A Change of Perspective

If you’ve ever had a birthday (and I’m sure you have!) you know what it is like to look back on the past and see how your life has changed.

Monday was my fifteenth birthday. All day, I kept thinking how my perspective has changed throughout my life. So much has happened in the past five years, and through it all I have come to see things in a very different light.

Up until fourth grade, I went to public school. I never thought about homeschooling or what it would be like. All I knew was public school. I went to Traut Core Knowledge School, and had many good teachers. My Kindergarten teacher was such a sweet and calm lady, and she taught me so much. My first grade teacher, Mrs. Schmidt, was a great support to me as a Christian. I would have to say my second grade teacher was my absolute favorite. Miss Elder (now Mrs. Hanlon), showed me that I didn’t have to rush through everything. She even made me do an assignment over because it wasn’t neat. (Yeah, I was mad then, but it has helped me ever since!) I was definitely the teacher’s pet in third grade… Mrs. Ashley was a great teacher and a wonderful influence. My fourth grade teacher was horrible, but one out of five isn’t bad…

The last day of fourth grade was very strange for me. My parents had decided to homeschool me and my siblings starting that very next year. I was terrified at the prospect of doing something so drastically different. I didn’t know what to make of it, and I cried a lot. That first year of homeschooling was very hard (especially for my mom!), but at the end of the year, I was absolutely in love with homeschooling. I even admitted to both my parents that I was wrong and they were right.

That began the start of my perspective change. I had been yanked out of my comfort zone and thrown into something completely different. I adjusted, but it wasn’t easy.
Slowly, I saw a change in my family as well. We began to have what we call “family worship” every night before bedtime. We read either a devotional book or shared what was on our hearts. This was a very good change, and has brought my family closer than ever before.

As we became more involved in the homeschool community, we began to see the pros and cons of public school. Last year’s homeschool conference (CHEC) brought the issue of worldview into my life in a very dramatic way. The messages of the speakers all revolved around worldview and spiritual legacy. My parents began to think about what Jeff Myers (a wonderful speaker on the homeschool circuit) calls “passing the baton” and what Doug Phillips (leader of Vision Forum) calls a “multi-generational vision”. I could see that my parents not only wanted to teach me what I needed to get into college, but what I need to pass the love of Jesus on to my children.

So much has changed for me in my fifteen years of life, and I am so grateful to all the people who have shown me these things. I want to thank my mom and dad for wanting to pass on a spiritual legacy to me and my siblings more than anything else in the world. I hope this next year of my life will bring about more good changes!