Coming up on the end of the school semester – the end of 2011 – and the beginning of a new year is a great time to take a bit of personal inventory. Are we making progress? Are we full of JOY and accomplishing our purposes?
Lest you think that I am judging you, I want to be completely up front right now and let you know that I have made EVERY one of these mistakes myself. We’re now on to making completely new mistakes, but I thought I would share some of the path that we’ve already been down.
Here are a few SUREFIRE ways to kill your homeschool joy outright.
Setting up school at home – you have so many more options available to you that there is no need to try to mimic the classroom experience. Remember there’s a reason you decided to teach them at home, and homeschooling can be so much more than a geographical location.
by Heather's 14 year old, Kaden
In that vein, become your child’s teacher instead of their parent. You have been teaching them since the day they were born, you don’t need to try to emulate a classroom teacher. They will learn so much better through the love of a parent.
Toss out Bible because you are running behind in your other subjects. Bible should be the most important subject of your day. It is much preferable to drop even math or handwriting for a day than to drop Bible. Our most important job as Christian parents is to turn our children’s hearts to God.
Be completely inflexible by never taking any time off because you are running behind. If you’re running behind, then maybe you need to adjust your schedule. Maybe your child needs to slow down for a particular subject and later they may speed up again. One of the most wonderful things about homeschool is the freedom to focus on what your children need help with and give them the time that they need.
Be TOO flexible by jumping from curricula to curricula. While completely normal for your first few years, your goal should be to find your balance and what works best for your family.
NEVER try anything new. I know this probably sounds silly after reading the previous point, but you mustn’t go to the other extreme and never do anything new. It’s necessary to have something new to excite and challenge your young students every once in a while. It can be difficult to find that balance, and this is an area where I am continually challenged even after seven years of homeschooling.
Believe you must follow your chosen style of homeschooling to the letter instead of tweaking it to fit your family. I encourage you to look at the tenets of your chosen style more as guidelines and not hard and fast rules. The goal should always be to honor your family’s individuality.
Ignore your child’s learning style. I highly recommend the book Discover Your Child’s Learning Style (note: affiliate link.) We got this book through our library loan program and found it to be chock-full of enlightening information about how our children learn. Almost every subject can be tailored in a way that makes sense to your child (even packaged curricula). Imagine that someone was reading you a book in Spanish, but you only speak English. You might pick up some words here and there, but you will definitely miss out on the overall enjoyment of the story.
Forget to enjoy your child’s unique talents. God created them for a specific purpose. Help them to develop their talents and encourage them in their interests. We really don’t know how God will use those skills in the future, but I do believe that He has a plan, and it’s our job to prepare our children as well as possible to be ready when He calls.
And, the Number 1 way to completely miss out on the enjoyment of homeschooling? Forget to have fun!
We have the unique opportunity to have fun with our children each and every day. When they are grown and have moved away, which memories do you think they will cherish – sitting at the table learning about a famous battle or going outside and recreating that battle in the yard? Seize every opportunity you can to make learning fun, and they will retain what they have heard – as well as treasure those beautiful memories.
How do you keep the JOY year after year in your homeschool?
Are you making some resolutions for 2012?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
These are great points. I also focus a lot of my ministry on JOY. It is so crucial in the life of a Christian. To that end, I’ve come up with a book about how to have a plan for joy in your home. If you are interested, check it out at http://www.aplanforjoyinthehome.com Have a very Merry Christmas!
Glad you enjoyed the post – I will take a look at the book. Thanks!
Were you spying on us this year?? We have gone so offtrack in our curriculum. But if I stop and look, they have learned a lot in all of the other things we did in it’s place. Mostly it was done because we still have two toddlers underfoot and they both stopped napping. No quiet time for school work. I am looking forward to taking time next week to regroup and reevaluate and pick up where we left off.
Lisa – I absolutely can relate! The first week of January is such a great natural “stop” to take a deep breath and decide what you keep doing, what you let go, and what you add in. Sounds like you have your hands full – but I’m sure the kids are learning exactly what they need to!
Just an excellent post! True for newbies and also for long-time homeschoolers. I can’t tell you how many of my friends who have been homeschooling for 10 years or more are so burned out from following a curriculum to the T that they just give up and throw their kids into public schools. It’s like they missed the whole point!
Thank you so much, Elena! You are absolutely right – it just makes me so sad that they didn’t realize all the possibilities out there!