I was once a weepy, insecure, what-have-I-gotten-myself-into homeschooling mama.
I was once a weepy, insecure, what-have-I-gotten-myself-into homeschooling mama. It took me four years to make the switch from homeschooling feeling like a heavy burden to homeschooling feeling like a joy. If you are still in the burden stage, I believe it can come lots faster for you.
After I learned — the hard way! — about loosening up myself, I decided that each of our children would keep a daily journal of what he or she did each day. I was happy if my children wanted to keep separate diaries in a more traditional way for themselves, but one of their requirements for “school” was to keep these what-I-did-today journals for me. I knew what courses we were working on to complete our state requirements, but I wanted a record of all our eclectic learning lifestyle activities, too.
Let me share what one typical week in our atypical homeschool looked like. Here are excerpts from what our just-about-to-turn-13-year-old daughter wrote for the second week of September in 1996. When you read it, remember my insecure homeschooling stage. Believe me, if God can teach me to loosen up, He can teach you to loosen up, too. As you read, keep in mind that we were in a town of only about 25,000 people. We simply paid attention to what was around us and tried to take advantage of the opportunities — back when homeschooling wasn’t anywhere close to as popular as it is today and there were far fewer extracurricular opportunities for homeschoolers. At the beginning of some entries, I have added notes of explanation in italics.
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Monday
Each September our children participated in a huge Bible Bowl that took place in our town. For weeks our children had been practicing with the other members of their four-member team and also practicing at home. I gave them lots of time to practice during “school.” Our children found super creative ways to drill the year’s Bible Bowl topic into their minds and hearts, including writing a computer game and making films of the Bible stories using vintage Fisher Price® Little People®. When our daughter wrote her journal entry on Monday, the annual Bible Bowl had taken place on the previous Saturday.
Bible Bowl went great! Our team got 4th place . . . . We really didn’t think we made it. But then they called our team! We wide opened our mouths! . . . Today for school I did math, chemistry, and government. This afternoon I made some moccasins. They’re kind of weird. [A picture of the “weird” moccasins followed.]
Tuesday
Our children once played marbles competitively. In the fall of 1996, we learned that a young man at our church was one of the organizers of an international marble tournament at a nearby Tennessee state park. We told him we would be happy to host the French team for lunch. What an opportunity!
The French marble team came over for lunch today. It was really cool! We had lunch and tried to communicate and then got out the marble mat. Marbles were flying everywhere. One guy . . . gave us two marbles from the last marble factory in Europe! Art [class] was good. I drew a cup and teapot. Dad read to us from Journey to Nashville tonight. After that we rolled each other up in the marble mat . . . It was fun. Even Mom and Dad got in! . . . Oh, yeah, one lady did the kiss on each cheek thing!
Wednesday
We were part of an area wide homeschool group. Organizing trips to an excellent nearby theater was one of the ways I volunteered. On Wednesdays our children did service projects with our church youth group. At the time, our daughter was either teaching or assisting in the Wednesday night three-year-old Bible class. I don’t remember exactly. That was 27 years ago.
We went to the Tempest today . . . . I liked it. My favorite character was the savage dude. He was funny. . . . [The youth group] went to Cane Creek to pick up trash. Eewwee! . . . In the 3s, we went outside and drew with sidewalk chalk on the sidewalk. We’re talking about Creation. Today was light and color.
Thursday
Today for school, I did math, Spanish, government, grammar, and worked on my Louisiana thing. This afternoon I babysat the Hughes. . . . John and I got ready for our Lego® war. I’m the castle guys, and he’s the Robin Hood dudes. . . .
Friday
Our daughter mentions the church care group that our family was participating in at the time.
Today I did math, Southern history, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and Spanish. . . . Care group came over tonight.
Saturday
We didn’t typically “do school” on Saturdays, but when we had an educational opportunity like this one, I counted it for a day of school.
We went to Standing Stone [State Park] to watch people play marbles. We watched Ringer, a little Rolley Hole, and the British game. . . . We watched a tad of the Cherokee game, too.
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So, there you have it — September 9-14, 1996, our flawed attempt to seek God first, to prepare our children for the real world (a world which will one day pass away, as Jesus told us in Luke 21:33: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away”), and to prepare them for that wonderful day when we meet Him face-to-face.
Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:33 have powerful implications for homeschooling. It is a great antidote to the am-I-doing-enough worries. We need to be faithful and diligent, while trusting His “all these things will be added to you” promise.
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness,
and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:33