Chapel
Welcome to Lumps of
Clay Christian Academy
By Deb
Turner
© Creatista | Dreamstime.com
It was morning, and the
California
sun was persistently pouring around and through every
possible route past the blinds
that remained closed. I pulled
the covers up around my neck
as waves of nausea washed over
me. Morning sickness. Urging
myself awake to face the day, and
then retreating, I procrastinated.
The longer I struggled, the more
certain I became: I was failing in
my God-given role!
Once I had accepted the
inevitable and forced myself
out of bed, everything was
a chore. The smell of food
overwhelmed me. Pregnancy
hormones urged me back to
sleep, ignoring the twelve hours
of sleep I’d already received.
Whether I stayed in bed or got up and
faced the day, I felt like a failure.
Only a few months prior, my heart
had been filled with joy and excitement
as I pondered many wonderful homeschooling plans that I couldn’t wait to
implement. But that dream had come
crashing down so fast.
Such was the beginning of our
homeschool journey. Would we
continue on this path? Yes, we would,
but the journey would not be an easy
one. Still, it was the best path, the only
right path for our family.
proceeded with damage
control, as the school name
we had chosen seemed
to fall along the wayside.
Somewhere, buried in boxes
of memorabilia, is a plaque
with the title “Bethany
Christian School.” That
plaque apparently got boxed
up and put away—along
with my joy and excitement
about homeschooling.
REALITY SETS IN
We were in survival mode
for years, as our now
nameless school limped
forward. I tucked my ideals
into my pocket and left
them there. I said to myself,
“Some day.”
For several years I had
longed to homeschool.
But in my plans for
homeschooling, plumbing
didn’t break, pregnancies
were trouble-free, and people didn’t
die. I visualized happy children,
learning to work alongside me, doing
their schoolwork with joy. How excited
I had been, choosing materials and
making plans for that first year. There
were so many directions we could go
in! Reality was so different.
a name for our school in the very
beginning: Bethany Christian School.
Bethany was our first and only child at
the time, and we began homeschooling
her when she was 10 years old. That
was twenty-two years ago.
The year we began homeschooling,
we had just moved to southern
California from central New York.
It would have been a great time
to dive in and learn about our
new environment—an adventure!
However, as soon as morning sickness
rendered me somewhat helpless, I
instead experienced culture shock and
depression.
I helplessly watched the crash
and burn of my lofty ideals and then
Our grandchildren (front to back) Caroline,
Emily, Addie and Michael
A HOPEFUL BEGINNING
Do you have a name for your
homeschool? We actually did have
THIS YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT
After the disappointments of that first
year, I approached every school year
thereafter as a “clean slate.” I had
fortitude. Every year I’d say to myself,
“This year will be different.” After
months of planning, I’d open the door
to a brand-new school year, but then
life would rush in like a strong wind,
36 Summer 2010 z Chapel
www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com
