Homeschooling - fitting the mould...or not!

Have you ever heard or taken part in a conversation between homeschoolers where they expound on how well their children are doing – jumping grades, reading at young ages, excelling at everything?

Possibly you have heard the line that homeschooling produces kids that are a “cut above the rest” or perhaps achieving straight “A’s” in all subjects?

Maybe you have socialised with a group of homeschool moms who always seem to “have it together” and you have left the group feeling overwhelmed and all you can think about is everything you haven’t done this year or the pile of laundry that’s waiting for you at home?

I think, and this is truly only MY opinion, that there are more moms and kids who are struggling than what we know. Mom’s ARE overwhelmed, children are not achieving and families are struggling with the homeschool lifestyle.

WHY? There are a few reasons:

While it is a proven fact that children learn better when in the home and that they are able to develop according to their own passions, it is not always true that homeschooled kids do not struggle. Many parents choose to homeschool their children because they have special needs (Autism, ADD or Dyslexia amongst others). While others discover learning issues as they go along.

Of course, I do believe that these children should be at home and in the care of their parents and under their tutelage and with diligence on the part of the parents will achieve so much more than a child lost in the school system. But if you are one of the parents who has been blessed with a child with learning development you will not fit into the mould of “highly academic” children.

Moms measure themselves to the image of the perfect homeschooling mom

I am a firm believer in being organized and not trying to “wing it” in everything. Organization gives a homeschool mom structure in her day – like a coat hanger to "hang life on". But I am also not a fool to believe that I hold the key to making my life peaceful and smooth running. Only our Father in heaven can do that through the surrendered heart of a mom.

Moms need to be very careful when reading blogs, books and participating in forums that they do not measure themselves to any other yardstick other than the one that the Lord raise for you. Yes, be organised, plan your meals, schedule your children’s work, get your children to do their chores...but do it with the Holy Spirit guiding you all the way.

Do not set up an image in your home of what the perfect homeschool family looks like and try and force your family to fit in...this is a recipe for disaster.

Homeschooling is an invaluable tool to allow God to work in your heart, mind and soul to transform you. But it is actually only ONE part of being a Godly parent.

A precious mom asked me the other day..."What if you have not choice but to send your children to school?" She has serious health problems which do not allow her to continue homeschooling. And she answered herself in the next line by saying – “God in His infinite wisdom can keep on doing more when we can't.” Amen to that!

Related articles:

Growing weary in doing good
Grace based homeschool
Vision for your family
Avoid a bad homeschool day

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