It all began with a small talk at a dinner party. Ben, my husband, suddenly said that he wanted to teach our six-year-old daughter Lily at home. I was shocked because we had just talked about sending her to a private school. What had changed?
Ben was very excited, and he talked very strongly about how homeschooling could help kids. He thought it would give Lily the freedom to be creative and learn at her own speed. At first, I wasn’t sure, but Ben’s strong belief finally won me over.
As the days turned into weeks, Ben became Lily’s teacher. He would work on projects and teach her for hours on end. I had full faith in him and thought he was doing a great job. I started to notice that something was wrong as time went on, though.
When I got home from work early one day, Lily was crying. She missed her friends and was afraid they would think she didn’t care about them at all. After Ben tried to comfort her, I felt like there was more to the story.
As I listened to what they were saying, I learnt the shocking truth. Ben wasn’t teaching Lily at home because he had a big idea about how to teach; he was doing it because he had lost his job. I didn’t want to hear that private school tuition was too high, but he did.
I was sad, angry, and disappointed, among other things. Why did Ben feel the need to keep this from me? We had been through hard times together before, so I thought our friendship was strong enough to see us through them again.
When the truth came out, Ben admitted that he had been sending packages to make money. In order to teach her, he took Lily with him on his delivery trips. Even though I was shocked, I could tell that Ben felt lighter after telling me his secrets.
We chose to send Lily back to school and paid for her tuition with money we had saved. Ben finally got a new job as a manager at a grocery store, and our house was full of laughter and a sense of purpose again.
I now understand that Ben’s choice to homeschool Lily wasn’t about schooling; it was about staying alive. He was trying to take care of our family, even if it meant giving up his pride. I’m glad we were able to get through the hard times and come out better.
