Home School Corner
The year I started pre-school with my oldest son, I was just dabbling. I knew I wanted to home school "for real" once he was old enough, but this was just to see what I could expect as far as his resistance, what resources I liked, what learning styles he favored, and so on (I'm a little bit of a over-planner). I was visiting with my mother-in-law and mentioned my plan, and she smilingly encouraged me not to put too much pressure on myself or him for these early years, and I tried to listen, but visions of a pre-schooler with perfect diction and flawless phonetic reading skills danced in my head, and I'm sure she could tell. I prayed that God would guide me in selecting curriculum and provide, because our budget was basically $25 that year for school expenses (it was "only" pre-school, after all). Not long after that, before school started, my mother-in-law sent me a packet of curriculum called, "A Year of Playing Skillfully."
It was awesome.
It suited my biggest little guy down to the ground. And it was flexible enough to include his younger brother, too. And then, when it came time to plan Kindergarten, I took the same scheduling matrix and planned our Kindergarten year to be a similar, more advanced, version of the same. Then First Grade. And now with my youngest approaching Preschool and the older two in First and Second Grades respectively, we still use that same system to organize our year (seasonal emphasis, monthly unit studies, fun hands-on study with everything possible, focus on selected scripture and character traits in monthly rotation). This literally became the basis by which I planned our school year. My total cost: $0.
All that from a casual conversation and (I'm convinced) God's Providential answer to a prayer for wisdom and provision. (Not to mention, the Titus 2 principle!)
I started expanding my prayer requests to specific areas of struggle, as a sort of "faith" experiment. Do I really trust God to provide in this area where I think He led me--that is, to educate my kids at home? (Did I mention I'm a planner?!)
One kid really struggled with reading. A friend from way-back came out to visit her family; we went to a coffee shop to catch up during her visit, and I mentioned our reading struggle. She recommended a simple reading curriculum that worked for her first two kids. We've now used that successfully with our oldest two, and it's not consumable, so I've lent it to another friend and then we'll plan to use it again with our third! My total cost: $15.
I could go on: my indecision regarding math, read-alouds, social studies, science...and the Lord literally dropped books in my lap; My parents frequently gifted us things that were IDEAL for the next stage of our home school (or I would mention something on my wishlist to my mom and she'd be like, "Oh, we have that on this shelf right here."); I would pick up a book on a whim for twenty-five cents at a used book sale and it would turn out to be EXACTLY what we needed six months later; I'd discover an awesome resource WAY outside our budget and suddenly they'd be doing a 75% off clearance blast of precisely the grade-level we needed. I worried about american history lessons for this year, and a friend reached out that she decided to clear out her elementary materials because her kids were past it...and it was full of awesome first-and-second grade level american history resources; she gave them to us FOR FREE. Even beyond curriculum; in seasons of loneliness and feeling overwhelmed, God brought us kindred-spirited friends to help bear the load. I was feeling burned out last spring with COVID and I got a random invite to a Colorado virtual Home School Conference that was INCREDIBLE.
God is faithful; more than faithful!
So I've mentioned that I'm a planner. I love having my ducks in a row, color coded, and with a cross-referenced database spreadsheet that is searchable by age, weight, and ISBN (do ducks have a barcode?). You get the idea. But God has definitely expanded my understanding of trusting Him to supply our every need in the places He has called us to obey!
Maybe you struggle on the other end of the spectrum; perhaps you trust God to provide but you struggle to be intentional with the work (planning) of what He calls you to do. Maybe you aren't even sure right now WHAT He's calling you to do! Next week we'll look at some practical application and planning methods and keeping order and structure in a real home school setting.
Regardless, home school, like all parenting, is a faith-building, character-stretching, soul-refining work that will definitely push (or drag) you closer to God if you let it! And one thing I can tell you from personal experience; He is faithful, more than faithful!
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