Charis and I have been homeschooling for the past 5 years!  I dreamt of  homeschooling for just Junior High but due to upheaval in our school district jumped in early.  Turns out just weeks into it we discovered how wired we are for homeschooling!  For the flexibility, freedom, joy and adventure.   We have taken hundreds of detours and trips over the years.  Sometimes a “detour” would be a virtual tour of a place we read about in history like Mount Rushmore  or Half Dome.  It would be humorous to account for all the times we stopped what we were doing to Mapquest a route or Google a topic or place, while dreaming and scheming of “getting there.”  Sometimes our trips manifested in actually “hitting the road” like Mammoth Cave with our friends the Warren’s, and Washington DC with my friend Caren.  We travelled with our science small group to explore Springfield, Il including a personal tour of the governor’s mansion and tea with the First Lady of Illinois.   We’ve made trip after trip into Chicago for Air & Water Shows, and scavenger hunts in the Art Institute.  For the Museum of Science and Industry and for miles and miles of walking (and one time skateboarding)  along the lakefront and through neighborhoods.  We’ve tried Shakespeare and ballet in the theaters along with Millennium Park Concerts and Chicago Cultural Center events.  You get the picture…. adventure and exploration!

Charis has been a competitive ski jumper as well during this same season.  This too has  been quite an adventure taking us all over the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and even Utah!  I have “coached” Charis as she explored and engaged in fund raising.   Charis put together a presentation, scheduled appointments, bravely gave her “talk” to strangers and ultimately raised over $3000 for her ski jumping goals.  What a classroom!

Unfortunately there have been some issues in the ski jumping community at our local level as well as at the National Team level that have raised “red flags.”   I currently do not believe that it is a safe or wise choice for Charis to be engaged there.  This has been some of the most painful and courageous parenting I have chosen  to engage in….and for Charis some of the most painful and courageous trusting of me and of God.   I have experienced Charis’ faith as she has willingly (at times with tears) set her dream down,  choosing to wait on Him and trust my lead.  Charis still doesn’t even really knowing what she’s waiting for,  nor do I.   Will God move a mountain in the leadership?  Transform the system?   Or will it come from within her as a change of focus and a desire for a new thing?  Or both?   I don’t know.  Only that engagement in ski jumping today is a clear “no.”   So I obey God’s lead because I know He is good and there’s nothing to fear and nothing lost in trusting Him!  Charis in her expanding faith senses this to be true too and is not anxious or discouraged.

Here is where our unexpected adventure presented itself….We have always thought it would be spectacular  to really take homeschooling on the road….to actually get to The Grand Canyon and the Pacific Ocean!  In stepping away from the limitations of the ski jumping schedule we suddenly had time and space to dream seriously about what we thought was impossible.   We began praying for a way to spend the fall semester on a road trip.    Charis also asked me a number of months ago what I most wanted for my 50th Birthday this year and I said, “I want to experience Bethel Church in person!”  This is a church I have been attending online with some of my friends in the area here.    Amazingly, close friends of ours moved to Redding, CA in May.  Redding is the town where Bethel is located.  What are the chances?!   I started to sense then that God was up to something… that He was scheming with us!   Our friends have extended their home to us for the month of October.  Outrageous!

So here’s the plan….we take 5-6 weeks to get to Redding and camp our way through National Parks  in the US and Canada!   We hike to a remote “tea house” in Banff,   try out “Hosteling,”  visit ski jumps in Calgary and Whistler and go on a whale spotting tour.  We are hoping to see bears…at a distance!!!   If we are going to drive to California….why not see all we can along the way!   We plan to visit old friends and stay with new friends (of friends) who are welcoming us into there homes  to give us an occasional  rest from camping and to do some laundry.   We spend October in Redding and at Bethel and then hit the road again and see all we can of California,  and more.  We are thinking we will be at the Grand Canyon for Thanksgiving.  We are not sure yet if we will come home via a south route or back north to see Yellowstone in winter.  Phase two of our adventure is still unfolding…. we will be home sometime in December.

Charis and I have been watching old seasons of “The Amazing Race” for the past year.  We’ve “detoured” onto their website to find out what it takes to become a contestant. Charis is not yet old enough….but our scheming, playful Heavenly Father has noted our longings and dreaming and our meanderings, and we are crediting Him utterly for gifting us with this opportunity…this adventure!  We’ve named our  journey the “The Amazing Grace” – A Homeschool Road Trip.