Homeschooling families often have a somewhat different curriculum and schedule from many “ordinary” schools. A primary difference is the innate flexibility for adding abnormal “classes” at a moment’s notice. If a situation arises in which students may learn something new and useful, other things are sometimes dropped in order to allow for an additional class. This past week offered us many such learning opportunities, one of which stood out as more unusual from most. Mommy needed to go out for groceries, but when she tried to start the van, she discovered that a light had been left on all night so that the battery did not have enough charge to turn over the motor. Thankfully, Daddy had not yet left with the car to get to work, so bookwork (which had already begun) was dropped and everyone grabbed their coats and dashed outdoors for an extra-curricular activity! Some of us had watched the procedure of jump-starting a vehicle several times before, but for others this was a new experience.

  We learned where to connect the jumper cables. Daddy instructed us that we are always to start by putting the cables on the dead battery first and then to connect the live one. We also learned that if the black terminal is not accessible, the black wire can be connected to some other part of the frame of the vehicle.

Connected at both ends…

And it’s starting up!

   We thank the Lord for the freedom we have to learn at home. There are so many things we would miss if it weren’t for this privilege. Obviously, the most important of these things is not that we can learn how to jump-start a vehicle. The relationships developed here are invaluable, and since we can’t get away from them and simply find new friends if the others don’t turn out to be our preference, we learn not just to get along, but to enjoy working together. I thank the Lord for our family!

   “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.”  Psalm 133:1