On 9-11, I watched the beauty of home schooling unfold as my family reacted to the shock of this attack. We were at Mass that morning. One of the old guys told us something bad had happened as we walked into church. We smiled and told him we would pray. Nothing was said during Mass, we stood outside and talked with friends before heading home. On the way home we turned the radio on. As we passed another Catholic church we heard the announcer saying, “Oh my God, a second plane has just flown into the second tower.” We made the sign of the cross and prayed devoutly the rest of the way home. At home we watched the news for about one hour. Then our oldest walked up to the television and turned it off. Dad and I are both news junkies. We were like, “What are you doing?” In response she handed us a rosary.
Later that night we had volleyball practice and soccer practice. The church offered a Mass, and we went and then to practice. We found that at practice these other kids needed to talk and understand. My kids had already spent the day doing that. These kids had not been allowed to think for themselves at school, and they all went to Catholic school. It was at practice with our Dad that these other children got to say, “Are we going to be ok?” My husband told them as long as they stayed close to God they would be fine. They had not heard that at school, or from their parents. Their parents had just not had the time with them. My children looked at the real world and could respond with their faith, these other children needed to be told how to respond. They needed to be reminded to respond with faith.
Our faith isn’t a test we pass at 10:00am every morning, it is our lives. The joy of a new baby coupled with mom and dad’s fear of how to pay the bills. The trauma of a death in the community or the result of a hurricane are real like situations. They all are handled with prayer. That is our real faith and home school children see it in action all the time.
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