Homeschool Fog
Last night’s theme was the Homeschool Fog that so commonly
keeps us from seeing the light of truth.
This fog is made up of the lies that we fall prey to believing, lies
that the enemy and the “experts” would have us believe. To combat these lies, Mr. Wilson reminded us
of three TRUTHS that we must remember.
What follows is from my notes, and subsequent thoughts, on his talk.
1. Parents are the best teachers.
Why is it that we feel perfectly
comfortable teaching our children until age 4 or 5 and then suddenly we feel
inept because they reach society’s set “school age”? From creation, parents have been the primary
teachers of their children. Somewhere we
began to believe that education required an expert. Todd reminded us that God chose us as the specific parents for our
children. No one has a more vested
interest in the success of our children than their parents. When we are in the fog, we mistakenly believe
that we are not qualified to educate our own children.
2. Home is the best place for the child and
life is the best classroom.
A classroom full of children cannot get
individual attention no matter how skilled the teacher. We have the unique
blessing of being in “school” 365 days a year.
Learning does not just happen when we are around the table with the math
book open. Learning happens
constantly. As homeschool parents, we
can embrace life as our classroom and find educational opportunities
everywhere. Personally, this sometimes
drives my children crazy, but I am instilling a love to learn attitude rather
than a “check that off the list” mentality.
Surrounded by the fog, we will often think that if we miss a day of book
learning, no education has occurred.
3. EVERY child is a masterpiece.
God made each child a unique
masterpiece. When public schooling
became mainstream, there had to be a way to measure progress so tests, grades,
standards, honors classes etc. were created.
These are all arbitrary. In
homeschool, all our students can be A+ students because in spite of our
efforts, our children will become exactly what God created them to be. We cannot allow ourselves to believe the lie
that there is a magic age for a child to begin reading or to start
algebra. Floundering in the fog, we believe
that we have failed if our child isn’t reading by age ten.
Mr.
Wilson was a pastor for 10 years before beginning this ministry. Humorously, he told us that he never had a
person come to him for prayer and guidance because they never learned the
Pythagorean Theorem. This story was a
wake-up call to remember what is truly important when educating our
children. Two main points that he
covered were: teach them to trust God and teach them to love their future
spouse and children. This is best done
by example.
Remember,
in a homeschool, school is in session 365 days a year, seven days a week, 24
hours a day. Our children are watching
how we handle situations in which we must trust God. Are we stressing out about financial
instability or praying through it? Are
we griping about how bad the political climate has become or teaching them that
throughout history God has been in control through similar eras?
How
do we speak to our spouse? Do we love
and respect as the Bible instructs? Our
children are watching and will play this out in their future marriage. They will also mimic our parenting
style. Do our children feel loved? Do they see you enjoying them? Do you smile at them? Ask your child, “do mommy and daddy enjoy
having children”? Their response may
surprise you.
Todd
Wilson does an excellent job of ministering to families. He reminds us to keep God first and plant
the light of truth in the sand for when the fog sets in. These truths and the Word of God will be a
beacon when the enemy and the experts are spreading fog into our
homeschool. We must remember that
parents are the best teachers, home is the best place to be and that every
child is a masterpiece created by God.
By having “school” in session 365 days a year, our children can learn to
trust God and learn how to love their future wives and children. Our job is to remember these truths and live
these truths out as examples for our children to follow. Our children should be enjoyed while in our
home. All too quickly they will be grown and gone. Don’t get lost in the fog.
