and concern from society about whether or not your children are being socialized but on the other side of the coin is an assumption. The assumption I have encountered is that since I am homeschooling my kids they must be geniuses or that it is my intention to make them so but that isn't how it started for me. In fact, my kids are currently behind their grade level expectations set by the state. I sometimes get caught up worrying about them being behind but then I have to remind myself. I didn't homeschool to achieve an academic advantage.

I decided to homeschool first on a prompting and as time went on I saw thought patterns and habits in my children that I wanted to address, thought patterns and habits that I might not have noticed had they been in public school and only home for a short time. Or I would have noticed but blamed some outside source for their struggles. With them being homeschooled if something is wrong in their world I automatically look at our patterns at home before I let my mind wander anywhere else. This is where they are most of the time so it's most likely there is something right here at home that is bothering them. There are times when my child will do or say something that "gives us away". That let's the rest of the world know that we are lagging behind academically. When it's in front of family or friends I cringe. I wonder what assumptions they might be making about my "mistake deciding to homeschool" or I wonder what concerns they now have about my children falling behind.

It's in those moments that I lose sight of my why and I worry about their judgment. If I give in to the fear of failure I suddenly lose my edge as their mother who is divinely guided. When I give in to the fear of failure I suddenly become much more likely to fail. I start to worry about others understanding me and my motives. I start to wish that they could see my vision but instead of adhering to my vision more firmly I start to take on theirs in hopes that I will gain their favor. The problem is; is that I can't raise my children to everyone else's expectations. While one mother would choose public school for her reasons another might choose homeschooling for her reasons but just because a mother is homeschooling doesn't mean we would automatically agree on how to approach it. Their are as many ways to homeschool as their are people. So in trying to find favor with those who disagree with me and my choices I actually lose my competitive edge and along with it my vision and my reason (or my why). 

Is there an academic advantage to homeschooling? Of course. My favorite academic advantage is that your child can study what he or she is interested in. The love of learning stays alive.

One of my twins caught a dragonfly. Look at how intrigued they are!

Then there is the more obvious advantage which is the child to teacher ratio. When you have 1 child to 1 mother or even 4 children to 1 mother compared to 30 students to 1 teacher there is an obvious advantage right there. You are better able to see specifically what it is a child is struggling with, tailor to his or her needs and make it enjoyable for him or her. As a mother you love your child and you want him or her to have every chance to succeed so you work really hard at getting your child the resources he or she needs. As a mother you are able to see the whole child and you are able to know why your child is struggling with math or reading. Whether it be lack of exposure, lack of interest, lack of confidence or that he hates the books you are reading. In time you can tell. So you will know whether your child needs to read more or take a step back. Sometimes improving academics has nothing to do with academics and a lot more to do with emotions and security. That's why I am homeschooling.

As my children have struggled with reading I have watched them in other areas of their lives. I have watched where their confidence grows strong and where it starts to wane. In time I realized that they weren't emotionally ready to tackle reading; at least not at the level we were currently pursuing it. I needed to give them more opportunities to succeed academically and to dare to take a guess when they weren't sure of the answer. So while they are gaining confidence I am working hard on my own confidence in trusting my maternal instinct and trusting the learning process. I trust that my kids want to learn, that their soul yearns for more knowledge and wisdom and it's my job to make sure I don't crush that natural desire. In short, I just need to get out of the way and let things happen. I am realizing that a lot of things in life go smoother when we get our ego out of the way and when we do things for the sake of doing the right thing. Not to look better or to gain others acceptance but just because it's what we do because it's who we are and it's what we feel needs to be done.

Do I appreciate the academic advantage that comes with homeschooling? Absolutely, but mostly I appreciate the independence and that they are able to become their best selves in these formative years. That they are able to find who they are, what they stand for, what talents and visions they have and in time they can share their visions and talents with the world. In short, I homeschool mostly for the emotional and spiritual advantage of homeschooling.