Why I'm still homeschooling: 20 years and still going strong

Or, What Taekwondo has Taught Me about Homeschooling 

I read something the other day that really irked me. Got me fired up in a mama bear sort of way. A Catholic blogger who used to homeschool wrote, "Anyone who says they enjoy homeschooling is either a beginner or in denial."

Let me take a few moments to deny these charges.

I'm still homeschooling after beginning to homeschool twenty years ago. I'm still enjoying it. Yes, there are days of sheer frustration. My youngest is turning ten years old on Sunday and he's got loads of learning issues. We pulled him out of the state-sponsored special ed program after he languished there for three years. After only four months of working exclusively with Mom and having plenty of time for imaginative play, he's blooming. His progress is slow, but we see genuine progress. His reading ability has improved. His mathematical skills have improved. His handwriting has improved. Yes, I get frustrated when I have to show him twenty times how to do something. But guess what? It pays off after twenty times of showing him the same thing. Maybe the public school paid special ed teacher only had time to show him something nineteen times...or, more likely, two times. I keep working with him till he gets it and not until the bell rings to mark the end of our session.

Family Happenings, or Why I've Been Neglecting the Blog, Update #2

The garden is still half overgrown with weeds. I haven't even attempted to plant anything. Very sad. But life has been crazy busy this summer. Perhaps unusually so with a dear husband working on an intensive PhD program, two successive French exchange students, an engagement and another daughter discerning the religious life.

My life, for now, has been preoccupied with taking care of children, dogs, adult children, a cat, a husband and trying to stay cool in the heat. We've had two medical issues to deal with (successfully avoiding surgery twice!), major car repairs (there goes the new floor fund), a bathroom remodel, two kids sent off to camp and I've finished helping with our regional Catholic Home Education conference. I'm hoping life will be getting back to a more measured pace soon.

Isn't it always the way it goes? You think life will give you a break and slow down in the next phase, but it ends up speeding up, changing direction or just going berserk. Learning to live in the moment, taking each day as it comes and seeing the joy and beauty of creation in all things is what keeps me from going totally schizoid.

1st degree black belt Bernadette, red belt Mom and 2nd degree black belt Edmund.

Oh, and I got my red belt in taekwondo. Being able to kick, punch and yell, "AYEEE YAAA!" can also be very comforting.

The making of a black belt

This video was taken by me, at our taekwondo studio, on the day of our belt testing. Edmund is seen here being attacked by two other black belts to test his sparring for his second degree black belt decided--for the fifth time. (Taekwondo also teaches perseverance!)

This video was also taken by me at our testing. In this one, Edmund has to break three boards. He only gets three tries. In all his previous testings, this was the thing that hindered his advancement.

We are so proud of you, Edmund!

What's a nice girl like me doing in a place like this?

I never thought I would enjoy taekwondo sparring as much as I do.

Here I am: a 46 year-old mother of ten sparring with teenage boys who could really hurt me. But they're not.

They understand and try to follow the words we recite everyday before each class: "...I will practice in the spirit of Taekwondo; with courtesy for fellow students, loyalty for my instructors and respect for my juniors and seniors, Sir!"

I know they're holding back; practicing restraint when they spar this old mom (who's older than most of their moms). I know this because I watch them spar each other and say a prayer of thanksgiving each time I see how hard they can kick.

Why am I enjoying this so much? I ask myself this question after nearly every class. Maybe it's a release of stress and frustrations. Maybe it's the adrenaline that surges through my body each time I face an opponent who could really hurt me. Maybe it's the sheer joy of doing something strange that I never thought I'd do. Maybe it's the relief each time the class ends and I haven't gotten a major injury. It's probably all of the above.

Granted, it's a lot more fun since most of my family members are doing it too. Once my #4 daughter leaves for college in the fall, everyone living at home will be in taekwondo: all eight of us!

We credit our taekwondo instructors with helping our kids to learn better self-control, better discipline and study habits and certainly better physical conditioning. My #5 son has been involved with this studio for nearly 6 years and has recently achieved the rank of 2nd degree black belt decided. When he started he couldn't even do jumping jacks and he was a little squirt of ten years of age. He's now almost 16 and nearly as tall as the instructor. My, how time flies!

Offering it up

I have a pretty high tolerance for pain. I've had eight unmedicated births, including one induced with Pitocin and one posterior presentation (i.e. "pain in the back"). I'm not being brave, I think I just don't feel it like some people do. One of my labors was 100% pain-free. I'm not kidding. I had NO LABOR pains at all. Delivery was a bit uncomfortable, but labor wasn't.

So, when my true love and I were doing side-kick drills at our Taekwondo class two nights ago, and he delivered a side-kick to my left knee cap, I figured I'd be fine after a bit of ice and rest. (So what if I was writhing in pain on the floor?) Yesterday morning, I woke up and realized that I had definitely gotten a good whack to my knee and something wasn't right. I felt pretty sure I had torn all my MCL's and that surgery would be the only option.

I was feeling pretty sorry for myself all day. I'm not very good at offering up inconvenience. Pretty good offering up pain; not so good offering up sitting still. Not only was I getting ready to test for my next Taekwondo belt, I was also doing an indoor triathlon: 4 weeks to bike 56 miles, swim 2 miles and run 10 miles. I started a week late so I only had 3 weeks to complete it. How could I do that if I had to have knee surgery?

I made an appointment with the doctor for later in the day and my dear husband, who, by this time, felt miserably horribly awful for inflicting such pain to the mother of his children, called into work to ask for personal business so he could drive me to the doctor's office.

After checking for swelling (virtually none), and range of motion (pretty darned good, considering), the doc proclaimed it just a strain. So, rest, ice, compression and elevation (RICE), with some Ibuprofen for any swelling, should see me back on the karate floor in a couple of weeks.

Good thing, since we're testing for the next belt on March 6th. Then my true love and I will be sparring.

Offer it up, Dear!

On being a white belt adult testing for a taekwondo color belt with a bunch of eleven year-olds

Today was taekwondo testing at our studio where 7 of us now take classes. Yep, the 5 awesome kids pictured here, plus dh and me. My husband and I tested for our first color belt today. The testing consisted of doing our "form" of 16 moves. These moves were a series of blocks, punches, and kicks that comprise the "white belt form." My dh and I were the only white belts in our testing of adults and "high rank" students ages 7 to 12. We had to do our form in front of our instructor (5th degree black belt), two guest judges (3rd and 4th degree black belts), and the entire school with requisite parents, grandparents, siblings, friends and neighbors in attendance. (I purposely did NOT invite any other relatives, friends or neighbors to my first testing!) We also had to perform our "one steps," which is a series of moves which one would perform if attacked. We alternated playing the role of attacker and defender in front of the judges. Our only misstep of the day (I suppose I should say MY only misstep of the day since I'm the one who misstepped), was when I began attacking before receiving the appropriate signal (a sort of grunt "ay-ya!") from my dh. Evidently it wasn't the end of the world and life continued on and we survived, nay, evidently passed, our first test.

Dear Edmund, who is a 2nd degree black belt recommended, and who has attempted to test for 2nd degree decided on a previous occasion, was not able to break one of his three boards in three tries, and thus didn't pass on to 2nd degree decided today. He will attempt his entire testing, which is quite lengthy for 2nd degree black belt, again on December 20th. Third time's a charm. His good sportsmanlike conduct is commendable, and I hope to one day have as good a form as he does.

Also testing were my "Tiny Tigers," JP and DJ, who did a fine job with the under 7 year-olds. They were testing for their green decided belts. And Bernadette, did a super awesome job testing for her brown belt decided. She broke her boards on the first try!

Not testing today due to some "attitude" difficulties, was young Paul. He should have been testing for brown belt recommended, but his instructor and parents agreed that his performance has not always been the best and that it would be unfair for other kids who actually paid attention in class and worked hard. The upshot of that is that my driving schedule is going to continue to be crazy hectic as I have to drive kids to most of the 14 classes we take each week and Paul won't be able to join his sister in her classes, thus eliminating 3 of those classes.

Aren't we terrifyingly and ridiculously good-looking in our pure-white uniforms and belt?