Developing a clear understanding of our role as parents and our calling to home school is the first step in developing a right attitude toward homeschooling. Having a clear vision of where you are going and why will guard you against negativity and double-mindedness.
Keeping a positive attitude also requires developing successful strategies to handle the pressure homeschooling can bring. Our children deserve parents who are not strung out or overwhelmed by life; and we deserve to live lives filled with peace and contentment. If our children hear us routinely complaining about the struggle of homeschooling, they will miss the fact that we believe home education is the best thing we can do for them. Finding joy, peace, and passion in the everyday things will speak volumes to your children about the importance you place on their education.
To raise a generation that will understand the need for and benefits of home education, we must express true appreciation for the freedom and ability to homeschool. If we take for granted the liberty we now have and the privilege of educating our children in a caring, Christian environment, we risk losing that freedom. True appreciation will manifest itself in prayer and thanksgiving to God, through getting involved in the political process or offering support to those representing us, and in our willingness to serve the homeschooling community. These actions guard our hearts from becoming complacent regarding home education.
Modeling an authentic lifestyle of faith, growth, and purpose before our children will enable them to see the benefits and passion found in serving Christ. If, to their young eyes, obeying God (i.e. home schooling) appears to be problematic, joyless, and stressful, they will have no desire to continue such a tradition in their own families.
Living a life with real purpose is an important piece of the homeschooling picture. If you believe you are homeschooling just to be homeschooling, you will not be able to instill a sense of purpose and destiny in your children. On the other hand, if you believe and regularly confess that God has great plans for your life and your children's lives-and your children's children's lives, you will plant seeds of hope and vision into even the youngest hearts.
Psalms 112:2 carries a great promise for families: "His seed shall be mighty upon the earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed." Our faith-passed on through home education-will be the legacy we leave not only to the generation now living in our homes, but also to the generations to follow. Our impact will reach beyond this world-to future generations, and for all eternity.
A homeschooler for over 14 years, Sue Brage is known as "The Homeschool Encourager." She speaks and writes to hundreds of homeschoolers and currently writes a weekly email devotional called Weekly Word. She is also a full-time writer for an international ministry in the Denver area. To receive your free e- devotional, or for more information about her ministry, please visit her website, www.homeschool-encourager.com.
This article was originally published in Home School Enrichment Magazine. For more information, visit http://HomeSchoolEnrichment.com
