We are all currently in different stages of a cold. Not a bad cold by any means, but one which has slowed us all down somewhat. This morning I dragged myself out of bed with no small amount of difficulty. I was tired from lack of sleep due to an irritating cough. I didn’t want to ‘do school’ today. I wanted to go back to bed. I didn’t. Instead I went through the motions of the day hoping that my enthusiasm would catch up at some point. Sometimes one just needs to get the momentum of the day going and the rest of it kind of sorts itself out.
I was blessed this morning by five children who had done all the chores before I had stuck my toes out of my bed covers. This isn’t normal but today was just what I needed. I made a strong coffee and began our morning meeting. At the end we chatted about the rest of the day. To be honest, if they had said they wanted to play all day, I wouldn’t have taken much persuading to agree.
Instead T12 said, and I quote, ‘If I don’t do anything else today, I must write!’
Eh? I was sleep befuddled. Maybe I hadn’t heard correctly. ‘Pardon?’
‘I need to write. What do you want me to write about?’ He said again.
‘Who are you?’ I demanded, ‘And what have you done with my son?’
He grinned. We agreed that he would research and write a report on the harvesting of maple syrup.
Later, we were chatting whilst doing the dishes. He was explaining that whilst he still hated the physicality of actual writing (by pen), that since we had allowed him to type his work he felt as though he had something to say. He commented on how much he enjoyed the thought processes required to produce interesting work. He had found his voice and he wanted to use it.
Suddenly my day became brighter. An infusion of energy soared through me as I realised just what my son had said. Do you have any idea how momentous this was to me? My incredible son had overcome one of his biggest hurdles and had found his voice. He had stuff to say, things he wanted to communicate to others. He was asking to write!
I realised something today. Whilst the world, the government, our schools and even our homeschool curriculum wants to tell us what is expected at a particular age, our children beat to another drum. They have their own time table. And there is no rush. I am going to repeat that for my own sake. There is no rush. Not for my son or for my daughters. They will achieve success according to the time table intrinsically inbuilt within. Our job is to faithfully get out of bed (even when it is the very last thing we feel like doing), faithfully teach them, encourage them to be the best version of themselves and perhaps most importantly to faithfully expect a good work ethic towards all things. Some one who works hard and does not give up will inevitably succeed eventually.
My son had found his voice.