A Gentle Reminder to Give

As the school year begins for public students, we all start to chuckle at the sound of bus brakes squeaking by. It's that time again, the time when the news showcases parents embarrassing their children in creative ways, celebrating, as they give up their parental rights to an institution of strangers. As this time squeaks upon us, I want to send out a gentle reminder for all of us to consider the less fortunate. By less fortunate, I mean those that are not blessed with the ability to receive personalized academic instruction.

When we prepared for our first year of homeschool, I found so many unopened supplies. Untouched folders, pencils, scissors, crayons, markers, packages of paper...I found barely used binders and dividers that I simply would not send my son in on the first day with. As an instructor, I know what my own classroom and my own student needs for the year. Let me tell you, it's not another new standard calculator. I can't believe how much money I wasted on 'the list' of standard supplies. I can't believe how materialistic I was about sending in only brand new supplies. With this in mind, I stock up on what I feel is important to our instruction and scavenge for sales. Public teachers need things like tissues, sanitizer, pencils, folders, and everyone needs line paper. I keep my eyes peeled for sales on these things, so that we can donate them to the public. For example, Dollar Tree has 1" binders, which seems to be the cheapest right now. I'm waiting for 10 cent line paper.

Why should you care if public kids have supplies? We're forced to pay taxes for them to have what they need. Oh honey, if they had what they needed you probably wouldn't be home educating right now. God knows you're not homeschooling to save money. Of all of the things that public children must worry about every day, tools shouldn't be one of them. These children, albeit not yours, are your own child's future society. By investing in them when you can, you're investing in your own child's future. It's important.

I hope you'll consider public kids when you find that special sale on that special item, you know, the one that makes you gleeful. I hope you'll walk right past that store donation box and give the items directly to the school or your church so that they can give it to the school. Whether you're doing God's work or just looking out for children because they're children, I hope you'll join us in giving whatever we can to secure OUR future for ALL children. This is just a gentle reminder. I need to remind myself more often of this. Tis' the season of giving...tools; not toys. Time to make some wise donations.