Being Present & Homeschooling
We are so sorry, but we had video sync issues this week on our YouTube video.
The topic of homeschooling has recently become a buzzword as families across the United States begin to explore the idea that they too can educate their children at home and be successful at it. Regardless of how we decide to educate our children, it is truly important to recognize that what they learn in the home shapes their minds and will either make or break them as functional adults.
It seems that everywhere I turn today, I see children, teens, and adults that are just not able to cope mentally. While I believe that a lot of how an adult should behave is their responsibility, I truly believe that a lot of it is the fault of their upbringing and a failure in the home. What are your children doing when they are not at school or engaging in homeschool activities? Are they independently playing with toys, engaged in sports, reading, building, or painting? Are they doing chores in and around the home? If they are older, do they have hands-on hobbies that engage them? Today I often see kids just watching television, playing video games, or they are on social media non-stop.
We began homeschooling our recently turned five-year-old in September when he started showing a lot of readiness and eagerness to learn. A couple of years ago we had talked about what it would look like if we started homeschooling, what it would mean for me to leave my career as a nurse, and how that new dynamic would impact our family. After loads of prayers and discussion, we decided that homeschooling would be something we would try. We would give it a go for the elementary years and see if it would be something that would work for us. We really began to feel the pull from the Lord to start homeschooling as we were watching in real time the educational system failing. As a former K-12 school nurse, I was witnessing changes I didn’t agree with. I was watching seasoned and tenured teachers walking out and taking jobs below their skill sets because they had just had enough.
We understand that there is a stigma that Christian households just teach their children about God, while the whole rest of the world doesn't exist. We want our kids to know about the world, we do not want them living under a rock and we want them to be socialized. The other stigma that homeschooled children have no socialization still exists today, but this is simply not true for most homeschoolers. We’ll admit that growing up we thought kids that were homeschooled were weird and lacked socialization and when we were first married, we had no intention of ever homeschooling our children. The Lord really changed our hearts and opened our eyes to the endless positives of homeschooling. Our kids do a lot, more than we ever did at their ages, from sports to dance, homeschool cooperative once a week, and church on Wednesday evenings. They have a large community of friends that they have playdates with, they go to museums and park meetups. They do more than would be accommodated if they went to school full-time. A lot of people tend to focus on and argue about the need for the structured days that the public school system provides, but I would argue that my children are very structured because they are not sedentary or stationed in one place all day. They are learning and functioning as purposeful members of our household, gaining life experiences that will equip them for adulthood.
Homeschooling only takes around two hours or less at the elementary level, whereas in public school they would be gone all day. My children get most of the day to learn life skills and have community involvement. I also love that with homeschooling you can teach your children at their own pace. A beautiful part of homeschooling is that it’s flexible. If I am not strong on a subject, but my husband is, he can teach that in the evenings. I want parents to know that you really can homeschool and that there's so much help available if you need it. You can even do some homeschooling online if you really are not comfortable with a certain subject. My good friend Nadine has really helped me with overcoming the fear of homeschooling and giving me the confidence that it’s not as scary as I’ve made it out to be. If you would like homeschooling resources, you can click the link below to see her website! She’s a great coach who will be able to start you off on your homeschooling journey.
How do homeschooling and self-reliance and discipline work together? It’s important for us to be present for our children, to know what they are doing when they are not in school or when you’re not actively teaching them at home. I think it's important that we engage our kids in the activities we are engaging in. For example, Matt was recently building a new canning shelf after we had the prior plastic shelf collapse. Our oldest was with him helping, and while he didn’t love the noise, he was learning and engaged. It’s important that our children help make the household function as we do. Whether taking out the trash or cleaning the bathroom, it is important for children to help equally, according to their age and abilities. We need to be role models for our children and set expectations for them. In turn, we must surpass those expectations for ourselves. They are always watching, and listening, always absorbing what we are doing. Lead by example, and raise strong, independent children, our future needs them.