Mar. 5, 2007 - Blogger Friend School #20
I'm way behind on my Blogger Friend School Assignments for obvious reasons. Time to catch up, though. To join Blogger Friend School visit Training Hearts.
This week's assignment is to write my educational/homeschool philosophy. Hmmm. I could write about how we're basically eclectic though we lean toward classical, but I'd rather explore a different angle. What interests me about this assignment is not the details of everyone's daily grind, but rather the underlying attitude that determines whether or not homeschooling is successful. Not how we homeschool but why.
On any given day, I run across someone on a blog, forum, or e-mail list who is struggling. They've had it with homeschooling. The kids won't listen, the mother feels smothered, other life circumstances are looming, etc. There's a ton of different reasons, but they all lead to the same statement: "Maybe homeschooling just isn't for us."
I always feel such sadness when I read the despair and frustration. You can sense when someone is truly at the end of her rope, and some of these mothers are even beyond that. If I dare to say it though, there's a reason they end up in that place. It all comes back to the homeschool philosophy. In my opinion, there's two approaches to homeschooling: homeschooling the head and homeschooling the heart. If you say your number one reason to homeschool is to give your child a better education, you're more likely to fail. Ouch! Why do I say that? Just ask the burned out mothers. If the book work is your focus, then when the schedule gets behind or the kids just don't get the new concept or life throws a big hiccup in your path, your foundation is gonna shake. A homeschooling day is full of missteps and mistakes, so it doesn't take long to rock this homeschool philosophy to the core. If we're homeschooling to give the kids a better education, then a lot can go wrong. Brick and mortar schools start looking very attractive when things go wrong---which they do, all the time.
I homeschool to reach the hearts of my kids. Sure, I give them a great education. I'm confident enough to believe with every ounce of my being that I give them a better education than any public or private school ever could. There are a lot of great schools out there, but mine's still better. That's just the bonus of our homeschool journey, though, not the focus. My purpose in life is to serve my God and my family. Homeschooling IS my job. I don't whine if it takes a lot of my free time. I spend hours each day researching, planning, reading, discussing, and facilitating the learning of my children. Just like if I still went to the office each day, homeschooling gets my 9:00 to 5:00 focus. I don't feel the smothered feeling a lot of women do because of that. It's all about the mindset.
In every task and opportunity of our day, my goal is to show the cubs something about God. Pushing through and finishing an assignment. Helping a sibling. Hearing about the past. Planning for the future. Even scrubbing the toilet and letting your baby sister win. Those are God lessons. We learn them through academics and family life, but they are truths about the power of God in our lives.
I like to keep on schedule, but if something comes up, it doesn't make my world come to an end. We learned about God's timing through that experience. If one of the cubs makes my blood boil with a careless attitude, we get over it. We learned about God's patience through that experience. If I feel like I may never talk to another adult face to face again, and I've been banished to the land of the little people, I suck it up and get over it. I learned about serving God and following his plan for my life through that experience.
I've never heard one frustration about homeschooling that you can't turn around into a God lesson. It makes perfect sense if you think about it. There's not one single frustration with life in general that there's not a God lesson in. Why should homeschooling be any different?
Is homeschooling for everyone? Definitely not. It's a calling from God, and God has very different callings for each individual. Homeschooling is our calling, though. It's how we educate our kids, but it's also how we win their hearts. I can honestly say that I have never considered giving up homeschooling. Sure, I've been frustrated, but I've never seen sending them back to public school as an option for fixing my problems. When we started homeschooling four years ago, all I saw was two kids who hated school and were emotionally drowning. The future didn't exist. I only knew what we were facing at that moment. I didn't see how we would move twice in a year and how homeschooling would keep the cubs' world stable. There was no way I also could have known how vital it would be for them to be home this past year when I was desperately ill. I didn't see how much our family would need the togetherness. I'm so glad God did see what would happen and used homeschooling to change our lives!
I have no idea what else will come up in my life over the remainder of our homeschooling journey. I like to plan ahead what we'll learn academically, but I don't have a clue what else will happen. All I know is that God blesses us as we homeschool and his lessons are new each morning. I don't want to miss a single one. I'm a student in this homeschool, too. Thanks, God, for being the teacher. All I'm doing is following directions.
Comments
Mar. 6, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by jenn4him
Great post. I am sending this to a friend who has about reached the end of her homeschooling rope.
Thanks,
Jenn
Mar. 9, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by DanielleW
Great post. Thanks for the reminder for the reasons to homeschool.
