One thing I really love about home education is that it can be tailored to suit the needs of:
1) Each individual child
2) The wider family
3) Changing seasons of life
4) Varied locations and cross-cultural living
5) The weather (!)
Sometimes this flexibility and diversity can be a little frustrating - there are times when I just wish somebody could tell me what to do in a certain situation, or recommend with absolute confidence the resources which would suit our family best. However, this drawback is minor.
I find reading about other families in different circumstances can be helpful - you realise that every family has both its joys and its challenges, and that even those who appear so tidy, organised and 'perfect' on the outside have days when discipline can seem like a battle, and where the battle to keep the house tidy has been conceded long ago.
I enjoyed this description of the highs and lows of home education in a pastor's family.
On a perhaps related note, I was challenged by this post by a (home educating) pastor's wife on some of the challenges of being married to a pastor.
I hope you enjoy the links.
1) Each individual child
2) The wider family
3) Changing seasons of life
4) Varied locations and cross-cultural living
5) The weather (!)
Sometimes this flexibility and diversity can be a little frustrating - there are times when I just wish somebody could tell me what to do in a certain situation, or recommend with absolute confidence the resources which would suit our family best. However, this drawback is minor.
I find reading about other families in different circumstances can be helpful - you realise that every family has both its joys and its challenges, and that even those who appear so tidy, organised and 'perfect' on the outside have days when discipline can seem like a battle, and where the battle to keep the house tidy has been conceded long ago.
I enjoyed this description of the highs and lows of home education in a pastor's family.
On a perhaps related note, I was challenged by this post by a (home educating) pastor's wife on some of the challenges of being married to a pastor.
I hope you enjoy the links.
I like your comment about "those who appear so tidy, organised and 'perfect' on the outside have days when discipline can seem like a battle, and where the battle to keep the house tidy has been conceded long ago." It is so easy, particularly on bad days, to think that everyone else has things completely together; that they are sinless saints to have completed the sanctification process. Of course, that is a lie and hearing others write about their lives is a helpful antidote to this and an encouragement to pray for others too.
ReplyDeleteI think it is always too easy to see other people as being 'perfect' or finding things really simple. I wrote about some of this here http://homeeducationnovice.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/how-we-speak-about-our-children.html
ReplyDeleteWe simply don't see other people when they are inside their own homes having a bit of a battle. And we prefer not to show that side of ourselves to the world either!
I also feel inspired to pray for the wives of leaders, who often are 'on display' a bit. I think as home schooling family there is always that feeling of people watching, observing, noting things down, blaming anything that is not perfect on the fact that we home educate (I know some of this can be my own paranoia, and i probably need to blog about that at some point too). The families of leaders who home educate (especially of the church members are not all particularly keen on the concept of home education ) must feel very much under observation!