Most people come into homeschooling with a preconceived notion of an educational utopia. We imagine Mrs. Cleaver in her beautiful lace apron baking bread and children drinking a freshly juiced blend of carrots, celery and apples while reading, writing and smiling gleefully around the kitchen table.
No wonder then that we are absolutely devastated when just a few days into homeschooling and we find our house is a wreck, there are dirty diapers on the kitchen floor, no one has combed hair, everyone is in their jammies, dad will be home in 10 minutes, dinner isn’t even thawed and all we have to show for a school day are 3 incorrectly answered math equations.
Perhaps the mistake some of us make is in thinking that homeschooling is about cramming as much information as possible into one brain in as little time as possible. For others it might be that we think all children should instinctively know how to research a paper. The funny thing is that no matter what false perception we came into this with, we almost all start out with a common goal in mind….to train our child for his or her future.
When I first began homeschooling I came chock full of ideas as to what it should and would be. Was I in for a surprise! Maybe instead of thinking about how homeschooling should be, I should have thought about my spiritual goals and purpose in homeschooling.
If my purpose is in training my child for his life calling, then I would look at the task at hand in a whole new light. It is no longer a focus of reading 4 literary masterpieces per year but equipping my child for a lifestyle of learning under God’s instruction.
Let’s take this a step further. Since one of my goals (and I am assuming it is one of yours as well since you are reading this book) is to raise and train a child according to Holy Scripture and educate a child for his/her life and ministry calling, then I need to consult the Scripture to learn how to train, what areas to train in and when to train.
This article was taken with permission from Spirit Led Homeschooling.
