Relaxing While Homeschooling

I suppose the best piece of advice I was given when I first started homeschooling was to relax. Don't worry about trying to keep up with everyone else, especially public school kids. Every child learns on a different level, and trust me, with five kids schooling now, I can testify that all kids learn differently and on different levels.

My first child, Christiana, didn't learn hardly any alphabet her kindergarten year. I would spend a whole week on one letter doing all kinds of methods that used every sense to help her. At the beginning of each day I would ask what letter we worked on the day before and she couldn't tell me. I would get so frustrated and cry, thinking I was a horrible teacher and what was I thinking, homeschooling. It just must not be for me. But I wanted to homeschool so bad. So her first grade year, I tried again. And would you know that within the first week of school she knew every one of her ABC's. I learned that she just wasn't ready her kindergarten year for what I was trying to teach.

My other children have not had problems with kindergarten and the struggle with learning ABC's has been non-existent. However, reading has been a little different. My fourth child is now in the third grade and still struggles with reading. All the while my first grader is flying through learning to read. I've come to realize to just relax. To not put pressure on Micah and let him know that I have full confidence in his ability to learn to read. Many people don't even attempt to teach boys until they are eight (Micah's age). I don't wait that long, but I figure that he's only eight now so we will see how this year goes. So far he is doing well. He is beginning to pick up quicker than he did before and can relax and know that I trust he will do fine.

So I encourage you today, if you have a young one who is struggling, relax. Added pressure will only delay the learning process. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and not everyone can be strong in every subject. Besides, when we get to heaven, I don't think God is going to ask how we did in school. I think it will be more important what we did with His Son Jesus. Don't get me wrong, learning is important and I think we should do the best at everything we do, but sometimes our best is not an A+.

In the realm of everything, it's okay. Kids will learn, just not always at the level we expect. So be patient and relax, it's okay, really. Blessings.