Me Home School?

Congratulations to all you parents who are taking on the heroic duty of Home Schooling. We know you probably hadn’t planned on it, but here we are anyway.

I was in your boat about 21 years ago when I discerned the call to home school our first four children (#5 and #6 would join in a little later). I was not a happy camper, and I have to admit that I did not give my “yes” quickly or happily. It was never on my radar to home school, but the call to home educate was getting stronger. I guess you could say I was like Jonah and tried to run away from God. I remember thinking I might have a way out if my husband decides against it, since technically, he is the head of the household, and I need to be obedient to his decision. Well, the Lord put it in his heart to tell me that he trusted that I would make the best decision for the education of our children. What? That was it? At that point, I knew I couldn’t run from it anymore. Thankfully, God surrounded me with families who home schooled, and they all were extremely generous with their time and resources.

In a nutshell, I will tell you that your house will never be clean enough or organized enough to “officially” begin home schooling. You just have to come up with a plan and then execute it. For me, the biggest challenge in the beginning was disciplining myself to stick with the plan. I found setting up a weekly calendar listing all the subjects and the days of the week for each child was extremely helpful. I would write down what assignment needed to be completed in each class and which chores needed to be done for each day of the week. This gave the child a visual. If a child was motivated, the child could work ahead to earn a free day. If a child was not necessarily an over achiever, then accomplishing that day’s work was the goal. All the children enjoyed coloring in the block when they finished an assignment. It would be scribbled in by the boys and carefully and creatively colored in by the girls.
Another challenge was teaching the children accountability for their schoolwork. If something wasn’t done correctly, the child would have to redo it. This resulted in tears and all kinds of emotional trauma. Again, I had to discipline myself to discipline them. That meant taking away the fun things until the required things got done. Yes, I was the wicked witch of the West. Nevertheless, when the work was done right, I always looked for ways to reward them. They would earn outings, game nights, movie nights, friend nights, DQ nights etc. Obviously, in the current situation, your reward system will need to be different and more creative, but they can definitely be earning things for when the present restrictions lift.

I know everyone’s situation is different considering the fact that this is temporary and most of the work is being done remotely online; but the real joy in it all is the flexibility of the school day; the countless treasured teaching moments; and the character formation that is continually being worked out by both children and parents. Today, there are so many more resources available especially solid Catholic resources that you can add into your curriculum if you wish like Catholic Sprouts, Catholic Icing, Holy Heroes, Real Life at Home, Shower of Roses, Teaching Catholic Kids, Formed and many more. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, but find a few things you really like that supports the solid formation you want to give your children. Then, set up your calendar to make it happen. Treat it like you would treat a full time job. Over time, a natural rhythm will occur, and your day just happens. Everyone knows the drill. Nineteen years later, and one child left to graduate, I wouldn’t trade it for the world!