Well enough said and with that information you can understand that I was a bit frazzled, tired and emotional at all that was going on at once. Yes, you heard me right I was emotional. That is very unusual for me since I can usually hold it together pretty well under pressure and deadlines. Well long story short I decided to revisit an old homeschool group that I used to belong to. It was great seeing some familiar faces and meeting some new people. As we went around the circle introducing ourselves my turn popped up. I introduced myself and gave a brief bio of my family, how long we have been homeschooling, names and ages of kids, etc, etc. I also stated that I have an autistic son. Well if the ladies sitting didn't start a barrage of questions for me. I began to answer the questions the best that I could. I noticed that in a group of seventeen mom there were six of us that had children diagnosed with some type of autism.
I was surprised and made the comment that when I first had joined the group which consisted of about thirty families, ours was the only one with an autistic child. Now three years later her we are again with at least five families with autistic children. Most of discussed why that is and how traditional schools are just not helping these children to meet their needs.
By meeting their needs it can cover many issues that autistic children face from being to load, to crowded, not being able to move around, having to keep quiet, etc, etc. There are so many things that cause that population to struggle in the original setting. We as parents have to decide what is best for our children. I have struggled with the decision of homeschooling my son because there are certain activities that he does enjoy at his school for autistic children. I find that even though his school is totally geared for children with autism they also are not meeting his needs. I find that so hard to believe that even they do not understand why my son acts the way he does, and yet they expect me to know everything.
Well these issues have caused me to seek some help, because as we all know we are not miracle workers even though we are moms. I began to pray hard and ask friends to keep us also in their prayers. I had many prayer warriors and I could feel the presence of the Lord with me this whole week for sure. Then my daughter say to me, "Mom maybe you are just trying to hard to find an answer and God is talking to you but you need to just relax". Well out of the mouths of babes as the saying states. I received an email about another blog talking about a special saint of the day St. Padre Pio. His story at the end stated don't worry, and everything will be okay. Wow! I did not need to be hit with a brick with that sign that I was given. I truly do feel that the message may not have been written for me specifically but it spoke to me anyway.
I feel that if my daughter who has been homeschooled her whole life would not have told me to relax a little would I have noticed that message? I am not sure I would have, I probably would not even read the email, attended the meeting and received some type of peace with everything for he remainder of the week. That is what I call the beauty of homeschooling. If I would not have homeschooled my daughter would she have been so in tune with her faith? I really believe that she would be in tune with everything else that is going on in the world today and definitely would not be in tune with her faith.
The beauty of homeschooling has made my life more blessed not only that I have a wonderful relationship with my children and husband but that I am not the only teacher at our house. My kids are teaching me things everyday!
When things get you bogged down remember that we are all learning from each other no matter how old we are, that is the beauty of it all.
