Journey into Home Education – A Personal Story (PART 4)
For every Christian family, the decision about schooling is a challenging one. All parents want what is best for their children. In a world that is changing, our decisions change. Today we continue a journey with a CViE family that took to that path out of state schools and into home education.
Today: THE JOURNEY REALITIES – ‘A lonely path made sweet’
Life has moved on quite a bit, one child in further education, three home educated and three at primary school. We give thanks to God for sustaining us thus far and answering our prayers particularly for other home educating families to learn with.
After almost three years of praying, a local home ed Christian family was put in touch with us and we have been blessed with lots of learning and laughter together. We hadn’t realised how lonely we were until we met local friends.
We have now been introduced to the Charlotte Mason approach[1] which includes nature journaling and field studies. Sharing our work, playing ball games, hands-on science projects and learning alongside fellow Christians, have been a real blessing. It has given our children opportunities to analyse what they really believe and why we do/don’t do certain things. Having occasions to talk to our children throughout the day on things that worry them or challenges that they face is really important.
We have worked our way through the Bob Schultz books, which we would highly recommend, each day tackling a new challenge or lesson about growing up in this world and what the Bible teaches us. In each chapter Bob relates to his own life and at the end, there are a few questions to check whether they’ve been listening and for application to their own life.
During a particular bout of loneliness and need to connect with other Christian home ed Mums, I felt burdened to start a home ed Mum’s day – ‘Trusting Together’. A day of encouraging one another in the way, sharing resources and experiences, and taking time to honour the Lord in our journey together. I believe many of us benefitted from a very rare ‘day off’ and felt encouraged to continue. For me the sense of belonging was really important and the unity between us that day was really special. We hope to have our next meet in January.
We have had lots of opportunities for great trips and experiences: Buckingham Palace, Hampton Court, Houses of Parliament and the Imperial War Museum. We have a particular love for history and have found a number of places on our doorstep, too! Although it’s obviously necessary to teach all subjects, sometimes homing in and enjoying our favourites is important for the sanity of the children and the teacher (!).
Sometimes the washing piles high, the fridge is empty, someone falls ill, the moods swing, the technology fails or exhaustion kicks in. Often these times the Lord allows, to test our faith and prove His promises – usually we’ve tried to push on in our own strength again and we need reining in. It’s a continual learning curve, growing with the children, discovering new resources and making new friends.
We continue with the Lord our Helper.
[1] The Charlotte Mason method is based on a belief that the child is a person and must be educated as a whole person, not just the mind – you can read more here.
