Dear Mom,

Your little boy is truly blest to have in you a mommy that has a heart for children. I have not met a teacher yet that I did not feel went into that vocation for reasons that were other than wanting to bring out the best in students. It is an affirmation of my belief that there are far more good and holy people in the world than those who seek to hurt us or one another.

As a teacher I am sure that you witnessed many times the tearful goodbyes on the first day of school. Many of those tears were for reasons completely unrelated to the joy of learning and the environment in which those lessons would be taught. Small children express their emotions in ways that are near and dear to our hearts. When a child does not like a certain food he lets everyone within earshot know his feelings. In the same respect 'tears' are often the result of frustration and a true fear of the unknown. Your little boy is grappling with both of these feelings and desires to understand where you fit into the plans.

Sometimes I have found that when we truly listen to a small child's issues with a heart that is open and ready to hear what is implied not just the words that are said, we are then in a position to make real headway into reaching solutions for challenges. It is my feeling that your little boy wants to be assured that he will make new friends, have plenty of playtime with these new friends and have the great joy of experiences that will serve to engage and entertain. Your little boy sees home (from his years in the preschool) as the place that you leave to get to the fun. While this may be true to some small degree, in his mind it is the whole picture.

I would suggest that you first deal with your feelings concerning homeschooling. Certainly after all those years teaching school, you must have a real conflict with homeschooling. This conflict is perfectly understandable as you were a talented and compassionate teacher. My own daughter is a teacher and she has a real love for the classroom experience as well. However you are moving forward into the homeschooling vocation and feel very good about this choice because you know that it is a calling from the Lord. Once you have wrestled the feelings within yourself you will be better able to speak with your little boy with a conviction that says to him, 'I want to listen to your concerns, I will help you through the rough spots, I am here for you and will work to help you understand and clear up any confusion that you may have concerning this choice and most importantly I feel good about the choice to homeschool and I will help you to feel good about that as well.'

Do stay connected to the homeschool group from your church. Take the time to participate in functions that will help your little boy make new friends and have exciting experiences. As you make new friends, he will as well. Pray, pray, pray for the right words and the correct timing to speak to your little boy about his concerns as they arise. Embark upon the adventure of homeschooling with an eye to the independence afforded with this lifestyle. Use all the talents that you so wonderfully engaged in the classroom to make a home that is about learning. Do not bring school home but instead make home your school. You now have the opportunity to employ in your homeschool all the ideas that you were not able to use in the classroom. How exciting for you and your little boy.

I admire you very much and look forward to an update as the year unfolds and the bumps and kinks of the transition are smoothed and the way is clear.

Let us pray together a Hail Mary this morning for all those little children who will begin the journey without so much as a pencil or paper. Let us offer our prayers for them and their parents and ask that the Lord show us ways to help them. Inspire in us, dear Lord, a heart that reaches beyond ourselves to those that are our brothers and sisters along this path to our Heaven home.

Sending out a prayer,

Rita Munn