Students put so much effort into their academic work; I never wanted them to see me throw it away. My method of keeping schoolwork is to toss it all in a box at the end of the year and put in the attic. This week I’ve brought down a couple of those out and have been throwing away a lot of unnecessary records. In the trash went a Handwriting 3 book my daughter completed three years ago.

My son (a 3rd grader) knocks on the door of the bathroom (because kids always want to talk while Mom is in the bathroom) and says, “Thank you for letting me be done with Handwriting 3.”
“Um, honey, you aren’t done with Handwriting 3.”
“Well, I saw it in the trash can.”
“That was Faith’s Handwriting 3.”


He’s growing up. Gone are the days when he was sure the work was all going somewhere very important and someone somewhere was going to be very impressed with his work.

I’m also a mother of a senior this year and although I faithfully kept all his tests and important papers--some beautifully organized in binders and some thrown in a box—I was not asked for a single student test or piece of work from high school. He applied to four colleges. They wanted a transcript and a list of curriculum we used. I offered course descriptions I had diligently written for every single high school course and they said, “Well, you can send them if you want to.” I wanted to so I did. I kind of felt like the young kid who wanted all my work to go somewhere important and someone somewhere to be very impressed with all my work as a homeschool mom.

It puts into perspective that learning happens in the process. While the universities didn’t want a single high school workbook with completed English assignments, there were admission essays and scholarship essays . . . and more scholarship essays.

So dear homeschool parent, don’t get too caught up trying to finish workbooks that you forget to focus on the process. Learning why and how to write and do math may happen before or after the textbook is complete. It doesn’t matter. The books are just tools for the process. The knowledge and wisdom you are imparting are stored safely in your students’ minds and hearts.

By Cynda Moore
HomeWorks Consultant and Homeschool Mom
http://www.homeworksbyprecept.com/cynda-moore
HomeWorks by Precept Consultant, Cynda Moore, KY