Hindsight is 20/20

I often wish heresight were as sharp, but that just isn't possible. Still, it helps to find others who have done what you are doing now and listen to what they have to say about it when they look back. That's why I was delighted to read a reflection by Stephanie over at Recollected Life about the years she spent homeschooling her children. Her reflection, oddly enough, was inspired by my last post concerning home schooling resources.

Both Stephanie's posts are worth reading in entirety, but here are two of my favorite paragraphs,

From Time to Remember:

...[Homeschooling] sounds more idyllic than it turns out to be, but could never sound as profoundly formational as it turns out to be. I wondered if it would be true - so many days it felt like a long and laborious exercise in futility. But now, years later, I don't regret a single hour of it...

From Why it Worked and What it Couldn't Do:

Home schooling didn't give us days of unmarred Paradise. But it did give us three new adults in the world who live for more than themselves, who are unafraid to try new things and question convention while respecting tradition, and who sometimes say things like, "Remember that book? Yes, I remember that book! Scenes from that book are in my dreams sometimes!"

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Thanks Stephanie, for a little insight into how all this effort eventually looks in the rear view mirror. Much of this strikes a chord with me and I find it very encouraging.