The school bell

A Bell. A school bell. It roused me out of my sleep early one morning in early August, coming through the open window in my bedroom. My children are homeschooled, so we don't abide by the bell system. I laid in my warm, cozy bed and reveled in it. As I lay there, I was very thankful that I am a teacher, and I could still be in my bed at 8:00 am. My son does attend band at our local middle school. He rides his bike there every school day. This year his band class begins at 8:05 a.m. He is pretty self-sufficient at getting himself out the door. He returns home at about 8:55. We begin our homeschool day at about 9:00 every week day.

My oldest daughter is also taking an early morning college class. She leaves our home at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursday to drive to the local university. We are not really early morning people, we tend to be night owls. But my son is usually the first person awake in our home. As he goes off to band, my husband and I are usually climbing in the shower. We get dressed and eat breakfast while he is gone, as do our younger daughters.

The school system in our town began this year's school year on August 10. That is too early for us. We didn't begin our school year this fall until August 22. So I reveled in my bed for an extra week and a half. I listened to the bell from the middle school which is about 1/2 mile from our home. I feel sorry for the kids who need to be there before 8:00 a.m. I love our homeschool schedule.

We do have a little silver bell too. We ring it very occasionally. We mostly use it when the learners are upstairs and we don't want to yell, "Let's start!" The bell's tone sounds much nicer than a yelling, nagging parent.

We do use alarm clocks to get us out of bed, of course. But we rise slowly, and smile just a little, at the fact that we are not rushing our children out the door to our local elementary school (also nearby) or middle school early in the morning. We can have a leisurely morning. And some days, that is really needed. I'll take slow and leisurely over rushing, hurrying any day. Yes please. And we are thankful that the school bell down the street does not usually involve our kids.

The bell gives us a smile. Just one more reason we enjoy homeschooling.


This blog post is linked up with Mama Kat's writer's workshop writing prompts.
#2. Write a blog post inspired by the word: bell.

Exodus 28:34
The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe.

Exodus 28:35
Aaron must wear it when he ministers. The sound of the bells will be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the Lord and when he comes out, so that he will not die.

Zechariah 14:20

On that day holy to the Lord will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar.