Under what circumstances do you give up on homeschooling when it’s one of the most important things in your life? Is it when you feel too sick to get out of bed in the morning? When a new baby arrives and demands every moment? When your husband loses his job and so much of your energy is going into encouraging him?

When all these things happen in one year, surely that is reason enough to ship the children off to the local public school. I chose not to, and it proved to be one of the richest years of our lives.

My three school-aged children learned lessons they could never have learned in school. They learned how to help with a cheerful spirit, how to give when they were weary of giving, how a marriage can be strained and strengthened at the same time.

They learned to be more independent in their studies, more self-sufficient in meeting their own needs. They learned more about love and relationships and the practical side of life (cooking, laundry, cleaning, locating information, even paying bills) than I knew an embarrassing number of years into my adulthood.

I learned, too. I also became a more cheerful giver. I learned to smile and hug when all I wanted to do was sleep. I learned the joy and reward of giving — of myself and my time — when I wanted desperately to be selfish. I learned that I could rise to the occasion and do so happily, and after a time, eagerly.

We came out of our toughest homeschool year richer, wiser, smarter and more competent. I feel confident that had I sent the children off to public school, we would have come out of that year much the poorer in all the areas that matter most, and I am thankful — oh, so thankful — that we did not miss the lessons and potential of the experience.