School Update: God keeps working miracles

Sending our daughter to private school this year, as opposed to homeschooling her as usual, has served as a valuable lesson for me in trusting God.  I was reluctant at first to give up control over her schedule, curriculum, and influences. I had a number of concerns regarding this school which I had to lay at the feet of Jesus instead of allowing myself to worry or obsess over them.

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

Concern #1:  Teacher Changes

We all instantly loved our daughter's teacher after first meeting her several weeks before school began.  Unfortunately, family issues forced her to resign after the third day of school.  Our little girl was heart broken when her teacher left.  The students adjusted well as various substitute teachers rotated through her class, but my faith was tested as we waited for a permanent teacher to be hired.

Concern #2:  Core Subjects

While this school's very unique approach to education and various curriculum choices appealed to me as a homeschooling mom, I saw what I thought were gaps in the course of study.  The school seemed really strong in Christian living, Bible, science, geography, worship, Spanish, art, and recess, but I felt like it was weak in some core subjects, namely, grammar and spelling.

I tried to supplement at home but found it increasingly difficult and unfair to her for me to cover spelling, grammar, and memory work at home after she had already spent over six hours at school.  I am passionate about the curriculum I had selected for those subjects and wanted to use the educational resources I had invested so much money into, but I certainly did not want to overwhelm my child or myself in the process.

Concern #3:  Social Aspects

At age 7, our little girl has a remarkable ability to make friends easily and instantly which I admire and sometimes envy.  Yet, since she is the youngest and smallest student in this classroom of 3rd through 6th grades, I feared that the other students might tease her for her lack of maturity.   Too often, the socialization that takes place in schools can be quite negative.

Concern #4:  Teaching at her level

Every child has certain strengths and weaknesses, and since parents know their children best, they can usually identify their kids' strengths and weaknesses with great precision.  When the school year began, I knew that our daughter excels in reading but struggles with math.  I feared that the normalization of teaching material found in most schools would limit her reading progress while causing her to fall behind in math.  An advantage of homeschooling is having the opportunity to tailor each subject to the child's ability.

Our little girl seemed to have a big mental block against both math and spelling.  Just opening our math text, which is really quite fun with all the games it includes instead of worksheets, would send her into tearful tantrums and wild fits.  I know she can do math, but she refused to believe it.  Similar fits preceded spelling as well.  I wondered what type of fits she would throw when these subjects were introduced in a more structured classroom setting.

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God calls us to trust Him in all things.  Granted, schooling choice is a very minor issue in the grand scheme of things, but to a mother in the middle of the transition, it can feel much bigger that it really is.  Our infinite God loves us enough to care about the little things that concern us, however, and as we see His faithfulness in the little things, we are reminded yet again how good it is to trust Him in all things, whether big or small.

Psalm 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

Since entrusting all these matters to the Lord, I have witnessed miracles taking place and my fears have been vanquished.   Here are a few examples:

1. The teacher changes have taught the children to be adaptable.  Every teacher has been both flexible and fabulous, and now the new teacher who has been hired exceeds my greatest expectations.  As a former homeschooling parent, she understands my concerns.  As the former owner and operator of the HomeScholar's Academy, she has experience with multi-grade classrooms.
2. This new teacher immediately filled in the gaps that I thought were missing in the initial course of study.  She implemented a new schedule that is ideal (much better than what I was doing previously at home) and uses the same curriculum I had been using at home.  Now I feel very confident that our daughter is receiving a strong, comprehensive education.  While I may have worried about all that lost time at the beginning of the year during the teacher transition, I am amazed at how much our daughter has learned about life, academics, and relationships during that time.
3. Our right brained girl who despised math a few months ago has now declared math to be her favorite subject.  That, my friends, is nothing less than a miracle from our gracious God. She has already moved up a few levels in math.  There are no tantrums.  The light bulb finally went off in her mind, and now she's really motivated in math.  This school uses Singapore Math which is the same curriculum I had planned on switching to at home.
4. The new teacher makes grammar and spelling a priority.  She uses the same curricula for these subjects that I had purchased for this year.  It is extremely rare for private schools to use homeschool curricula.  Those who homeschool know that there are countless texts available for each subject, so it's quite miraculous that this school would select the same texts for each subject that I had chosen.
5. This new teacher is very attentive to each child's academic level in each subject.  Each student has been tested and is working through the curriculum at his or her own level.  Even though our daughter once despised spelling, she is now happy with her new curriculum and has already moved up to the middle school book. 
6. Not only is the teacher interested in meeting students at their unique academic levels, but she is also very attentive to their spiritual needs as well.  Each day begins with a devotion, Bible reading, prayer and praise. Our daughter is receiving some of the spiritual nurture that was so important to me at home.
7. Our daughter is thriving socially.  So far, I have not seen many negative aspects.  Instead, working in groups motivates her to give her best, whereas at home, she never gave more than the bare minimum.  Working with students of various ages has been a very positive experience for her thus far.
8. She loves school.  Not once has she ever complained about school work or about having to go to school.  She is eager to get to school each day and loves learning in that environment.
9. School attendance is only mandatory four days a week, so I still feel like I have plenty of time to bond with her.  And I am seeing much benefit in having one-on-one time with her brother while she's in school.

I initially thought sending her to this school would compromise her education in some way.  Instead, I can say with all humility that this school experience has exceeded both the hopes I had for the school and the expectations I had placed upon myself when I was her only teacher.

Lesson Learned: When we put all our trust in Him, miracles happen.