Last Wednesday, I went to the local bookstore to use up a gift card that my son won through our library. As I picked up our order, the employee asked if I was a teacher, in which case he would gladly give me a discount. Well. I bet you can guess what happened next.

“I am a homeschooling teacher. Can I have a discount for that?”

“Naw,” he slightly guffawed, “that doesn’t count.”

(just waiting a moment for you to gather your bearings as I had to gather mine….)

“Actually,” I chuckled as I looked him straight in the eye, “I used to BE a public school teacher, and (chuckle chuckle) I can tell you without a doubt that being a homeschooling parent is far, far, FAR more difficult.”

He gave me the full discount.

If you are on my email list, you can expect to begin hearing about my next book, which is about homeschooling as a lifestyle. I think this is what makes homeschooling so challenging: it’s not simply (simply! ha!) adding academics to housework and meal preparations. It’s about embracing education as a normal and natural means of cultivating and developing curiosity about God, people, the world, and how things work. It’s about encouraging those interests every unique individual has, and giving means by which inquiring minds can scratch those itches. It’s about–like my book PRESENT highlights–enjoying one another and loving one another and serving one another, and having writing assignments (as an example) endeavor to serve those ends, rather than simply having a five page essay due on a random Thursday.

That may not *count* in some people’s heads, but in the Real World, it counts. It counts a lot.

Blessings,