Reasons to Persevere Through the Homeschooling Journey

As we globally come out of isolation, many families are making the decision to either continue to homeschool or send their children back to public school. As I support families through online groups and one-on-one online sessions through my work at HomeschoolHelp.ca, a few different challenges keep coming up.

Many times these are considered “reasons” to send children to school outside the home. I often challenge families who seem torn in their decision to persevere with prayer, creativity, research, and by building a support team.

These are some of the challenges often brought forward as parents start their homeschooling journey.

What am I going to do with the baby? Often the baby IS the lesson. How exciting it is to see children who know how to nurture babies and support their parents. This is a great time to enlist support, find a more independent plan of study, and read together perhaps more than usual.

What about my child’s special needs? Excellent curriculums exist for those with special learning needs and sometimes outside support is needed, but I encourage parents that with creativity and their child’s specific areas of excellence in mind, a specialized and nurturing education will happen at home. I have also seen creative blends where outside education models and home worked together.

What about tragedy? Sometimes, life hands us situations that knock us down. Health issues, deaths in our families, or even long-term, chronic-care needs of family members. There is a lesson in all of this. Learning about caring for others, grieving well, loving well through pain and challenges are huge life lessons that often hit us as adults. How wonderful for our children to learn first-hand how to manage these things. Sometimes these situations require academic work to be minimal or paused, but taking care of the emotional and mental well-being of our families always brings balance.

As an example, this past year my husband required brain surgery. That year, Daddy was the lesson, and our son knows more than any fourteen year old about the endocrine system and the brain. He learned about the importance of research, persistence, and spending time with those we love. We did school in waiting rooms and via text messages.

I am thankful for the homeschool years that have knit our family together and shaped us into an almost entirely adult team of nurturing, caring adults who advocate well for others and have the skills to care well for themselves. I encourage you to gather your resources and your team and persevere on your homeschool journey. You can do it!

Here are the things we love about our homeschool years.

• Flexible schedules:  When babies wake often or teens need more sleep, we are thankful for our homeschool flexibility. “Schoolwork” can happen anytime and anywhere.
• Pause and pray:  Before, during, and after the day and in those moments that feel overwhelming, we can pause together and pray.  We can thank God for our joys and request His support for our trials.
• Food:  So many dishes!  It is the lesson and our nourishment for the day.  At home, we can plan our meals, or not, and eat when we need to.  Packing school lunches everyday was NOT my favourite part of the non-homeschool years.
• Being together:  When people ask me why I homeschool, my first answer is that I like being with my kids!
• Creative fun:  Backyard art galleries, a family “store” for treats, reading tents in the yard and family playdates.  Your imagination is the limit!  Let your creativity blossom!
• Life learning:  Homeschooling gives you extra time to teach life skills and to grow your definition.  Is learning to create a LIVE video a life skill?  It is if your church suddenly needs to livestream services.  Is knowing how to balance your mental health a life skill?  It is!
• Making room in our days for others:  Whether it is a surprise visit from a family member or dropping a special note off to a friend, our homeschooling days taught us to consider others and make room in our days for them. Working together we can bring blessings of a kind word, a smile, an ear to listen or a treat to those around us.  Homeschooling gives us more time to do this.