Aaaaaaaaaaaah...the start of a new school year. Only, if you’re a homeschooler, you’re not really sure when that begins. Maybe it begins when you buy a slew of new materials and begin using them? But I digress....
So anyway - new school materials are fun - some shiney new textbooks, pristine notebooks and tablets, a pack or two of pencils, maybe a chart or so, and some sort of record book. Of course, with multiple children, some old favorites are pulled out too, but the excitement of a new study year is in the air.
You pull out the new record book and begin mapping out the year or maybe just half a year. Lists of assignments, extra reading lists, field trip ideas, all sorts of extracurricular lessons….you begin cramming it all in there. Gosh, to be a model homeschooler one certainly needs to have a full planner, right? It’s like a security blanket - it assures you that you are doing all you can to make the most of every minute of every day. Come to think of it, you sort of wonder if you are really doing all you can. Maybe a few more tests could be added in and more trips to the library allocated. Jeepers! What if you haven’t planned enough to make sure that your children really excel this year?
Could I suggest a different line of thought?
If I can use the vernacular (and since it’s my blog, I’s allowed to :D), education jest ain’t all about book larnin an trips here an there. Nope. It ain’t.
A truly profitable homeschool that will launch your children successfully is one that is built on relationships. All sorts of relationships are important, but the most important are those within the family and the relationship to God. Why? God made us that way. It’s His idea.
Think about this for a minute - when Jesus came to earth to begin His earthly ministry, He chose 12 men. Just 12. Wouldn’t you think the Son of God would choose at least several hundred or maybe a thousand men to get everything done? But He chose only 12. And they turned the world upside-down.
Yes, Jesus did a lot of teaching and training during the mere 3 years He was with those men. He took the disciples everywhere and they sat under a lot of instruction. But you know what else was going on? Relationship. Jesus spent an incredible amount of time being with his disciples and loving them, focusing on them, and leading them. Then when Jesus finally sent them out, they had spent hours and hours and hours with a loving leader who was their biggest encourager, humanly speaking.
If relationships didn’t matter, God could have just gonged the 12 on the head and told them to get out there and preach. It could have been something like, “Now hear this! Now hear this! You are hereby advised that you are ready to preach. Go to it, boys!” Gooooonnnng. But it didn’t go like that. In God’s economy, relationship is important.
So, for cryin’ out loud, don’t just be a talking head blaring away. Remember the Charlie Brown cartoons? Whenever the teacher would talk, it would just be "wha wha wha wha." Not real words, just blaring. Instead, spend time talking with your kids, dreaming with your kids, working with your kids, praying with your kids - notice the word 'with'? - and yes, studying with your kids. Talking heads don’t build relationships, seeeeee?
Yes, all of those academics and field trips are part of educating your children, but in the busyness of your homeschool year, don’t lose your focus on why you are really doing all of this. Don’t neglect building a solid, loving relationship with your children. Make sure you spend time just enjoying your children and letting them enjoy you. In the years ahead of them, your family relationships will be far more lasting and important than some of the trivia that was stuffed into their young skulls full of mush. And yep, far more important than a full record book!
