Monday, December 30, 2013

Good Advice for Homeschooling Mothers

The article I have linked to below touches something we figured out shortly after we started homeschooling 20 years ago. We initially tried having individual activities outside the home for Brandon and Amanda and saw how it was affecting our home life. We prayed about it and felt God was saying, "This isn't My plan for you. It's your plan for yourself, and that is why it isn't working ." So, we re-prioritized. We have never missed the extracurricular classes because there is so much activity right here in our own home. We took them on field trips we could do together as a group, a few of which are shown in the blog.  And guess what?! None of our children have socialization problems! Even better, people are always telling us our family is very, very close and works so well together. There's no team better to build than team family! 

If you want the several times a week obligations, that's OK too. Some people thrive on that activity, but it does make it difficult to get your school work and your house work done. For the super-busy moms who are tired and wanting a less chaotic life, I am telling you, it is OK to say no to the outside activities and create your own at home. Take advantage of family day events. For moms of many like myself, it is nearly impossible to allow everyone to have their own activity and still have strong, peaceful, really-connected-to-each-other family life. It's OK to not keep up with doing what everyone else is doing and forge your own life your own way. 

"Last year, at a workshop, the speaker admonished us that sometimes the one-hour foreign language co-op isn't worth it. That one-hour co-op meant she had to spend two hours getting her other kids ready to travel, 30 minutes each way traveling to the co-op, a stressful hour managing other siblings who weren't in the class, and one hour per day preparing the kid who was getting the enrichment from the coop. It added up to 7-8 hours' work for a single, one-hour-a-week class, covering material she could cover at home in four hours tops, minus the gas, stress, and hassle.
After that workshop, we cut the one-hour-per-week foreign language co-op.....Too many irons in the fire outside the home will get a schooler burned out. This year, we're resting and enjoying the warmth of the fire at the hearth of our home instead.
A simpler schedule, with fewer outside obligations, put the home back in our school."
Read the rest of the article here.