The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

I had to recite this when I was in the 11th grade. I guess we will never know what waited down that other road. We do know that God will work whichever path we choose for the best outcome possible. However... how do we know which HE would have us choose?

I have been wrestling with some big decisions lately. Well... some people might not see them as that big of decisions, but some of them most definitely are!

I am at peace today because one thing I was trying to come to peace about has finally been decided. Other decisions that Corey and I both are weighing are still up in the air, but this timely one has finally been laid to rest!

We have decided to not participate in our local Co-op next year.

I have not been able to come to peace with this for a while because I didn't want to take my children away from friends they had made and the "classroom" experiences. BUT, either homeschool is enough or it isn't!

I talked to Katie and Noah today about doing other activities instead of CHAT because we can't afford to take the time or money to do both. Of course, I didn't tell them the reasons, but I asked which they would choose if they had to choose just one.

Noah immediately said, "GYMNASTICS!" and Katie got upset because she thought she wasn't going to get to see this one particular friend anymore. After I assured her that she could still see her friend she wasn't upset in the least about quitting the Co-op.

After that, Katie said she wants to be an artist and take piano lessons. ha ha.

To make a very long story and many possibilities short, here is what we have decided:

1. We are getting the piano from my parents' house and I will teach Katie piano lessons. (I took lessons for about 11 years and feel confident I can teach her myself for the first couple of years anyway)

2. We are ordering Art curriculum from Artistic Pursuits to give them both weekly art lessons at home.

3. Noah will enroll in gymnastics.

This solved many problems I was having with getting my thoughts together for the fall. I wanted to do art but couldn't justify the cost with paying for other activities. Katie really wants to take piano lessons, but I hated to pay for just piano when I know I could do it myself. AND, Noah really enjoys gymnastics and I think would do very well with it.

It may not look fair that we are paying to send Noah to a class and not Katie, but why should we push her into doing something when what she really wants we can do ourselves for free? I won't feel guilty for that because they are both being given great opportunities, it just so happens that hers won't cost anything (well, after getting the piano tuned and buying a lesson book or two every few months). AND they BOTH get the added benefit of art lessons at home which I am super excited about teaching and doing with them. The Artistic Pursuits curriculum has enough lessons for a year and you can easily purchase a kit that will include all the supplies needed for all the projects (no excuses to not do them! :)

This also means that we will only have to leave the house once a week...meaning that we will have much more time for field trips/park days/play dates..something we didn't get to do near enough of this year because we had so many obligations! I have already been in contact with another homeschool mom who lives in the same town as us (our other co-op was in the next town over, about a 20 minute drive) who wants to get a play group going in our area for this coming school year!!!

That's my decision for the week, and I am feeling much better and so thankful that God can just get it all over with in a matter of minutes sometimes...even if you have pondered and thought, and weighed, and prayed for a while about something.

Now, those other decisions.... I won't share about those right now, but they are HUGE, so please say a prayer for us that one day soon the light will just come on and we will have an answer on those too :)

Thanks for reading!