The Uninspired Homeschooler By Christine Field
We have many friends in our homeschool journey. Mary Hood is the Relaxed Homeschooler. Barbara Frank is the Imperfect Homeschooler. My identity is often the Harried Homeschooler, as one of my books is titled Help for the Harried Homeschooler.
I confess that I have gone through seasons as the Uninspired Homeschooler. Many days I felt we were merely going through the motions. My brain told me, "Fill in a few workbook blanks and we'll call it a day." In the home of the Uninspired Homeschooler, my kids were more than willing to be uninspired learners. What happened to the passion?
I could almost always track it back to a few causes. The primary one was usually a personal season of spiritual dryness. I had not sat at the feet of the Master sufficiently for my refreshment. My shriveled soul settled for less than the best.
Another cause was neglecting my own need for inspiration and encouragement. Perhaps it is the difficulty of the job, but I need to regularly read and listen to uplifting messages about homeschooling. As the primary encourager, I need to keep myself encouraged. Failure to fill that tank leaves me uninspired, even as a veteran homeschooler.
Sometimes it's a question of slowing down and remembering our mission: to teach and disciple our children. Our activity calendar, viewed in light of our mission, sometimes doesn't make sense. We need to regularly scrutinize: Will this event or activity serve our family's purposes? If not, it may only weigh you down and lead to feeling aimlessly uninspired.
I have learned to not beat myself up for my seasons of uninspired homeschooling, but rather to remember that "His mercies are new every morning". (See Lamentations 3: 22-26 for inspiration.) His mercies are for parenting and homeschooling too. He is faithful to renew us if we will but ask, seek, and ponder the wonder of it all.
Forgive yourself for the dry seasons and move on.
Lifeway Homeschool Message Board
 As many of you know, Lifeway is associated with Broadman & Holman, publisher for Homeschool Methods by Paul and Gena Suarez and my own Homeschooling the Challenging Child. They have launched a message board just for homeschoolers, and I get to moderate it!
Come join the conversation! I'll see you there!
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Quick Tip from Christine
Does your child have trouble remembering how to write "b" and "d"?
Make the small b letter with your left hand and the small d letter with your right hand. Tell your child to pretend it is a bed. This helps him remember how to form the "b" and "d." When he is stumped in his writing, tell him, "Show me your bed!" Soon he will not need this help to remember the letter formations.
GIFTSNC Home Schooling Special Needs Conference
Are you home educating a child that learns outside the box? Are you currently home educating a child that has been diagnosed with a special need? Do you have a child with special needs and are considering home schooling, but just aren't sure that you could ever do that? If any of these describes you and your family, come join us at the second annual GIFTSNC Home Schooling Special Needs Conference and Exhibitor's Hall on April 20-21, 2007, at Colonial Baptist Church, 6051 Tryon Rd, Cary, NC 27511.
This conference will enlighten, educate, and encourage you to move along the path of successfully home educating your children, especially those with special needs. We will have many experienced parents share their own homeschool adventures and offer time-tested solutions for dealing with the many unique aspects of home educating children with different learning needs. We will also have several professionals addressing issues of interest to the special needs community. We are very pleased to have Dr. John Pittman with The Carolina Center as our keynote speaker.
Space is limited!
Register at www.giftsnc.com.
Questions can be directed to Kim Ashby at bashby@mindspring.com.
Share Your Ideas!
Got a quick tip or idea to share? We are looking for real parents to share their ideas for loving, living, and learning with their special learners. If you would be interested in submitting a paragraph telling an idea or gem you've encountered, contact me at christinefield@sbcglobal.net.
Thank you to everyone who has sent your stories! Many have been blessed by your sharing.
Tips from a Reader
Jennifer, who shared her story in an earlier issue, shared these tips:
- To help encourage independence and strengthen our son's sequencing skills, we typed out his morning routine, grouping like tasks, such as brushing his teeth/washing his face, or getting dressed/putting away clean clothes/making the bed, and used a different colored font for each group. We used a large, bold print to make it easy to read. Then we covered it with a self-laminating sheet from Staples and slipped it onto a clipboard. We gave him a dry-erase marker with an eraser on the tip so he can cross off each item as he goes and then erase it all at the end of the routine. He keeps his clipboard in a wall-mounted file holder. When he wakes up, he simply grabs the clipboard and begins to make his way though the list. The last item on the list is "Bring your clipboard to Mom."
- Because we have children on different developmental levels, we use a unit study approach. Our special learner generally requires a lot of repetition to grasp a topic. As the other children are building a unit notebook, I keep all of his work in a folder. At the end of the unit, I photocopy his work for my records and create a sturdy, laminated book that he can carry with him and read over and over. Our local learning supply store offers teachers 15 feet of lamination with each purchase. The nearby Kinko's has a large cutting board, which allows me to trim the laminated sheets to size and then I pay to have them bound. (It's less than $5.) My son carries the book around, looking through it again and again, and "reading" it to family members and friends, processing the material even after we've moved on to a new unit.
Great ideas, Jennifer! You may contact Jennifer at www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/inktraveler.
Schoolhouse Store Spotlight
Be sure to check out the latest e-book offering from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine! Homeschool Dialogues is packed full of "conversations" with many of the greatest names in homeschooling. Read what John MacArthur, Josh McDowell, Dr. Bruce Shortt, John Taylor Gatto, "Little Bear" Wheeler, Lisa Welchel, Teri Maxwell, Karen Andreola, and many others have to say about the homeschooling experience.
Homeschool Dialogues is packed with interviews previously published in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. TOS writers get the honest answers about what is taking place in the public schools today, the impact public education is having on our children and the country, how the church needs to support families, and how we are being desensitized. Writers also sit down and chat with homeschoolers' favorite pioneers and leaders who share their advice on how to have a relaxed homeschool, the difference between home school and home education, and ways to foster a love of learning.
About Your Editor
Christine Field practiced law for eight years before becoming a full-time Mommy. She and her husband live and homeschool their four children in Wheaton, Illinois, where her husband, Mark, serves as Chief of Police. Three of their four children are adopted, one through a private adoption and two from Korea.
She is the author of several books, including Coming Home to Raise Your Children (Fleming Revell, 1995), Should You Adopt? (Fleming Revell, 1997) A Field Guide to Home Schooling (Fleming Revell, 1998), Life Skills for Kids (Harold Shaw/WaterBrook, 2000), Help for the Harried Homeschooler (Harold Shaw/WaterBrook, 2002) and Homeschooling the Challenging Child (Broadman & Holman, 2005). Her next book, written with her husband Mark, called Homeschooling 101, will be published by Broadman & Holman in Spring 2007.
She serves as a correspondent and Resource Room columnist for The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine. Her articles on life skills have appeared in Focus on the Family Magazine and Single Parent Family.
To contact her about your special learner, or to have her speak to your group or conference, you may email her at mailto:christinefield@sbcglobal.net or visit her website at www.HomeFieldAdvantage.org.
Her mailing address is:
The Home Field Advantage
PO Box 261
Wheaton, IL 60189-0261
Visit her blog at www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/christinefield.
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