I hear it all the time when people find out that I homeschool our children. Five children, to be exact. And yes, we even homeschool through high school. People say they could never do it themselves.
My response? Yes you could, if you believed it was best for your children, or for your family.
I’m really an ordinary person. I attended public school from Kindergarten through 12th grade, and graduated. I have a college degree, a B.A. in Music Ministry. I have no desire to get any further degrees. But I love learning! I’m naturally curious about everything. And through homeschooling my children, I have learned SO MUCH! Some of it I had forgotten, some I never learned in the first place, and some I just didn’t have the context to really understand it like I do now. It is very enriching. Homeschooling has exposed me and my children to some high quality books on history, science, cultures, biographies, as well as innovative approaches to learning how to write well and to understand math. I’m grateful for the opportunity my children have had to learn from these resources. You see, ordinary me enjoying extraordinary resources with my children!
Often the reason my “never” conversational companion states for homeschooling just not being an option is they would butt heads with their child(ren). Yep. I do. I recently took a simple enneagram quiz that pegged me as a 9 “The Peacemaker” or mediator. Peacemakers struggle when there’s conflict in their environment. Guess what? There’s conflict in our home environment multiple times a day because there are five siblings! I butt heads with my children. I redirect, correct, admonish, urge, plead, remind, coerce, whatever it takes for us to accomplish what I believe we need to accomplish in a day.
We will learn, we will complete today’s work. Then we may relax. That is, until I give you a chore. After that, you can relax. But limit your screen time. In fact, go outside and play.
Truth be told, butting heads is part of parenting. They don’t want to do things. As their teacher and mother, it’s my job to set those expectations. There are certain things which I perceive will prepare them for successful adulthood.
When we butt heads, since we have to live with each other, we work out our issues and maintain the mother-child relationship. It’s not easy. Motherhood is a tough job. I am a better person because learning to relate to each of my children well develops my character.
There are scores of reasons why I believe homeschooling is the best thing for our family.
- I treasure the opportunity to really know my children well as they learn and grow
- I love that we learn from the Bible together daily.
- When we’re done with our schoolwork for the day, we’re done. No homework for the evening. My children have time to play, explore, read about things they’re interested in, and create without being overscheduled.
- As a military family, our children would have had to adjust to a new school every 6 months to 4 years. Because state standards vary all over our country, and even the standards among the districts in each community vary, my children would either be behind or ahead of their grade-peers and have to adjust or suffer accordingly. We have eliminated that source of stress by carrying our school with us - when we move, our school moves, and my children have educational continuity.
- I know our history is based on the purposes and story of God and the people He loves, and that through studying world history, we can learn lessons to better our future. Consider this article - https://wallbuilders.com/god-milling-action-american-history/
- Our learning is centered around developing our character.
- Our learning is not merely for meeting academic standards, but for preparing to serve a purpose of value in whatever community we find ourselves in the future.
Because I see such value in it, I continue. And as I do, I learn how to do it a little better each year. When I began, I didn’t know nearly as much as I do now. Through other homeschool families, books, websites, conferences and curriculum, I have learned a lot. And I’ve learned the most from working with my five individual children with their various learning styles and preferences and strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, the journey of learning from them is what I treasure the most.
No comments:
Post a Comment