Heroes almost never self identify
as such. No one that has done something
heroic says, “Yes, I am a hero and I know it.”
It is almost as if whatever causes the heroic behavior also causes the
hero to be un-self-conscience that what they did is something special. Typically they say something to the effect of
“I just did what needed to be done.”
That is part of the beauty of someone being heroic. They would defer to someone else; police
officers, fire fighters or military personnel as the real heroes. It does not change the fact that they are heroes,
but they would consider himself or herself just an everyday kind of
person. They are everyday heroes.
So when I tell you that I have
been in the presence of the heroic, the person I am referring to would be
embarrassed by that statement, and would certainly offer denials of their role
as hero. But I will say it all the same;
“I have been in the presence of a hero”.
To understand this everyday hero, let me offer a little history.
When our daughter Abby was in
kindergarten, she had the kind of teacher every parent dreams of, but her first
grade teacher was a nightmare. I will
spare you the details. By Christmas
break of first grade, Abby had actually digressed in her academics. At this point, my wife and I decided to
homeschool Abby for the rest of first grade.
Her progress and improvement was almost immediate. It was not easy but it was very
fulfilling. However, her older sister
began taking some grief at her school.
It seems that our decision to home school was seen as a sort of
disloyalty to the school. The result
was that the next year we homeschooled both of these girls and added a
kindergartener.
For a moment let me set the
larger context. In the course of five
months, we started homeschooling, we planted a church and to make matters more
engaging, we added a fourth child to our family. And in the midst of this my wife made our
little house a home. As a bi-vocational
church planter, I didn’t make much money.
That year our gross income was $16,000 of which we paid $4,000 in
medical bills, and she kept us together without welfare. If babies came when you can afford them earth’s
population would be zero. Undaunted by
all this, my wife kept the family fed by frugality and God’s provision. That is when she developed the mantra “God is
good and beans are cheap”.
 |
| Our four children and our son-in-law. |
What brings this to mind is that
this past Sunday May 3rd, 2015) she graduated her youngest child from “The Crowe Family Home
School”. In the last 18 years she has taught two children from K-5, one child from First grade, and one child from
Fifth grade all the way through to graduation.
Take the elementary, middle and high school subjects, put them together and my wife as taught them,
sometimes studying late into the night before teaching it the next day. I can’t count the times I have fallen asleep
while my wife reviewed a chemistry textbook.
She taught everything from advanced mathematics to Spanish, from
constitutional law and history to religion and Bible. She also made sure the kids were ‘socialized’
(what ever that means) by having them in co-op classes and involved in extra
curricular activities. Far from
cocooning in the house the kids were, at various times, in choir, band, karate,
kick boxing, Krav Maga, weight lifting, flag football, track and field, Navy
Sea Cadets, and church. Let’s never
forget church. She often, with only a
little help on Sunday mornings, made sure that the whole brood was in Sunday
School, and made sure they were active in youth group ministries, including
overseas mission trips.
Some will say, “But can the
homeschool child do well in the real world?”
Let’s see; our oldest graduated with honors from a university having
attended the Honors College. With her
lowest college grades coming in physical education, after classes in Greek
philosophy, she tended to over think P.E. written test. Our second child, the one who help prompt
this grand adventure is a highly decorated sailor, having been award, among other citations, Junior
Sailor of the Year for all U.S. Navel personnel in the European Command. The third daughter advanced to be the head
teller for her section of a bank and is now pursuing a degree in
anthropology. And our son who graduated from
high school last Sunday is duel enrolled in a local community college and will
graduate in a year from college as an automotive tech. He plans on working as a mechanic while
pursing his faith’s calling. Not bad for
homeschoolers.
I could go on and on but I won’t.
Just let me offer one more description
of my hero. Before we had children we
decided that my wife would be a stay at home mom. At the time, she worked as a R.N. in labor and
delivery. She loved the work, found it
very satisfying, and was very good at it, based on her evaluation. It was also pretty lucrative. But in a decision of self-sacrifice she
committed to be a stay at home mom, to raise and educate children and make our
home a sanctuary for me. I tease her by
telling her that she has been on maternity leave for 28 years. I did a calculation of just the financial cost
of her decision. If we assume a
consistent rate of pay increase and inflation her decision to stay at home has
meant she turned down between $750,000 and $1,200,000 in today’s pay to be a
stay at home mom. (Assuming she worked
as an RN from when maternity leave started till now)
A couple of days ago we were
talking about all that has transpired in the last 18 to 28 years and I asked her
if she had any regrets. “No, not a
one. I remember one day when…” She mentioned a specific time when she was
home schooling 10th grade, 7th grade, 4th
grade, and 1st grade, oh and she was helping lead the children’s
ministry at church and part of the music ministry. “…I was feeling overwhelmed
and I thought about work but I thought when the kids are all gone I don’t want
to look back and say, ‘I wish I would have spent more time with my
children.’ No I have no regrets. If I had it to do over I would do the same
thing, just try to do it better.”
My beloved Lorie I must tell you,
“It would be very hard to do it better”!
Charlie Crowe
No comments:
Post a Comment