Homeschool Utopia
It must be the end of the school year. Homeschool conventions lure. Advertisements for curriculum pile up on my desk. I flip colorful magazine pages reading descriptions. The sentences are full of promise. Amazing results: master difficult subjects easily, learn new languages fluently, teach multiple ages simply. Red pen scrawls circles around temptations and fingers press page corners toward the marks.
Tied to these note-filled pages are questions of fear and insecurity. Will we cover everything my children need to know? Will we finish math and English? What about Bible and science and art and history and penmanship and typing and Spanish and literature?
I gaze at the bookshelves surrounding my desk and see slow starts, abandoned plans, and half-finished textbooks. The little bits we’ve done create spindly knots that reach out to trip me.
Recently, I came across Sue Patrick’s Workbox System. Plastic boxes in a row pull even more than the curriculum reviews. Organizational bliss! I’ve read the rave reviews. I thought of ways to modify it, and I’m still thinking. Would this really work for us? It’s a good idea, but it’s just one idea. The real test is in continued implementation. It’s easy to start stuff. It takes tenacity to complete it. (That is why Bug’s math book still has fifty-four lessons left.)
It comes back to character. Always. And I’m not as persistent or patient as I like to imagine. The newness of homeschooling has worn off. Some of the fear has dissipated, but we must press on. I’m not ready to reject choices I already made because something might be better.
There is no perfect curriculum. There is no perfect implementation. Seeking homeschool utopia ends in defeat. A race run in circles beginning and ending with the heart.
Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23
What! No Utopia?? Thanks for letting me know this so I won’t kill myself this weekend looking for it. lol
I was just talking to someone and we both agreed that there is no perfect gotta have it curriculum.
We are going into our 6th year and this is the first year I haven’t been over the top excited. I’m tired. I am ready for summer and a break to refresh and renew.
Beth,
You must be going to a homeschool convention. :) I am still trying to decide whether to go or not. We have oodles of books, but I always enjoy looking and there is a possibility of meeting other homeschool bloggers. That would be worth the drive!
This is our sixth year too. And I am finally getting comfortable with the idea of a lifestyle of learning. We’ve had a lot of breaks this year, so I am gearing up while others are winding down.
I hope you have a wonderful, refreshing summer.
So timely as we approach the *end* of our school year. I do wonder if we have covered enough, learned enough, so forth and so on….glad to know that there is no utopia. :)
Amen. I’m great at starting stuff, but keeping up with it all is tough. Diligence and steadfastness are what we really want our children to learn. Better to keep it simple and actually get it done.
My heart and prayers are with you, dear Renae, and your faithful readers. Because even as I seal envelopes containing my youngest son’s graduation announcement … I wonder (even after over 18 years): Did I do enough?
I stopped attending home school conventions after about seven years. I knew I had to trust the LORD and stop leaning on my own understanding (or those ads for the “must-have” curriculum). We utilized a literature-based course of study, ala Charlotte Mason. (Before all the CM-styled sites and curricula …)
All three of my children are intelligent and self-supporting adults. My youngest completed high school credits early and will be attending an honors program for science and mathematics next year. (The one who didn’t read until he was nine or complete math worksheets until he was 12.)
Enjoy the moments and trust Him to instruct you in the way you should go, Mom! ?
There is a time to put the curriculum away. I try to remember that getting the book done is not the same thing as education.
Daisy,
I do think simple is better on so many levels. And I prefer to do less and go deeper.
Stargardener,
Thank you so much. Your words always bless. It’s always nice to hear from someone whose children have made it through.
I do enjoy homeschool conventions, but mostly to drool over old books and art supplies. ;) I never decide to completely switch curriculum there.
And yes, we can trust God to work in and through us and in the hearts of our children. Homeschooling is an act of faith.
Bless your heart. I hear you sister. I’m off to go organize the homeschool room and take notes on all the stuff that I didn’t finish. I’ll try not to beat myself up over it. We’ve had a great year, and I look forward to having something to do during the summer ; )
Brenda
Your post made me smile. Homeschooling has done more for me and my character than it is has done for my children. I started out thinking of all the wonderful benefits my children would be receiving from this wonderful thing I would be doing with them, but I had no idea the ways the Lord would use to change me. It is probably a good think I didn’t know, too, or I would have chickened out!
I really love the art you posted!
Utopia sure does try to lure us in, in many areas of life. I’m good at beating myself up. This was a great post, and good to know I’m not alone in this journey, though mine looks different than a homeschooler’s. I still face the same battles as you describe.
I have to stay away from flashy new things because they divert my attention and give me a reason outside myself why some things aren’t going as well as I’d like. My main problem is that I’m really good at starting and not so good at the perseverance part. No tool is going to fix that.
Brenda,
I hope you find joy remembering all the conversations throughout the year and have a few laughs at the things that didn’t go as planned.
God is completing the work he began in the hearts of our children. That is so much more important than finishing every lesson in the textbook.
Leslie,
I agree. I had no idea how much I would learn and grow through this process of motherhood and homeschooling. And I’m so thankful God is still pruning and watering my soul.
Jennifer,
Yes, there is much that overlaps. So much of this is parenting. It’s about our hearts, not whether we homeschool or not.
I always enjoy hearing about your journey. I know you bless so many…
Dana,
Oh, but looking internal first is much harder than spending money on something new and shiny. Facing my own failures. Seeing my sin exposed through the lives of my children.
That’s when I realize again this takes more time than I’ve allowed. New hearts must be molded gently. It is step by step. For me. For them. And we walk on looking to the one who knows our final form.
Molded gently. I on the other hand want to use a sledgehammer. Kind of like how my hubby uses a chainsaw to prune trees. I’ll have to keep that image in my mind the next time I come down too hard on the children for being, well, children. :)
Renae, thanks for contributing to the CM carnival this time around!! :) You’ve made a great point, one that we all need to keep in mind! (though I will say that the workboxes DO have the potential to revolutionize a homeschool…they have ours!) :)
Thanks again!
You took the words right out of my mouth. I tried authoring a post on this very topic, but just couldn’t find the words. The only thing I would add that I tell everyone going to a convention is to be careful. There are people who are paid lots of money to make their books look as good as possible so you will buy them.
Thanks for posting. I will be sure to pass this along.
After moving away from a BPA school, we started homeschooling…..4 children! i too use SWR and Right Start math. What i LOVED about the workbox system is that it allowed me to be able to schedule one on one time w/ each child for math and SWR and other things. I HIGHLY recommend it. Also my children are all on the autism spectrum so it helps them visually etc… Yes, it takes a little planning on your end but you can do it!!! I know lots of other families who use it.
Blessings!
amy