How Do You Spell Home School?©2007
by Mari Fitz-Wynn

There are as many ideas about homeschooling as there are approaches to home education. Some families feel a duty to home educate. Others feel “called.” Some families determine homeschooling for them is grades K-12. Still others only teach through middle schooling, saving high school as a special experience.

What significance do you place upon the word homeschool? Our individual family preferences help to define that significance.  It’s much more than spelling home school as two words, or the new way according to Webster’s homeschool. Our goals and vision for our children are also defined by it. So, how do you spell homeschool? Here are some thoughts to contemplate.

H=Honor. Do you count it an honor to teach your child(ren), to have primary responsibility for their education? Do you consider it a privilege and blessing? Even  tough times give us a clearer picture of God’s hand in all we attempt to do. That He would give us opportunity to educate “His” children is indeed an honor. I do not take it lightly.

Or would you say ‘H’ stands for ‘hard?’ We all have those “I just can’t do it” days. The key to surviving—no, succeeding—lies in maintaining our focus and honoring our commitment to teach our children.

O=Obedience. Does obedience ring out in your home, children to parents, parents to the Lord and His Word? Without biblically defined obedience, there can truly be little or no obedience. A home, let alone a schoolroom, full of disobedient children equals a quick and easy formula for disaster. Children that won’t obey won’t learn.

For some, ‘O’ may mean ‘obstacle’. Is your day full of seemingly insurmountable problems and interruptions, whether it’s ringing telephones, drop-by friends, stacks of papers waiting for grades? We must learn to distinguish between those circumstances, concerns and company that create obstacles that get in the way of our school day and situations that provide us with a much needed break from our daily routine.
 
M=Motivated. It’s my goal to start and end each school day as a motivated teacher! There have been days when this goal was not realized. My children don’t always inspire me to teach, and I’m sure I don’t always inspire them to learn. The point is, however, I’ve learned that early recognition of my desire to run the opposite way from my approaching students is a clear indication of my dwindling motivation. It is also an indication that I’m veering too far into my plans and farther away from His. Knowing what to do, prayerfully seeking, then following His plan, keeps me refreshed and renewed. It automatically spills over to my lesson plans and teaching. This makes it easier to pass on that same motivation to my children.

Should the ‘M’ here mean ‘mundane’? Perhaps your school area could us a facelift. Take time to evaluate each aspect of your homeschool. Looking at the same environment day after day becomes humdrum after 180 days. Before the new school year begins, reorganize your classroom, change or put up posters, put fresh flowers in your children’s work area... you get my drift.

Let’s move on.

E=Earnest. What  about the quality of education your child is receiving? “Busyness” before and after school may sometimes find us “schooling for homeschool’s sake” and not paying attention to details. I like to remind myself that I must be careful to note what is being learned and how learning is taking place, or even if any learning is taking place at all. At day’s end, can I conclude that any progress has accompanied the time my children and I spent together in class?

Is your ‘E’ for ‘extracurricular’? Does time away from home appeal to you more than time at home? Do too many outside activities take precedence over your day? Extracurricular activities help to “round” out our children’s time at home. Often, outside activities appeal greatly to both teacher and student. But remember to have a “healthy” school we must balance our “appetite” for outside activities and our homeschool obligations.
 
Well, that takes care of the word ‘H-O-M-E’. Now what about the letters in the word ‘S-C-H-O-O-L’?

S=The word I think of is ‘student’, of course! Our students come first. Our students offer us some of the most exciting, challenging and rewarding days we will ever live through. Whatever the ultimate goal for our homeschool is, long term or short, our students will reap the benefits, and whether theirs is a dream to continue the tradition with their own families is often influenced by what we model as we teach, and train.
 

C=Creative. Keep your classes imaginative and your ideas fresh and resourceful! The Lord has gifted each of us uniquely, and abundantly to accomplish great things within our homes, as well as in our schools.  The privilege of homeschooling allows our creative mindset to take off, and be as imaginative as we desire when planning for our school year.  So why not take advantage of it?

Whatever happens, don’t let your ‘C’ stand for ‘critical.’ We all expect assignments and projects to be done correctly, papers to be neatly written, assignments completed, and turned in on time. However, we all know that doesn’t always happen. Make your expectations known to your child and encourage him or her to meet them. Unless you discern a deliberately slothful spirit, sometimes, you just might have to praise less than perfect work in order not to be overly critical.
 
H=Heart. Is it possible to be with your children day after day unless your heart is in it? It is hard to separate our heart from school looking into eyes full of frustration when a child can’t seem to grasp a concept, or watching a child struggle through reading the same books that another sibling “breezed through” a few years earlier.
Our hearts are entangled in homeschooling, not be default but divine order. Our children realize how deeply we love them, and love to teach them—not by giving them a litany of our self sacrifices, but by seeing how much of ourselves, our hearts, we are willing to commit to them.
 
O=Open. Encourage your children to be open with you. As children grow older they should be encouraged, even charged with the responsibility through prayer for helping to select their curriculum, academic courses, etc.  Knowing how our children feel about a certain curriculum, or learning tool, or class schedule will save us time and wasted effort, plus avoid hours, days and weeks of frustration.  Frustration is often borne out of the student’s lack of freedom to express his or her ideas, and thought regarding decisions that directly affect them.

Love provides the 'stickablility' for days that are difficult and fraught with challenges. Love encourages not only the teacher, but also the student.  When assignments are hard to understand, or not completed on time or according to directions, our love encourages the student to attempt again to put that best foot forward.  Best of all, when the day starts and ends with love, no matter what happened in between, both teacher and student will look forward to the next day of school, rather than the last day of school.
 
So tell me…how do you spell ‘homeschool’?