Marbles Matter
Hey Mom,
I’m not a math guy. I don’t do well with fractions, quadratic equations, or pi. I’m OK with counting, but that about does it.
But, here I am writing to you about math and homeschooling. In fact, I’ve been pondering math all week. It all started as I was tooling down the road listening to the radio.
The smooth voice on the other end explained how he was going to place a marble in a jar for every Saturday he had left of his expected life span. Since he was over fifty…it wasn’t a lot. Then, he was going to throw away one marble as each Saturday passed to remind him that his time was running out.
I’ve been thinking about marbles and math ever since. Let’s apply this marble principle to homeschooling. Say we got a big jar and placed a marble in it for every Tuesday (or whatever day you’re reading this) of our child’s growing up years (18 years or 900 marbles).
So if you have an 10-year-old (like I do), you have about 400 marbles left in the jar. You with me? 18 minus 10 equals 8, times 50, equals 400. In the case of my son, Jed, the jar is well over half-empty.
Only 400 Tuesdays left to spend with him. That sounds like a lot, but it isn’t. And if you have a 15-year-old, you’re down to 150 marbles.
The thing about marbles is that you can only use them once. If you waste one by caring more about your schedule, your plan, and the boxes that you can check off, it’s gone.
Right now, I’m holding a marble in my hand; it’s Tuesday’s marble. It holds a lot of promise. It might be 
a smiled filled day where we sit in our pajamas, read a few chapters from a good book, talk about the weekend plans, make cookies, go outside to sit in the sun, or go out for ice cream.
That’s the thing about marbles. We moms and dads hold them in our hand. We decide what we’ll do with them and how we’ll use them. Then when we’re done, we reach in the jar and toss them away.
That’s why I work so hard to remind you of what’s most important, because it all boils down to a jar full of marbles. I’ve set a jar of marbles on my desk to remind me that marbles matter. THIS Tuesday matters.
Let me encourage you to do a little math, and count how many homeschooling marbles you have left with your child. And then make this “marble” a good one.
Smile,
