Back To School? Or Not?
This is an article I wrote that was published through Wives In Bloom – an online magazine ministry of Christian Military Wives. Enjoy!
In the wonderful world of homeschooling (yes, I think it to be wonderful) there are those who school year-round and those who do not. Yep, I said it, some of us homeschool all year long. Our family, for many different reasons, decided that year-round homeschooling would work best for us. As many of your children are returning to school, we are just continuing school by adding a little more “bulk” into our day-to-day learning. Are we crazy?
Hardly. Let me explain.
During the traditional school year we have a subject or two on the learning agenda that we do not carry into the summer. I have found this to be an amazing way to keep the love of learning our family shares together fresh and alive. There is never a need to “refresh” anything because the learning never stops. Don’t get me wrong, it is not a strict sit-down-at-your-desk-all-day type of homeschool I run. We enjoy our life and school is very relaxed and occurs at different places. Some days we are outside on the back porch while other days we are on the couch. Of course there are days where school takes place at the dining room table, on the living room floor, or at a desk. I have found in my years of homeschooling that it is not “where” the lessons take place; rather that the learning environment is comfortable and relaxing for our children.
For us, the flexibility of taking breaks from school whenever we want or need to was a very compelling argument for the military lifestyle. This has proved to be true time and time again as we PCS or go through another long deployment. On our most recent move to Germany this past February, we were either on leave or in transit for over a month. Because we homeschool year round, it gave us the flexibility to plan some of our break around this move, thus making an overseas journey much less stressful. Of course never having to worry about where the children will go to school is also a major plus for our family, too. Another great thing about homeschooling while in the military is the fact that your children can “take” their work with them. While we do not tend to take much school work on vacation, there has been a time or two that our good friend “math” traveled on vacation with us. However, lots and lots of books always accompany us where ever we go as our family tends to produce some major reading fanatics!
While everyone chooses their children’s education methods for their own reasons, the flexibility and continuity of homeschooling is a major component that helped us make homeschooling a reality in our family. But the number one reason we have chosen to homeschool is because GOD called us to do so. I will never forget the day that God placed the “homeschool bug” into my heart. It was during a morning prayer back in the summer of 1999. It was one of those moments where my heart was full of joy but my head was full of questions. Needless to say, we chose to obey, and here we are in 2011, homeschooling our three children. And we would not trade this homeschooling journey for anything in the world!
Whether your children are just starting back to “school” or are continuing on with their year round homeschool journey–I encourage you to always remember to keep Jesus at the center of your teaching and learning. He is the best example we can follow to have a humble and teachable heart. I am so grateful to have the best teacher imaginable to glean from and the ability to impart His wisdom to my children. I pray that everyone of you and your children have a blessed, peaceful, and fulfilling school year. Here’s to new beginnings!
You can find all my other articles published in the Wives In Bloom online magazine HERE.