Virtues

I almost always misspell the word "intelligent". I want to put just one L, and turn the second I into an E. I also frequently misspell the word "misspell", as I want to use just one S.

I was going to say those things were ironic, but honestly I'm not sure I'd be using the word "ironic" properly... Maybe I should have been homeschooled. I took A.P. English (and passed both exams), but that was just getting by with the minimal effort required. I think if I had been the only one in my class, the teacher might have realized that I wasn't really trying. I didn't learn to really work hard and apply myself until the third year of college. Not an ideal time to figure that stuff out, with so much on the line. I probably could have had a much higher GPA.

That's one of the many reasons why we homeschool. We're not trying to make the boys into geniuses, but we do want to guide them closely and encourage them to do their best. Your best is always good enough for God.

That's not to say that kids in regular schools can't be encouraged to work hard and persevere. My parents probably could have kept closer tabs on what I was supposed to be doing. But I know from personal experience, and siblings have corroborated, that it was not that hard to get by with a lot of laziness and procrastination. Both at school in a large class, and at home in a large family. If you're not causing trouble, you can just fly under the radar, and nobody's really going to pay that much attention. Again, I'm sure a lot of parents do a great job of keeping tabs on everything and providing the right mix of support, encouragement, and discipline from a distance. I know most of my friends had very involved parents, and I was actually jealous despite their frequent complaints. I never wanted to admit when I needed help. I knew it was my own damn fault for creating the mess, so I was afraid to ask for help. So I just waited until the problem got bigger and bigger, and hoped for a miracle escape. It was a scary and lonely feeling. More often than not, things somehow worked out in the end. The problems weren't usually as bad as I imagined them to be. Once I quit farting around and just got down to work, it wasn't all that difficult. But that wasn't the right way to do it. I was stubborn and lazy, and I needed discipline.

It comes down to personal freedom. You can only force a kid to do so much. A person has to decide for themselves that they will have a good attitude and apply themselves. But I think I could have used a little more "training" in that area, earlier on, instead of getting myself into so many desperate situations.

I think our boys are a lot like I was. They have some really rough days where they don't want to do anything. They won't answer questions, won't read, and act is if they've just seen that flash card for the very first time in their life (2 plus 3 does not equal H!). But their good days are wonderful - they get things done quickly, ask very insightful questions, and read up a storm. We want to form them and help develop that work ethic so that they will take advantage of all that potential. It's about virtue.