Reflections for the School Year

At this time of year my mind is preoccupied with thoughts of the new school year.  As I plan the goals and objectives for the year, I am filled with mixed emotions.  This is my last official year to home educate my children.  Four have already moved on.  Only one remains at the school table.  She is in grade 12 and has already made plans to move on after the year’s work is complete.  With more than twenty-one years as a home educator, I know that life will be different at this time next year.  The house will sound rather quiet.  The school books will look rather forlorn and unused on the shelves.  The school table will feel rather empty with no one to tutor beside me.

It has been a wonderful twenty-one years.  I have learned lots alongside my children.  I have often said that anyone who has a desire to learn can home school their children.  I have had that desire and I have benefited as much, and maybe more, than my children throughout our home school years.  At times I have wondered why I missed so much during my own school days.  The books we have read; the history we have learned; the nature we have witnessed; these have all filled the years with new discoveries and joys.  I admit that we have faced some struggles through the years.  Learning difficulties demanded new strategies.  Babies changed set routines.  A range of ages required creative solutions.  At times we seemed to muddle our way through the difficulties, but we always emerged with fresh insights and lessons learned.  All in all, our home school days and years have been rich with rewards and blessings.

Of course, not everyone will or even should home educate their children.  We must all consider our own families and situations in the question of school choice.  However, whatever choice we do make – home, private, charter, public, separate – we, as parents, still bear the ultimate responsibility to lay a firm foundation, both educationally and spiritually, in the lives of our own children.  I have written about the spiritual foundations we lay, Scripture reading and prayer, but we must also be intentional to lay a good academic foundation.  It is our responsibility to make sure that our children are prepared for the next step, whether that step is further education or the job market.  This means that their school needs must always take precedence over our own wants and desires.  It means that we must, at times, clear the table and spend an evening with a child and homework.

As I step into this last year of my official home school career, the realization of the shortness of time will be ever present in my mind.  I will cherish this last year with my daughter.  I will also make an intentional choice to make this last year count for the future steps she will take in the journey of her own.  I know that means that I must sometimes put my own plans aside as I help her to prepare for hers.  I also know that the seeming sacrifice will be worth it as she steps out prepared for the future ahead.