Oh how I love these 4 children God has given us to love and shepherd. They are precious gifts from the Father! I'm amazed that He would entrust them to us to nurture and care for. What a weighty responsibility!
It was about 9 years ago that we were compelled to consider homeschooling our (one day) school-aged children. You can read more about that
here, a post I wrote about homeschooling. It's only been since 2010 that I've been "legally" homeschooling. I still consider myself a newbie by all means but I'm learning a ton with each semester of homeschooling and I'm sure that will continue. Each year there have been new joys and new challenges that come as our family changes and grows.
Every day I'm aware of the challenges and struggles of homeschooling...and even the cost. And I'm also aware of the joy and privilege. Here are just a few that come to mind today.....
Some Struggles....
1. I don't get a lot of breaks from my kids. I'm "always on" as mom and teacher. I must be intentional to get breaks from them and time with other people or to get alone time. Not advocating "alone time" here necessarily....just being intentional to get enough breaks to stay refreshed and able to care for my family well.
2. There can be pressure to give them a good education and pick the right curriculum. The homeschooling curriculum choices are endless and you could drive yourself nuts researching it all and second guessing yourself...etc.
3. Our home is always in use! And therefore it is getting messy all the time! It's rarely all clean and neat at any given time!
4. I'm finding more and more that a sacrifice made in homeschooling is the challenge it can be to cultivate other relationships outside my home. Because my kids are always with me and we are trying to complete school during the day it can be hard to find time to get with other people outside my family. There are not daily "windows" of time I have while they are away from me to spend with other people. I do hope this one gets easier as my children get older.
5. And lastly, a big struggle in homeschooling is that my kids are daily affected by my sin! They see my sin up close and personal and many times my sin is directed at them. There are days I feel like I'm ruining them by the minute! But, I also trust that they are seeing Christ formed in me and by God's grace they are seeing a needy sinner (called Mom) consistently needing repentance and faith as she humbles herself before her Savior and asks for forgiveness from Him and them....and in that preaching the gospel over and over and over again!
So why in the world do we choose to do this???? Because I love it more.....
Things I love...
1. The time with my kids! This is one of the top reasons we chose to homeschool....TIME! And I love knowing my kids so well! They are each so fascinating to me. I love learning their personalities and strengths and weaknesses. The hope is that discipleship will happen more naturally because there is a LOT of time spent together. I'm already seeing in parenting that you don't get to chose when those spiritual conversations happen. But, oh how happy I am when they do and it's ME who gets to answer the questions and there is the time to dig deep in their hearts! So yes, there aren't many breaks from my kids but it's a sacrifice I'm so willing to make!
2. I love that we get to hand pick the curriculum that suits our family best! Yes, it can be overwhelming with all the great resources out there but I love that we get to choose what to read and the freedom to show how the fear of God is the beginning of all wisdom and how that is so clear in every subject we study. I've already enjoyed so much all the great books we've read! I love watching them learn and learning with them! I love that we can teach to each of their interests and abilities.
3. I also love the flexibility that homeschooling gives us! There have already been many times that I've thought "we couldn't be doing this if we didn't homeschool!" I love the flexibility of our schedule and when we start and finish school each day.
4. Related to flexibility, I love that we can school year round and take breaks when it makes the most sense for our family. I love that our calendar is not dictated by the public school system. Because of what Jeremy does, we do a lot of traveling so it's nice to create our schedule more around his schedule. It's been nice to start school in June and take breaks when we need to throughout the year and still typically finishing in April. We love being a part of Jeremy's ministry and I'm convinced if we were in public school we wouldn't be able to do as much as we do. I also love the freedom to visit our (out of town) families when it's best for Jeremy's schedule....we don't have to plan everything for a weekend!
5. I also love the relationships that are being built in our family. Our kids need each other, they are each others play mates and they have to learn to work through their issues and disagreements. Homeschooling is not about the academics for us primarily, it's so much more about discipleship and relationships.
Just now I casually asked our 3 oldest kids what they like about being homeschooled and here are their answers.....
"I like being homeschooled because going to school you might miss each other, you might miss your family." - Bryn
"I like being homeschooled because we learn about God." - Lydia
"I like being homschooled because when you're homeschooled, you're being taught about God." - Carson
