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Homeschooling With Toddlers: Finding Your Way Without Losing Your Mind (or Joy!)

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Ahhh, toddlers.  Gotta love ’em. I have been homeschooling successfully with toddlers for many years. Or not!

You know me, I like to keep things real.  And in the interest in being perfectly honest, let me just start by saying I’ve tried everything I know how to try and nothing is ever foolproof.  Nothing works all the time. Real-life isn’t like Pinterest.

Here’s the big thing I’ve learned though.  Are you ready? The best thing I can do for myself and my toddlers is to appreciate them. I have lots of fun toddler stories but one of my favorites is from 1998, the first year we were homeschooling. I was still in “let’s see if I can really do this” mode and I was very serious about it all.  One cold winter morning as I was teaching Sierra from our favorite book on reading “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons,” I noticed that I had not heard from the toddler in some time.

Silence is Golden

Quietly, stealthily, I made my way to the back of the house, down the long hallway that had four identical doors. Skylar, our 20-month-old, was behind door number 3.  He had literally covered himself from head-to-toe in Desitin and then, he had proceeded to cover his ride-on giraffe in Desitin.  But wait! There’s more!  After that, he decided it would be a good idea to dump all the baby powder on top of himself and “Giraffey.”  Have you ever tried to get powder and Desitin out of bedding and pillows and wooden toys and carpet?  Let’s just say it’s not something I’d like to spend another 8 hours doing.

As you might have guessed, we didn’t get to finish our reading lesson that day.  I don’t think I made dinner.  Our landlord was coming over to check some faulty water heater or something.  There was no way I was letting him see the house covered in baby powder and Desitin!

Toddlers.  You’ve gotta love ’em. Fast forward 15 years. That toddler is now a handsome young man. His days of dumping Desitin are over until he has his own child.  I’m pretty much living for that.  (Just kidding.) I tell you this story to remind you that if you’re in the throes of homeschooling and toddler taming, it doesn’t last forever. Enjoy your toddlers as much as you can.  Laugh as much as you can.  Don’t wish these toddler years away.

Of course, there are some logistical things that might help with the “taming” part of parenting toddlers, especially if you’re trying to homeschool older children too, so here are a few things I’ve learned.

toddler_consistent

Hard truth: children need consistency.  They just do. I feel sorry for moms who are being pulled and pushed around by little tyrants that are only a couple feet tall—especially when the mom could be doing something about it.  Now I’m not saying every child needs the same thing, far from it!  But I am saying this: most toddlers are smarter than their moms give them credit for being. Of course there’s the occasional “exception to the rule” but make no mistake,  your toddler knows you.  And he knows what you mean when you give instructions.  This whole counting to ten or three or whatever needs to stop.

I love this book by Ginger Plowman: “Don’t Make Me Count to Three” is one of the best books on toddler taming I’ve ever read. Check it out.

Bottom line? Toddlers know they are loved when you give them boundaries and stick to them. I’m not suggesting that there is no room for grace; but grace is given, like consequences, on a case-by-case basis.  Love your toddler by being consistent in every area.

Toddler_patient

Your homeschooling efforts are only as good as the relationships behind them.  

This is a lesson I have learned the hard way over and over.  It’s worth taking the time to find out what the problem is.  Sometimes, it’s a simple case of the child needing more affirmation or time from his parents. Toddlers are growing in every way.  They need lots of love and affirmation along with consistency from you.  You can do both, by the way.  Keep in mind that whatever you do should be motivated by love.

toddler_flexible

I have tried everything under the sun to keep our toddlers busy while we do school. Sometimes, I wait for “difficult” subjects until the toddler is napping. Sometimes, I put in a video (here are my favorite videos in the whole wide world.)  Sometimes, I set up a little area at the table where the toddler can color and feel like he/she is doing “school” with us.  Sometimes, I give them the Sharpies and tell them to just color the walls.  (Not really. But I’ve felt like it.)  My point: experiment until you find a rhythm. Do what works for you.

toddler_buddy

This has worked the best for us over the years.  It’s a win/win/win if you can figure it out:

  • Mom wins because someone is helping to keep the baby/toddler occupied
  • Older children win because they get the “privilege” of building rapport and relationships with their siblings.  Plus, helps grow them, too!  I let the bigger kids bake cookies, draw, watch movies (occasionally), play games, go outside, whatever!
  • Toddler benefits in a million ways—not the least of which is the foundational building blocks for great relationships with their older siblings.

Giving your older children the important role of mentor and big brother/sister is an entirely separate homeschool course.  It’s worth investing in.

Love your toddler, busy mom!  Soak ’em up!  It only lasts a couple of years and you don’t get it back.  Play, play, play when you can with your toddlers.  You’ll be surprised at how their little eyes will light up. 😉

What are some of YOUR great ideas for keeping toddlers busy during the day?

It goes by fast,
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Heidi St John Homeschooling Guide to Daylight

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5 Essentials To Getting Started in Homeschooling: Get Organized

Homeschooling,

Most of you know that I am an accidental homeschooler. It’s true. So when I got into this wild, crazy homeschooling adventure, I honestly had no idea what I was doing. No. Idea.  I knew I could do it, I’d seen it done.  I just didn’t know what it meant for me.

That was 1999.  I’ve learned a few things since then.  Most of them the hard way.  (Hard to believe? Believe it.) I noticed early on that even though we were new to homeschooling, people still wanted to know what we were doing for our homeschool.  My answer:   “I’m learning as I go.” Even now, I usually hesitate to tell folks what we do, because frankly, what works for my family may not work for your family.

However—I also keenly remember how I felt when I began our homeschool journey.  I devoured every “how to” book I could find on the subject. I would have given just about anything to follow a seasoned homeschool mom around and spy on her just to see how she did it. Trouble was, no one would let me spy on them. Even when I asked!  And I did ask. This mom who lived in Mount Vernon, WA and had homeschooled in the “dinosaur age” of homeschooling.  I asked her.  She looked at me like I had just decided to write an expose on her style of homeschooling.  Things got awkward fast.  Maybe back in 2000, it was just a creepy request?   I don’t know. In any case, I’ve changed my mind about sharing how we “do” school; mostly because of that memory in particular.

In the next few days, you’ll read some (not all) of “how” we do it; because one very important thing I’ve learned is this:  You start each year with the same building blocks: but it can, and will, look very different from year to year.  Don’t let yourself be taken hostage by someone else’s idea of what your homeschool should look like, either.  Make it your own.

Here’s part one of a three part series I’m writing on “How We Homeschool.” I hope it encourages you, because if I can do it, you can too.

5 Essentials to Getting Started in Homeschooling {in short}

Five Essentials

So let’s talk about each one of these for just a moment.

1.  Think like a teacher.I get a little bit of criticism for this, but I believe it’s essential that I take off my “mom” hat for a few moments and put on my “teacher” hat.  And yes,  homeschool moms need to be able to wear both “hats” at the same time.  It just helps me think better when I can separate the two.  Here’s how I do it:

Scope & Sequence

Keep in mind that I change things up every year.  This is my schedule from a few years ago.  Since then I have changed math programs and added some things that have helped us stay on course in light of our travel schedule.

Truth be told, every homeschooling family should be choosing what works best for them.  Since our family travels quite a bit for work, we incorporate a lot of of that into our schooling.

2.  Write the core subjects under each child’s name. I’ve put the grade in place of the name for the sake of our kids, but normally, you’d see the name of the student next to the grade at the top.

3.  Decide on Curriculum. 
This is the part that really frustrates many parents.  I ask myself three questions when choosing curriculum:

a. Does it overwhelm me?  If my first response is to feel like I’ll never measure up; I’ll usually pass to the next option.

b.  Does it fit MY  learning style as the teacher?  If it doesn’t resonate with me as the teacher, I’ve learned that I will have a hard time using it to teach our children.  Not sure of your learning style? Find out.  There are many books out there on the subject. “The Way They Learn” by Cynthia Tobias is my fave.   You can even take online quizzes!

c.  Am I choosing it out of fear?  I’ve been surprised at how a sales pitch can make me feel like I’m doing a disservice to my children by not choosing a particular program.  After 14 years of homeschooling, I usually decide to go with my instinct.  If I like it, and if it feels do-able, I’ll try it.  Fancy-schmancy sales pitches don’t impress me much.

4.  Come up with a schedule.  I wrote about this at length in my book, “The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Daylight.”  I’m a huge fan of scheduling—to a point.  When it rules your life, it’s not good for you.  The Bible teaches us about moderation and the power of not being “mastered” by anything. Including a schedule.  Here’s our schedule from a few years ago. Read the post for more information:

Schedule_Sample1

5.  Organize your school space.  You don’t need a “school room” to homeschool. All you need is a shelf.  It’s true! I’ve done it every which way—some years we’ve had more space than others; so I’m here to bust the myth that you can’t homeschool without a schoolroom.  Right now, we have a schoolroom; and it’s great.  I store our books up there.  We use it for study and teaching space. But more often than not, it’s the room that gets all the junk we don’t want to deal with.  True story.  Use what you have and be happy.  It’s enough.

TRY THIS:
Get clear containers for things like scissors and crayons. Label them. (I LOVE these.) Your storage containers don’t always need lids. In fact, I like it better without lids these days. Easier.  We just keep them on a shelf for easy access.

Create a space for each child on your bookshelf.  It doesn’t have to be the whole shelf!  A part of a shelf will do.  Be creative. Less, as it turns out, really is more.

CHEAP WHITEBOARD IDEA:
Shower board.  Ask your husband to take you on a date and pick out some white shower board.  Home Depot, etc.  They all have it. Easy cleanup, and you can use whiteboard markers with it.  We have used shower boards for years instead of expensive, “official” whiteboards.

Have you read my post about scheduling?

Next time: Notebooking

You can do this!
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Heidi St John Guide to Daylight

Shop Heidi’s Amazon Store for Homeschool resources, recommendations, and more!

3 Frequently Asked Questions About Notebooking

Homeschooling,

When I started homeschooling in 1998, I did the only thing I knew how to do:  I set up a “real” classroom in our and ordered a million dollars worth of workbooks. (At least it felt that way.) And we did okay … for a while.

We were about six months into it when I began to notice that the “life” I had longed for was just not happening with the workbooks. For the kids, it was just “business as usual,” as we went about our school day; there was no chance for creativity outside of the prescribed worksheet.  They seemed bored and disinterested.  Another thing that frustrated me was that each one of my children was studying something different; the first grader and third and fifth-grader were all doing a different era of history.  Different sciences. Even different Bible lessons.

I was frustrated. I was hoping for more “togetherness” in our studies and less fragmented days.  I didn’t miss the craziness of taking my daughter to school every day.  I was hoping for more of a “one-room schoolhouse” approach in our homeschool, and having so many different workbooks and textbooks was not answering my heart’s cry to simplify our learning together. So, I began to search.

schoolroom-6966
Our schoolroom—tidier than usual. 🙂

It was 2005 when I discovered something called lapbooking. (I love lapbooking so much that I wrote an eBook on the subject.) Shortly after that, I learned about notebooking. These two things literally changed the way we homeschool.

If you’re looking for a way to simplify your homeschool, keep reading. Notebooking might be just the answer you need.

 What is Notebooking?

This is by far the most frequently asked question I get when it comes to notebooking, so I’ll make this as simple as possible.  🙂

Notebooking is simply teaching your child to write about and illustrate what they are learning in school. Notebook pages are stored using a 3-ring binder and sheet protectors. You can use pre-made notebooking pages or, you can use my favorite method—which is to let the child design it.  Original is always better than not, right? 🙂

Over the years, we have done a mixture of these kinds of notebooking.  I also keep a few pages here and there of traditional “workbook” pages in their notebooks. It serves as a reminder and *proof* that we’ve actually accomplished something that year.  Occasionally I will open the notebooks to remind myself.

Allowing the kids to create their own layouts started rough but ended beautifully
Allowing the kids to create their own layouts started rough but ended beautifully

A few other FAQ’s about this:

What do you  use?  I use 2″ or 3″ binders.  They can be found on sale all the time over at Amazon and of course, you can find them at your local Walmart.

When do you notebook?  We do it one day a week.  I keep a running list of the things we are studying on a whiteboard in our kitchen.  We take one day each week to create notebook pages. It’s not something we do every day. (Do you feel relieved yet?)

How do I start Notebooking?

Every family who notebooks does it a little differently.  At our house, we notebook just one day each week.  Usually, we do it at the end of the school week. I’ll try to break it down for you a little by putting it into steps.

  1. Keep a running list of the things you’re studying.  We write them on a whiteboard.  For example, last year during a week in October, we studied:
    1. the parts of a flower
    2. Joseph is sold into slavery (Firmly Planted, Book 2)
    3. Times Tables the Fun Way
    4. The Civil War
  2. I let my children choose things off the list to write about based on their age.  For example, the 3rd grader chooses two things that really made her eyes light up.  She will make two notebook pages about those two things.  The older they are, the more pages they can create.  Four is about the limit for “original” pages, so if you have a high schooler, you might ask them to create a page about each of the four things I listed above.
  3. We make a mess.  Messes are good when they’re signs of a creative, engaged child!  Get out the cardstock, glue, scissors, sheet protectors, colored pencils and crayons.  Let your children be creative.
  4. Create a page! Sometimes, I use notebooking templates that I find on the internet, or I create my own on our home computer.  My favorite way by far to create pages is to simply let the children make their own.  You’ll need to show them examples, and if they are young, you’ll need to help them draw lines, etc., but after that, let them spread their creative wings and fly!
  5. When notebook pages are done, put them in sheet protectors and put them in your binders.  Don’t forget to put a DATE on each page!  I like to keep our binders in chronological order.  It really helps with reference points at the end of the year.
  6. Add other pages you are doing in school; the occasional math page or language lesson.  All of these will serve to help you create a wonderful portfolio of your child’s work. They’ll love looking back over it.
Use what you have around the house to create pages. The one on the right is computer made.
Use what you have around the house to create pages. The one on the right is computer made.

 Favorite Resources For Notebooking

These are a few of my favorite things:

Bottom line: Notebooking can help you be more creative with your children, learn more and enjoy it more. Give it a try!

Page from a study on botany (L) and cover for our second daughter's 9th grade notebook.
Page from a study on botany (L) and cover for our second daughter’s 9th-grade notebook.

You’ve got this,
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Heidi St John Homeschooling Guide to Daylight

Shop Heidi’s Amazon Store for Homeschool resources, recommendations, and more!

Finding Your Child’s Learning Style

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My daughter sat, if you can call it that, splayed wildly across two chairs and chatted light-heartedly about some birds she had seen outside her window that morning.

Curious, I questioned her, “Have you finished your math?”

Exasperated, I realized that she had barely made a dent in her assignment.

Hands up if this is going on in your home?

My daughter is not generally a willful or disobedient child. She is, however, a kinesthetic learner who really does need to move in order to learn well. Moving while she does her schoolwork helps her to think and remember. These days, now that I understand the impact of different learning styles, you will find her doing her schoolwork sitting atop a large fitness ball bouncing in a crazy fashion, and finishing her work in record time.

What are learning styles?

I never gave learning styles much thought until I began homeschooling my kids. I thrived in the traditional school environment (as do many teachers). Then I began to teach my dyslexic kids and my eyes were opened to a world of learning differences that I never knew existed.

A learning style simply refers to the way a person learns best. Everyone has a mix of learning styles, utilizing all of the senses, however many people find that they have a dominant style of learning. There is no right or wrong learning style – just different. Traditional schooling tends to focus primarily on reading and writing (a predominantly linguistic or verbal learning style) to gain and assess the acquisition of knowledge. The result has been that students who have other learning style strengths tend to do poorly with these methods, earn poor grades and bad reputations for being less bright than other kids.

This has been true in my life. I found growing up that I was very good at memorizing random information for tests. I could visualize the words on paper and during a test, could choose the best answer based on this picture in my head. However, I was quick to forget this information after the test and rarely acquired a good understanding of the subject. My dyslexic husband, on the other hand, did poorly in school, yet has a much better understanding of the flow of history and science than I, having weak memorization skills but strong skill in logic.

By recognizing and understanding our own learning styles, we can use techniques better suited to our unique families. This has the added benefit of improving the speed and quality of learning.

Seven Learning Styles

  • Visual (spatial): You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding. Try using images, pictures, color and other visual media to help your kids learn.
  • Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music. Try using sound, rhyme and music in your learning.
  • Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing. Try to find ways to incorporate more speaking and writing in your teaching.
  • Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch. Try using touch, action, movement and hands-on work in your learning.
  • Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems. Teach the detail behind behind concepts being taught as opposed to mere rote learning.
  • Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people. Try working on lessons as a group, find a study group and use role-playing concepts you are trying to learn.
  • Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study.

Research has actually shown that each learning pathway uses different parts of the brain. By involving more of the brain during learning, it is easier to remember what is being taught. This is often referred to as multi-sensory teaching.

If you are experiencing difficulties in your homeschool, you may want to go online and take one of the many free learning style assessments available.  And don’t forget to test your own learning style.  Sometimes our learning style as the teacher does not appeal to the learning style of our kids.  Understanding learning styles will help you to think outside the box and find a method that works for both of you!

Roadblocks in homeschooling are often an indicator that it is time to change things.  If your kids are struggling with their homeschooling, maybe it is time you considered the learning styles of you and your children.

Heidi St John Homeschooling Guide to Daylight

Shop Heidi’s Amazon Store for Homeschool resources, recommendations, and more!

 

5 Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Started Homeschooling

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With changes rapidly happening in our public school system, more parents than ever are considering the very viable option of homeschooling. If you’re one of those, read on.I’ll never forget our first year of homeschooling.I sort of “fell” into homeschooling, and so, admittedly, I was not as well prepared as some of you dear readers will be. In fact, I was about as green as green could get—but I was trying—right down to the flag salute and scheduled recess time. Like many new homeschool moms, I was trying to imitate what I remembered about school. And the school that I attended as a child had a flag salute. So we did, too.As you are probably guessing, our first year was tricky. The neighbors thought we were crazy, my parents wondered out loud about my “ability” to teach our children, and I had no idea how to get dinner on the table and still teach math, reading, and science. Or, maybe I didn’t need to be teaching science to our second grader? The opinions on teaching science to second graders were mixed, after all.Can you relate? Oh, the things I worried about!I needed a class for homeschool rookies, but unfortunately, there were no such classes around.

Homeschooling is the best decision we have ever made with regard to how we would educate our children. But I won’t lie to you—those first few years were especially challenging. If I could start again, I would do a few things differently.

But even so, God has a way of working all things together for good as we trust him. Here are just a few of the many things he’s taught me over the past fifteen years:

Education is Discipleship

“A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” (Luke 6:40)Education is discipleship.  This simple sentence has become the mission statement of our homeschool. The Lord has taught us the simple truth about education through homeschooling. And the truth is that ALL education can be summed up in one word: discipleship.Because the Bible tells us that students become like their teachers, we know that our children are modeling us in every area of life. Luke 6:40 bears special meaning for homeschooling parents. It reminds us that no matter who is teaching our children, they are being discipled; and it compels us to examine our own lives, because our children are very likely going to be just like we are.The culture we live in has made academics the “main thing,” but I beg to differ. Academics pale in comparison to teaching our children what it means to be men and women who are sold out for Jesus Christ, ready to give an answer for the Hope that lies within them. Education is simply the opportunity to shape the hearts and minds of our children. There can be no greater goal than to teach our children to follow hard after Christ.

Manner is More Important Than Method

As a new homeschooler, I was bombarded with academic opportunities. Dozens of programs and curricula overwhelmed me at the homeschool conference. I studied my options, poring through homeschool catalogs and investigating different companies. Our coffee table overflowed with flyers and curriculum samples.

If I could start over (which I can, each year, by the way!), I would have spent more time praying and preparing for the manner in which I would be known for teaching our children, rather the method I chose. At the end of the day, my kids remember much more about how I taught them, rather that what I taught them.

As you begin homeschooling, take some time to think about how you want your kids to remember their homeschool years. I have learned that the relationships I foster with my children are much more important than the books I choose.

Fruit Grows Over Time

No one ever plants a fruit tree and expects mature fruit to appear overnight. Yet, for some reason, homeschool parents often feel pressure to “out-perform” in almost every area of parenting, even when children are very young!

Your kids don’t need to be seen as geniuses. If your neighbors ask your fourth grader what the capital of Texas is and he answers “Oregon,” don’t panic! Remind yourself that good fruit takes time to grow. The results of good homeschooling take time to see.

We can place undue pressure on ourselves and our children when we saddle ourselves with expectations that do not come from the Lord. See his expectations and live up to those. The rest either don’t matter, or will come in time. There will never be a teacher more devoted to the success of your child than you are.

Child Training Trumps the A-B-Cs

Is your child disobedient? Whining? Ungrateful? Rebellious? If so, then “real” school has begun.

Training your child to be obedient is more important than teaching addition. Don’t be afraid to stop formal schooling to teach the greater lessons of life: obedience, respect, truthfulness, graciousness, and love. I have met many parents over the years who miss the true opportunity of homeschooling by focusing solely on academics. Their children suffer for it. The parents suffer too, but it’s usually later down the road.

Consider Eli, who served as a priest in Israel. His unwillingness to discipline his sons brought dishonor to his family, and ultimately, grave punishment to his sons and himself.

You will not have done your child any favors if he or she is fluent in three languages, but cannot speak a single one in a loving and respectful way. When we honor God’s ways first, the rest will follow.

Learning Style Matters

Take the time to discover both your primary learning style and the learning styles of your children. Moms who know their learning style have an easier time choosing curriculum and a far greater success rate in teaching their children the best way.

Your preferred learning style will guide the way you learn, and it will greatly influence the way you teach!

For example, I know that I am a visual learner. If I had taken the time to discover this earlier in my homeschooling, I would have avoided many of the curricula that I chose, because I would have known that I would probably not enjoy teaching it.

Generally, you will find that you and your children fall into one of these learning styles:

• Visual (spatial): You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.

• Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.

• Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands, and sense of touch.

• Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning, and systems.

• Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.

• Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study.

There are many books and websites dedicated to learning styles. Check them out! You’ll be glad you did.

It’s been many years since I took my first steps as a new homeschool mom. Last month, we graduated our son, who never went to “regular” school. Like his two sisters before him, Skylar is ready. He graduated in June from our homeschool, and as he did, he was likely to catch a glimpse of two wide-eyed parents staring at him in a cap and gown … not because they couldn’t believe he graduated, but because they couldn’t believe it went by so fast.

With four more children coming up, we are learning just how fast it goes—and how worth it the journey is.

Homeschooling without a Dedicated School Room

Homeschooling,

When I first started homeschooling I dreamed of having a dedicated homeschool room. I imagined all the fun and learning that would take place in our little school room each morning. Then reality set in and I realized that I live in a tiny apartment with no extra space and I needed to figure out a way to make do!  A few organization pieces go a long way to making everything feel more organized and less cluttered.

standard classroom interior

Staying Organized without a Dedicated Homeschool Room

I have found that I don’t need much to make school time work without having a dedicated space, but these are three essentials: Continue reading Homeschooling without a Dedicated School Room →

A Little Homeschool Truth From a Veteran Homeschool Mom

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 Homeschool Truth From a Veteran Homeschool Mom

I sat at the kitchen table, pencil tapping my teacher’s guide impatiently.  Knowing that the reading lesson I was attempting to teach was only a fraction of the way finished and that we still had Math, History and Science to complete, this mama was getting antsy.

My son, full of life and joy was elaborately illustrating his every written response.  Yes, his letters were going ‘fishing’.  As the mom of 7 kids with dyslexia, the fact that he knew his letters and was able to write them was the hope that kept me going;  waiting quietly as he shared the silly story of ‘J’s fishing success.

And so here we are.  School has started and reality has set in.  Homeschooling sure looks different mid-summer while absolutely no school is being done and we’re casually reading colorful catalogues detailing curriculum that will practically teach your kids themselves.  Ah, yes, peaceful, sunny July afternoons spent at the beach with memories of crumby floors and crabby attitudes far behind.

Sitting here across from my joyful – yet painfully slow – second grader caused me to dig deep into my reserves of homeschool truth to bring myself to remain calm and committed.

Here is some homeschool truth for you, Mama.

Slow and steady does in fact win the race.  A little learning every day adds up to a lot of learning over time.  Your faithfulness to do what you can will be rewarded.  Do what you can, do it well and don’t fret about what didn’t get done.

I know that for me as the productive type, I like to get stuff done.  I like to check off the boxes so I can coast for a bit.

Get child reading – check.

Instill a Biblical worldview – check.

As if these things don’t take years of daily instruction, testing and trying to really do well.

I am teaching myself to let go of the notion of finishing.  Not only is the notion that I can finish parenting, schooling, or cleaning and then coast for some extended period of time absurd as a mom of 8, it is flawed for several reasons.

My work as a wife and mother will never be finished (and likely, at least for some time, my home will never be entirely clean).  Jesus calls me to be about the business of blessing others with my talents.  If not my family, as it is now with my full house, then for others in need.  God has blessed me with gifts so that I can give them away to others.  That is not something that ends when the kids turn 18 and are finally independent or when I turn 65 and can officially retire.

Just as God has stripped me from worshiping many of my previous homeschool idols; having well-behaved kids (at the expense of having clean hearts) or of owning the best curriculum or of volunteering for every important looking job or of having kids get into the ‘best’ colleges;  God is stripping me from the idol of finishing it all so I can rest.

Lord, when will I ever just stop thinking so much of me?!

Please, don’t get me wrong, there is much gain in finding balance in your days.

However, I am learning to enjoy (and at times patiently endure) my days however they unfold.  When the phonics lesson is over and my young guy heads outside to fashion himself a fishing rod, math lessons can wait.  My list of homeschool tasks can wait because life and school is so much more.

Slow down and enjoy the moments.  Believe me, silly fishing stories during phonics instruction, though somewhat painful for busy homeschool moms, will be preferable to the seriousness of the day that you are helping that same boy as a high schooler to analyze expressions of love found in Shakespeare.

Take it from me, if your day is waxing long and the to-do list is largely untouched, it will be okay.  Do what you can, do it well, and trust the Lord to take care of the rest.

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