Chapters of Life

Graduation was beautiful. Not so much an end, but more so a beginning. My education is not over...it's just beginning another chapter. I love this quote from Robert Hutchkins, which we put on the graduation invitation: "The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." Over the years, I have met so many students in the "regular" school system who simply loathe school and despise learning. And I remember listening to these grievances with the curiosity of one to whom learning was an adventure, and wondering what they meant. I often reflect on how my education, my years of homeschooling, have been so much more than simply book-learning. Of course books played a key role for me - and they always will! - but our "life skills" days of cooking, or cleaning, or sewing projects, or preparing for houseguests were just as much a part of fashioning me into who I am today. Homeschooling at its best is the cultivation of not only knowledge, but wisdom. Of not only brainpower, but heartpower. Of not only hearing and grasping, but seeing and understanding. Of not only principles, but truths. Of not only facts and figures, but virtues and values. Of not just preparation for a job or career...but preparation for LIFE. For the next chapter.

At the Graduation Mass, I read the following poem just before we graduates presented our parents with roses...

For all the heartfelt prayers for us
You’ve offered through the years
For all the sacrifices and struggles,
All the sweat and toil and tears

For all the times you held us
And wiped our tiny tears
For all the time you hugged us
And soothed away our fears

For all the smiles you gave us
When you wanted to give a sigh
For all the times you went on strong
When you wanted to sit down and cry

For all the years of learning
Of sitting on your knee
For all the years you’ve showed us
What a Christian ought to be

For loving us when we’re not loveable
For teaching us what’s true
And most of all for giving us life
Mom and Dad, we’re trying to say…thank you

P.S. No photos are available yet, but when they are, I'll try to post some. :)