I have a hard time attempting to do anything that I feel I can’t do perfectly…this has really limited me for a long time. When my oldest son was a baby I remember hearing about a family in which the mom read a whole bunch of stories to her kids as their main educational tool, there was a picture i saw of her and her kids relaxing on the couch together with books around them. Something in me knew this was what I wanted for myself and my family. I remember resenting school growing up , I hated being stuck in the classroom when there was a huge, beautiful world outside the window waiting for me to explore and soak up the sunshine and fresh air! Deep down this desire would never leave, although I put my oldest and later, youngest sons into private school. For reasons I can hardly believe now, I didn’t think I had what it takes to homeschool my children. What I’m going to share here are the 3 huge obstacles, which all happen to start with the letter p, that kept me in so much bondage. The first I mentioned at the beginning of the blog, perfectionism. I thought in order to homeschool, or do so many other things in life, I had to do everything perfectly. The second p is performance, this expectation of myself told me I would absolutely have to perform in a way that showed me doing everything perfectly…oh my goodness this was a lot to carry! Last but definitely not least is people pleasing. Others’ expectations of me and how my husband and I were raising our boys and doing life, combined with the perfectionism and performance pressures I placed on myself made homeschooling way too out of reach for me to be able to do. My oldest son went to private school, preschool through 2nd grade, and my youngest, preschool and kindergarten. I ended up meeting a new friend at my church who homeschooled her two boys. She talked about her homeschool and the reasons she chose to do it and I knew I wanted to go ahead and try it. This friend presented her resources and plans in a way that made it sound simple. Of course, homeschooling is not simple but if you choose to let it be a journey of growing together and relationship focused, it feels natural and gives a deep meaning to learning. I was scared but we went for it. I’m not going to lie…the first year was challenging as we transitioned from “school” to “homeschool”. I learned that for us trying to do traditional school at home did not work. We’ve been homeschooling now for 3 years and I’ve learned so much from each year and make changes and improvements to our schedules and plans as we need. I never would have dreamed that I could homeschool but now I’m so satisfied and happy with it, it’s even better than I could have known when I saw that picture of the mom reading with her kids. My boys and I enjoy reading out loud together and reading alone. We read on the patio, in the front yard in the shade of our tree, in the living room comfortable on the couch, and around the dining table together and it truly is wonderful time spent together. Also, I never was much of a reader before homeschooling but in the last three years I’ve read so many books, I read for enjoyment now! We are on the homeschooling journey of constant learning together and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. My hope is that this blog encourages you to realize you can do it, whatever it is you’ve not tried from listening to fears and hesitation. My guess would be that one or all of these p words I’ve talked about have something to do with you not doing what you’re called to do. YOU ARE AN OVERCOMER, YOU ABSOLUTELY CAN DO ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR MIND TO! Be blessed!
Faith, Family, Freedom