Over the last several weeks I have had several conversations with many different Mom’s and Dad’s. And what keeps coming back to me, is that we need to remember why it is that we homeschool.
Have you ever had a time where you sat down and put pencil to paper and wrote down why you homeschool? If you have not done this, you may want to spend some time in prayer as a couple and figure out what the foundation of your homeschool is. You might ask yourself, why is this important? Can’t we just buy the books and teach the kids? Why yes you can. However when the tough times come, when you are having a difficult time conveying something to your children or you are questioning why in the world you decided to take on this endeavor in the first place. It is helpful to have a foundation that your school has been built on.
And that foundation should be Jesus Christ. If we as Christians build our foundation on anything other than Christ, it is likened to building our house on the sand. Things like finances, academic goals, job changes, health, emotions, are all subject to change. However, A foundation built on the rock of Jesus Christ, is constant, the same, unchangeable, steady.
If Jesus Christ is our foundation, then the reasons why we homeschool will ultimately reflect that. Our long term goals for home education, our children and our family will reflect Christ in every way.
When those finances change, what are we going to do? While methods may need to change in order to fit our budget, we need to make sure that our new method, or choice will reflect Christ, and not compromise what we have set out to do.
Even if you are not going through a big change in your family, going through the process of reflecting on your purpose of homeschooling will help you make every decision you make in your homeschool.
We go through this process throughout every year. It helps us to decide what curriculum to use and what extracurricular classes and activities we are going to participate in for the year, or semester. Will this class, or this activity, or will this book help us to reach our goal, or does it fit in with our homeschool mission.
For our family, I can tell you that it has really helped us to stay on track through the different seasons of our life as we remember, why it is that we homeschool.
In closing, I want to go back to the beginning of the article, where I mentioned, that perhaps there might be some who are feeling deflated at the thought of the year ending. Solely because you feel you have not measured up to what you had set out to do.
Let me assure you that you are not alone in feeling that way. At some point in our homeschool careers, all of us feel that way. We homeschool mom’s have a way of expecting quite a lot of ourselves. Far more than we expect of anyone else. We all know that saying, “ The grass is greener on the other side of the fence” I recently read, “The grass is greener where you water it, so start watering!” Try not to look at others successes, in 2 Cor 10:12 it says, “ ..but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise”. We are not supposed to look at others and measure or success or failure. We are to look to the Lord. Remember, each of us, mom’s and children alike are on our own personal walk with our Lord and our journey will not look the same. Start and end each day with prayer and time in your bible. Take time to evaluate or reevaluate how each person in your family is spending their time. Make changes accordingly. Changes that will support the foundation of your school and your family. And take time to enjoy your family. The Lord will guide you through this journey called homeschooling. Why not enjoy that journey???
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