“True success in education, as in everything else, is found in keeping the future life in view.”
Counsels to Parents, Teachers and Students, 21
Author: ~Melissa
Homeschooling mom of 5 girls (2 married) and Mimi (Grandma) to 4, by God's grace in northern Iowa. Life is always changing...ever seeking God's will in each new day.
Motivation Monday
“True success in education, as in everything else, is found in keeping the future life in view.”
Counsels to Parents, Teachers and Students, 21
The Joy of Your Journey
If you wander around the internet long enough, you’ll come across some pretty cool homeschool blogs and websites. Those sites will be full of fresh-faced children playing multiple musical instruments, raising show quality livestock and making homemade bread for dinner. Mom’s hair will look great and the kitchen is spotless! Beautiful science projects and well-written reports make you feel a bit envious. You’ll go to bed a bit heavy-hearted, wishing you could have amazing experiences with your children as well.
But you DO have amazing experiences with your children! Didn’t you teach your youngest to tie his shoe this week? Remember the butterfly that landed on a flower close enough for everyone to examine? The joy you shared with your child when he read his first word on his own?
We must remember to take what we see going on in other homeschool families’ lives with a grain of salt. Most of the time we hear and read about the final result, but we’re not always privy to the process that led to that result. Every family deals with bad days, sickness, burnt dinners and piles of laundry, but that’s not the side we normally show to the world.
Don’t fret if you see what seems to be families living and homeschooling in a way that makes your life seem less than perfect. Remember that one of the main reasons for homeschooling is to provide your family with unique experiences tailored to the needs and interests of your household. Forget about sculpted Roman aqueducts made from hand-dug clay. Embrace the joy of pyramids made from mini-marshmallows and dry spaghetti!
The Joy of Your Journey
If you wander around the internet long enough, you’ll come across some pretty cool homeschool blogs and websites. Those sites will be full of fresh-faced children playing multiple musical instruments, raising show quality livestock and making homemade bread for dinner. Mom’s hair will look great and the kitchen is spotless! Beautiful science projects and well-written reports make you feel a bit envious. You’ll go to bed a bit heavy-hearted, wishing you could have amazing experiences with your children as well.
But you DO have amazing experiences with your children! Didn’t you teach your youngest to tie his shoe this week? Remember the butterfly that landed on a flower close enough for everyone to examine? The joy you shared with your child when he read his first word on his own?
We must remember to take what we see going on in other homeschool families’ lives with a grain of salt. Most of the time we hear and read about the final result, but we’re not always privy to the process that led to that result. Every family deals with bad days, sickness, burnt dinners and piles of laundry, but that’s not the side we normally show to the world.
Don’t fret if you see what seems to be families living and homeschooling in a way that makes your life seem less than perfect. Remember that one of the main reasons for homeschooling is to provide your family with unique experiences tailored to the needs and interests of your household. Forget about sculpted Roman aqueducts made from hand-dug clay. Embrace the joy of pyramids made from mini-marshmallows and dry spaghetti!
Put the “Home” Back in Homeschooling
I recently read yet another newspaper article on how homeschooling is on the rise and is becoming more main stream. Homeschooling has changed a lot in the last twenty-five years. We’re no longer ashamed to tell people that we homeschool our children like our parents were. But not only is homeschooling growing, so is the homeschool industry. Companies that provide goods and services for homeschoolers just seem to pop out of the woodwork. This has turned into a blessing and a curse.
Not only is there a plethora of homeschooling curriculums and online opportunities, there are local opportunities for homeschoolers in many localities that could turn a homeschool mom into a bus driver without her even knowing it. There are music lessons, art classes, swim lessons, gymnastics, team sports, drama classes, coops, Pathfinders, or Boy or Girl Scouts, church activities, homeschool support groups, even my local school district has a building and staff just dedicated to offering classes to homeschoolers. So many good things that we wouldn’t want our kids to miss out on, right?
Well, I would like to propose that it is important to keep the “home” in homeschooling. While there are so many great opportunities to have our children involved in, we are responsible to prioritize. If we try to have our children involved in every outside activity that strikes our fancy or theirs, two problems will arise. Number one, our children will not have time to keep up with the basics that need to be covered in their homeschooling, because they will be overwhelmed by the time constraints of everything else. Number two, as moms or dads, we will just plain lose our sanity. If you don’t believe me on that one, try it for a while.
I do believe in giving our children opportunities. It’s just that we must prioritize these opportunities. Try to limit outside of the home activities to one day a week and try to incorporate all the errands in that day too. There is a lot of work involved in getting kids into the car. At our house, when we leave on our day out, we have to have the diaper bag packed, all of the library books gathered up, musical instruments and music ready to go, shopping list written down, shoes, coats, and water bottles found, teeth brushed and hair combed and faces washed (yes, I have to check on that before we go). I’m always marveling at how long it takes us to get into the car and go. Now just imagine the family that goes through that routine every day. It doesn’t leave time for much else.
Besides the stress that constant outside activity adds to the parents, it also adds stress to the children, which in turn is counterproductive in their education. “The more quiet and simple the life of the child, the more favorable it will be to both physical and mental development.” Ministry of Healing, p. 381. Home is where we can provide such an atmosphere. Home is the best place for children to be. Isn’t that one of the reason why we chose to homeschool? So let’s put the “home” back in “homeschooling”.
Motivation Monday
“There is no virtue in ignorance, and knowledge will not necessarily dwarf Christian growth; but if you seek for it from principle, having the right object before you, and feeling your obligation to God to use your faculties to do good to others and promote his glory, knowledge will aid you to accomplish this end; it will help you to bring into exercise the powers 
which God has given you, and to employ them in his service. But, young men, if you gain ever so much knowledge, and yet fail to put that knowledge to a practical use, you fail of your object. If, in obtaining an education, you become so absorbed in your studies that you neglect prayer and religious privileges, and become careless and indifferent to the welfare of your souls, if you cease to learn in the school of Christ, you are selling your birthright for a mess of pottage. The object for which you are obtaining an education should not be lost sight of for a moment. It should be so to develop and direct your faculties that you may be more useful, and bless others to the extent of your ability. If by obtaining knowledge you increase your love of yourselves, and your inclination to excuse yourselves from bearing responsibilities, you are better without an education.”
Christian Education, 246-247
Motivation Monday
“There is no virtue in ignorance, and knowledge will not necessarily dwarf Christian growth; but if you seek for it from principle, having the right object before you, and feeling your obligation to God to use your faculties to do good to others and promote his glory, knowledge will aid you to accomplish this end; it will help you to bring into exercise the powers which God has given you, and to employ them in his service. But, young men, if you gain ever so much knowledge, and yet fail to put that knowledge to a practical use, you fail of your object. If, in obtaining an education, you become so absorbed in your studies that you neglect prayer and religious privileges, and become careless and indifferent to the welfare of your souls, if you cease to learn in the school of Christ, you are selling your birthright for a mess of pottage. The object for which you are obtaining an education should not be lost sight of for a moment. It should be so to develop and direct your faculties that you may be more useful, and bless others to the extent of your ability. If by obtaining knowledge you increase your love of yourselves, and your inclination to excuse yourselves from bearing responsibilities, you are better without an education.”
Christian Education, 246-247
The Adventist Home Educator 