In our family, we have two older boys, and then an eight-year gap between our younger son and our daughter. While spending time with my daughter’s friends and their moms, as the “veteran” homeschool mom, I sometimes get questions about homeschooling. While I am definitely still learning as I go and certainly do not have all the answers to these questions, I enjoy sharing some simple advice and encouragement.
The Big Picture
My children will be fine in spite of my shortcomings. It’s an awesome responsibility to be my children’s teacher, for all subjects, for every grade, all day, every day. But God’s grace is sufficient for me, and His power is made perfect in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). I don’t have to be perfect, and my children don’t have to be perfect. There have been many years when we did not cover everything that I had planned. As a history major, I have agonized over my ability to teach science and math. And by the grace of God, my older children are doing great in college, majoring in technical fields! So take a deep breath, pray, do the best you can, and know that your children will be okay too.
- It’s okay to play. I’m basically a traditional learner. Even as a child the sight of a brand new workbook with clean, tight pages filled my heart with joy. My kids also love workbooks and traditional kinds of curricula. However, there are days when it just seems like everyone (mom and students) needs a break from this type of learning, and that’s okay. Learning can and should happen in a variety of ways – learning games, nature walks, reading aloud, field trips, cooking, etc. Enjoy some play time, and then you can get back to your regularly scheduled school books.
- I don’t have to put my kids in a box. One of my children resisted writing. Really resisted it. For years. We fought about it over and over, and many tears were shed (mostly by me). Until one day, I gave up. I knew that if I kept pushing, this child of mine would hate writing forever, and even more importantly, our relationship would suffer. So my very bright child was “behind” in writing skills. Sometimes I would hear other parents talk about what their children were doing, and I would worry that I was failing my child because I wasn’t forcing this. But when some time had passed, I reintroduced writing, and it went much better. Today this child is a very good writer. Don’t worry if your child is “behind” his or her peers. Keep working at it at a comfortable pace, take a break if you need to, reconsider your approach, and pray for wisdom and peace. You can get back to it when you’re both ready.
Finally, and most importantly, I work very hard to provide my children with a challenging, well-rounded education, but this should never be my ultimate goal. I have to remind myself that while learning the material in their books is important, other lessons are even more essential – the value of hard work and perseverance, the joy of learning, how to get along with people, and as Christians, the calling to follow Christ and serve others. When I can keep the big picture in mind, everything else seems to fall into place (Matthew 6:33).
Susan Eggers loves learning about the past and the people of our world, and sharing that love with her students. She attended Wake Forest University as a William Louis Poteat scholar, where she earned her B. A. in History, graduating magna cum laude. Continuing her studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she received her M. A. in Russian history and completed additional hours of graduate coursework toward a Ph. D. While in graduate school, Susan received grants to conduct research in the Lenin Library and the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art in Moscow, the National Library and the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg, the Slavic and East European Library at the University of Illinois, and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. She has presented conference papers across the country and has published several articles on Russian history.
