Tiny Grass

I’m still working through the idea of homeschooling. I mean, I’m committed to doing it and convinced by it’s efficacy, but I’m still working through the wheres and hows. For instance, how did I make it to this point, when just 10 years ago I imagined my life so much more mainstream?

Just the other day I was telling M about his birth (at his request). I was thinking how strange it seems now to remember how, just when labor was getting really intense, I walked out of my home, got into a car, and drove through rush-hour traffic with my husband and the midwife to a hospital. That was one hard ride, and the hospital experience was no picnic either! The machines, endless checks by nurses, painful bloodwork, all were just distractions and hindrances of the normal course of my labor. In contrast, J’s labor and birth was all accomplished in my own home, with no interruptions except for occasional trips to the bathroom (How dare my bladder interrupt the flow of labor!). For J’s birth, I learned to trust - trust in my body, trust in the process, and embrace my intuition. It was so satisfying - a birth that brought us all together as a family - working together and learning the secret of life.

It occurred to me the other day that the trip to the hospital in rush hour is so similar to imagining suddenly putting M on an orange bus and sending him to that lovely institution called school. How weird would that be? What an interruption from the flow of life. Not only that, but all the things that come with school - the unchanging schedule, homework, report cards, etc. - would just put roadblocks up in the relationships going on in our family. So I now see that embracing homeschooling, for me, is just one more step in putting trust in the process of life - I trust M and J will learn the things they need to when the right time comes (and with my assistance).

Here’s a little pic just about 12 hours after J was born. I just love this one.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 25th, 2007 at 5:23 am and is filed under homebirth, homeschooling, pregnancy & birth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.