After my English 1 class the other day, I was taking home a car full of kids. Seven kids were in my car, talking, laughing, riding. These kids have gotten quite close over these two semesters and I am full of joy at their friendships. I looked in the mirror and realized that my car was almost full of homeschooling atheists! At one moment, as the car was at pause, one of the 14 year old boys, out of the blue, said, "Yesterday, I had a moment of pure bliss."
The car silenced.
"I was home at the table and, suddenly, I realized how happy I am with my life...it was so clear to me. A moment of pure bliss."
I looked into his smiling face, that crooked smile, those pools of brown eyes, I looked almost straight into the goodness of his heart. "How long did your bliss last?" I asked him.
"Ten minutes at least. Ten whole minutes...and I'm feeling it again...right now."
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Bliss in your home?
Do Tell!
How Lovely!!!!
ReplyDeleteLiesl
I've had that feeling before, especially when I was a kid. But let me ask you a question. Does it worry you at all that you've surrounded your kids with people who are a lot like them, same beliefs and all. Do you worry that they aren't being exposed to a diversity of people with different ideas and different beliefs and that they aren't learning how to get along with these people who are different than them. Will they be prepared to know how to live among the masses with all of their often strange ideas and beliefs? Am I asking the the same old tired question that schoolers ask, do you worry that your kids aren't being socialized?
ReplyDeleteKendra
Doesn't worry me a bit, Kendra!
DeleteAlthough all of those kids happened to be atheists, that is not the RULE, just a happenstance of that car ride.
Socialization?! Trust me, our group is remarkably varied, FAR more varied than any school is or ever was!
Clarification: the strange ideas and beliefs of the masses not of the kids. That wasn't written clearly. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteKendra
S'alright!
DeleteYour rider experienced a moment of immersion.
ReplyDeleteAs a yoga teacher, he had what I think of as a "yoga" moment--when what you're doing and what you're thinking have no seams.
It would be lovely to have a carload of kids who home-school together without religion. We have a home-school co-op in a nearby city, but the classes are religion-based. :-(
Most of the groups around here are religion-based.
DeleteOur group is homeschool-focused without regard for religion, or other divisive lifestyle choices.
So we have many Christians, Muslim, Pagan, Quaker, Jewish, gosh..others, as well as Vegan, Non-veg of all kinds, every allergy under the sun, every color and ethnic origin, every level of the income-strata: something NO school can say!
sigh......... :)
ReplyDeleteKaren, I'm not sure what I was getting at in my earlier post. I sure didn't mean to ruin your zen moment. I wouldn't upset you for the world. You know how much I admire the homeschooling that you do with your kids. I so realize the benefits of it all. I've thought a lot about my comment and about what I was trying to say, and this is what I've come up with. I guess the key words that struck a chord with me was a carload of "homeschooling atheists." I'm not sure why this struck a chord. I think it makes me feel caution for you. I know how people feel about atheists. When I talked about diversity, I meant the daily contact that schooled kids get in school with the religious. Through this daily contact, they learn how to do deal with others who have different beliefs. I have to say that my kids have developed a unique sense of humor because of the day in and day out contact with students AND teachers who do not share their beliefs. It's something they will have to deal with when they go to work, buy their houses, and live in their own neighborhoods. But I know. This must sound like the same old tiresome argument of socialization that homeschoolers always have to explain to the schoolers. So I sure don't mean to offend. It was just my initial thought after reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteKendra, I wasn't bothered in the least!
DeleteTrust me, there is NO EARTHLY WAY that our atheist children aren't continually surrounded by Christians and others. What was serendipitous about the moment was that it WAS a car full of atheists. Rare and wonderful indeed.
THE KIDS didn't notice it, but I did.
THANK YOU for your loving concern, and believe me, my kids have many many experiences with Christians. They handle it remarkably well.
(Though, in private, they are a bit... mocking... LOL)
I appreciate your comments!
Love you.
I am correcting myself, I believe one of the teens in the car is NOT an atheist, but a freethinker!
ReplyDelete