Homeschool Dad's thoughts upon graduation of daughter

Hubby shared some eloquent words about his first daughter's graduation.

Here they are:

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about my wife’s and my season of life that we are crossing into … or more accurately, the fence we are straddling. On one side is the warmth and familiarity of our homeschooling and leadership endeavors that we are currently blessed to give to and receive from. This side of the fence is our struggles and triumphs that shape us as we, through our loving God’s strength and grace, continue to guide our daughters’ character and educational development. It’s also the humbleness we feel as we accept the opportunities to lead and serve our fellow homeschooling parents. What is new to us is the other side of the fence that we are now trying to get a firm foothold on. The time that we mark as the accomplishment that we so hard worked, worried, celebrated along the way, and always prayed about. The transformation of our first born daughter from our homeschooled student to a homeschool graduate … despite our stumbles and lofty goals that were seldom fully achieved, we were surely guided through this journey by our wondrous Counselor and Savior … as well as family, friends, and our fellow homeschoolers! It is with some trepidation, some disbelief that we are here at this point of letting go of our S, that little bundle of joy that despite ourselves we have managed to prepare for the next journey of her life … look out world! We pray that she continues to grow and mature as she follows the opportunities that are before her, that her dreams allow her to change the world around her … that our God and Savior protect her from the world that will try to change her!

With S’s passion for the political process and history, this quote from our former President about our unique country and leadership made me also think of the parallels to our homeschool movement:

“To a few of us here today this is a solemn and most momentous occasion, and yet in the history of our nation it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place, as it has for almost two centuries, and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-four-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.” Ronald Reagan.

What we do and have done through homeschooling, I believe will leave as profound a mark on this great country of ours as President Reagan felt that the office and process of our leadership selection did. I truly think with proud, yet humble, feelings of being part of this homeschooling movement … I say look out world … change is in the air!