Turning Out an Egg-ceptional Homeschooler

I have two sons who love eggs. One of them likes his eggs cooked well-done and the other likes them over-easy. Through the years, learning to make these eggs to the exact precision and temperature - to make them runny enough or not too runny, has become an art. As I was waiting for that exact and perfect moment to flip an egg this morning, I thought of homeschooling and how turning out a homeschool graduate is not the precise and exact science that we'd like it to be.

You see, I've had the privilege of being a part of a generation that has already graduated from homeschool. I've watched not only myself, but my siblings, cousins and friends all make it successfully to graduation and now, on to life. The thing I've learned from my experiences and observations is that not all years are "well done" years. Sometimes you have a year or a semester that can be considered nothing less than runny eggs, and maybe at that time, runny eggs is what is called for. Other years may turn out to be nothing but burnt eggs, but even this can be overcome with a little seasoning.

Take, for example, the year that my cousin would go into his room and then come out and tell his mom that he had finished his Geometry work. Turns out, he wasn't doing any work at all. After some hard work, that burnt egg season was overcome. Or the time when for the life of me, I could not understand reducing fractions. I would cry and complain and refuse to even try. Then, one day, just like a ready to be flipped egg, a light bulb went on and I "got it."

As homeschoolers, we have come through sickness, laziness, life changes, moves to other houses, countries and states. We've had sleepovers and tried to do school together and learned that it does not work. We've tried our best, we've given our worst. We've lied and we've cheated, but we've also learned, grown and overcome. Some of us have gone to and graduated from a public school, some of us have graduated from homeschool.

We were not all the same; we came from different backgrounds and families. For some of us learning came easy, for others it was a struggle all the way. Through all of these well done and burnt egg years, through all of these different circumstances - we've all prevailed. And we have all turned out on the other side, exceptional, unique and talented individuals.

The next time I am sitting with a group of homeschool moms and they begin talking about the struggles they are having or why their curriculum is the perfect one, I will smile and think of my morning at the frying pan. I might even pat that struggling mom on the shoulder and tell her "don't worry, not all seasons will be full of runny eggs."

- Julee