Last year my husband had to take a job that has him working twelve hour shifts on midnights. From Saturday evening till Wednesday afternoon, we don't see him much. He's home to sleep on those days. Quality time doesn't happen on those days. He has some time on Sunday, but we are usually focused on church.
He is off work from Wednesday morning till Saturday evening. If my younger daughters were in public school they would only see their dad in the evenings of Wednesday(though we are in church), Thursday, Friday, and Saturday during the day until my husband goes to bed to sleep before work. Personally, that doesn't seem to be a lot of time. We would take advantage of it and make it special, as we do with my step-daughter when she is here, but it does make things difficult.
But my girls are homeschooled. They get to spend all day Thursday and Friday with their Daddy. Oh, we still do school. However, Daddy gets to help. He likes to get involved here and there. He likes getting to read to the girls or just keep the three year old busy while Laura does her work. In January He wants to build a volcano with Laura while she studies them for science.
Best of all, if we want to take Friday and just go somewhere and do something as a family, we can. We don't have to worry about if it is going to cause problems for the girls to miss school. We don't have to wait until school is out for the day if we want to go somewhere. We just go and enjoy our day together.
Time together is something that you can't buy. You can't ever get that missed time back. I am grateful that we have time with our children through the week, during the day. Without that, their time with their Dad would be very limited. He has time to do projects with them, to read to them, to rough-house with them. His schedule wouldn't permit much of that if they were in public school.
I read a sad story recently. A young man, homeschooled his entire life, was tragically killed in a car accident. His parents were devastated. However, the mother had a wonderful point. She knows her son is in heaven. She was able to give her son a firm foundation in Christ. That foundation didn't flounder, like so many in public schools, due to conflicting teachings and peer pressure. Instead, the son was strong in his faith. The mother was also comforted by the fact that her husband and she got to spend so much time with their son before God called him home. They made many precious memories that would never have been made if the boy was gone every day in school. They got to travel and go on trips together. They got to learn together. They got to pray together.
Yes, time is a cherished gift.
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