The State of Homeschool: Part 1
In my last post I suggested a mid-year reevaluation of homeschool goals and some questions you might ask to get your thoughts flowing. I’m eager to focus on things sort-of within my control so lets dive into those. Shall we?
Thinking of a mid-year review, I asked (among other things) :
- Have I prayed for God to show me where change is needed and where He would have me “keep calm and carry on?”
- What are my goals for the school year? Are these God’s goals or mine? Am I striving to meet an earthly or heavenly standard? If the goal is an academic goal, is it one God intends me to keep or realign? What did my goals look like at the start of the school year and how have they morphed?
Okay – that’s a lot of questions! But, sometimes I have to look from several angles before I see the bigger picture. And these are all sort of related. First, pray. Then plan. Literally. Yes – right now lets ask God to guide my words and for them to fall on our hearts as He would lead.
OK. prayed up?
Let us begin.
I’ll start with a true confession: When my kids were little I don’t remember ever asking God what His plans for my homeschool were. Homeschool grew from our pre-school play and it was just part of life. Back then we prayed over dinner, bedtimes and if we saw a car accident along the roadside. We prayed at church on Sunday. I prayed for God to generally facilitate us schooling the kids at home. I prayed for provision enough to make the mortgage payments and such on just my husband’s income. I prayed for patience not to blow a gasket on a difficult day. But, I didn’t pray for God to lead me as their teacher or to show me what He needed them to learn. That didn’t come until later. But, I’m glad it came.
Sister, if you haven’t asked God to lead you as your child’s teacher, I ask you to consider it. It’s not my place to know how you should pray but, I know that I benefited from letting God lead in the areas of whether, what, how, and when I should teach the kids. And, asking Him first, before stepping out on the plan or changing a plan, is in His word. Furthermore, it sets you on a Godly habit as you interact with your adult kids when you pray before endeavoring to teach.
That said, God gave you a brain and you have probably discerned what your kiddos need to learn during this season. Usually a plan includes academics, spiritual and life skills. So, have you set individual learning goals for each of your students? Has you received peace about those goals? I believe that usually peace along the way is a confirmation that I’m withing God’s will. Peace is a fruit of the spirit, implying that a lack of peace might be worth checking in with God about.
This prayerful approach, especially when my kids reached middle and high school, prevented us from some major pitfalls. For example, the temptation to participate in groups or to use curriculum that all my friends (or the kid’s friends) were raving about was tremendous. Especially when the temptation included easing my own to-do list! It would have been easy to check my kid into a third party class or pair up with another parent because it made my load lighter, but in some cases this just wasn’t the best for my kid! I remember once being deeply-deeply tempted to partner with a mom I loved to spend time with on a co-op that she was immensely passionate about. But, after prayerful consideration, God showed me that I would have enjoyed it far more than it would have benefited my youngsters. As difficult as it was, God led me to say no. And God sent peace in that decision and provision for us to do it His way.
I can also remember times our academic goals weren’t being met – like the time we struggled with reading for years with one of our kids. There wasn’t peace during those times. In fact, I was loosing self-control, joy and gentleness as well. These were times I really had to seek God and His plan. Sometimes this meant digging my heals in and demonstrating God’s faithfulness to persevere. Other times, I learned that my own sin was the problem. Sometimes, after searching my heart, I recognized that I wasn’t investing the needed prep time for lessons. Sometimes I was inconsistent. Sometimes I had given my best to the subjects I enjoyed most but had brought sloppy-seconds the greater challenge. Other times God was showing me that I needed to change the plan in the middle of the year.
Yes, changing your plan in the middle of the year is not a horrible thing! If your car got a flat tire in the middle of a trip would you delay changing the tire until you arrived at your destination? I think not! You’d fix it ASAP! In the same respect, you wouldn’t pull over to change the tire if it wasn’t flat, so don’t make extra work for yourself! If the school plan (especially academics) isn’t working, if the curriculum isn’t what you thought, if you aren’t reaching reasonable academic goals, if everyone is miserable – then by all means, fix it! Try something new. Ask around for ideas. Research alternatives. Borrow a book from a friend to try it out before committing to purchase something. Whether you have to scrap the entire plan or you just have to make some tweeks, pray then forge ahead bravely with a fresh idea!
A final point is that sometimes our goals morph throughout the year. I believe mine often did as the needs of my students grew and the world changed. Some years I started with lofty goals but realized along the way that at least one of my students wasn’t going to hit the mark. I could forge ahead or change the goal. Sometimes I forged ahead. Sometimes I moved the goalpost. Sometimes I scrapped the plan and started something entirely new! In my own mind, I just kept checking that we were on course to learn useful, reasonably age appropriate and helpful things each year. Learning math was a struggle for years but, every year we learned more. Learning to read was a huge challenge for one of my students (despite testing, evaluations, diagnostics, glasses and extra-tutoring) but every year we did better than the year before. While its important to make changes when faced with challenges, its equally important to reinforce our children’s confidence in areas they are gifted. My slow reader was extremely athletic. My math-phobic was a skilled orator. Our social-recluse was tech-gifted. Twisting the plan to fix whats broken or accentuate the positive can work for you and your kids.
Let us pray: Father, remind us daily that teaching our children is a journey, not a destination, even though the academics are just a few years. May our homeschools grow curious adults who passionately love God, and are ready for a lifetime of learning and responsible citizenship. Amen
Do you have a question about homeschooling? Need a mentor mom? Email me at jesushomeschools@gmail.com.
