If you could do one homeschooling year over again, which one would it be and why?
This question was asked in a lifeschooling group I belong to and, before I could jump in to the conversation, this comment summed up my thoughts better than I could have:
“Only one? While I say that with a little bit of sarcasm/silliness and I do have a full understanding that Christ has redeemed my past and is in control of my future, I truly do have moments where I grieve over how I handled homeschooling for many of the early years. If I could go back to the first years when I believed everything traditional homeschoolers told me, I would burn all the workbooks, close my mouth and hug my kids when they struggled instead of telling them they just needed to try harder, I would let them enjoy every single thing without having to turn it into a written lesson, and I would spend more time praying for their hearts and minds than trying to come up with new plans every time something didn’t seem to be working.
I have over 23,000 pictures saved in an online account from 2011 until now. If you were to look through them, you would see what looks like an incredibly happy family having adventures and really getting out there to experience life. Would you would not see is a mom who was so filled with anxiety that she almost didn’t enjoy any of it. If I could go back, I would give my kids a mom who cared less about planning and keeping track and more about being with them in those moments and resting in the Lord.”
I would hardly change a syllable. I first approached homeschooling with a conservative ideology and I needed to unlearn many of my assumptions through exploring deschooling and unschooling.
Home education showed me a path that only required love to travel. That loving journey led me to find Christ in my heart and release myself from political ideology. The freedom I crave for my children is the freedom have found in God’s love.