Homeschooling in Oz

 I actually feel that Oz  bears some striking resemblance to this thing that we do.
Really.
It may seem kind of strange though that, while the school year is closing up for most everyone, I choose to begin writing in June  about the learning curve of  homeschooling/schooling at home.  For those of us that have been doing this forever for centuries years, we often seem to just move fluidly from year to year...effortlessly adjusting, compensating and moving on...growing our kids through years and learning and out into the world. I've been at this for 18+ years now. Three are grown and in the Army and/or College. And the last one will graduate  in a few years. It seems kind of like the "learning curve" has become a straight shot down a long flat highway...but it hasn't always been this way...and I know that many of you are newer at this by a decade or more. Those who are newer at this are Dorothys who have just had Miss Gulch and a tornado steal away the days that you thought were supposed to be fun and easy and normal.

That tornado has dropped you in a strange, beautiful, scary place where there are lots of people who are "different" than you are, but who have been living in this land longer than you and have a better grip on the ins and the outs than you.

You start looking for the straight road...the easy way ("How hard can this be, after all, right?") through it, but the lady in charge tells you that you need to need to head off to some place where the "green people" are to find the "perfect answers" about what you need to know. Unfortunately, you get pointed down a long and winding, though brightly colored road, littered with more "different" (and occasionally strange) characters.



I also know that the newer parents are beginning now to stress over the road ahead. Perhaps you're hoping that the road is flat, straight and smooth, as mine appeared to be. You know though, that it won't be. You're probably wondering exactly how scary it will be. You're probably also praying that by making this decision you won't be breaking your child irreparably. Some of you are probably also quoting the Lion (I did NOT call him Cowardly) from the Wizard of Oz.

Lion: I may not come out alive, but I'm going in there. There's only one thing I want you fellows to do.
Tin Woodsman, Scarecrow: What's that?
 Lion: Talk me out of it!

Wishing that there were other better options may be where you are.
You may also be wishing away the difficulties. No witches, no darkness, no pitfalls.
The pitfalls and witches on the way though, are going to help you, but you may not know it at the time.

The fact is that while the road is winding and there are detours and dark nights of the soul, following the road leads to a great ending. You just have to have the pieces in place. 
 And what are those pieces?

You'll discover  that, with heart and thinking and courage, there really is no place like home.
(Don't under estimate those pieces of Oz. More on those later.)