“I could never be around my kids all day!”
Outsiders may look at homeschool families and wonder how they survive being around their offspring all day long, every day of the week, all year long, for years at a time.
The truth is, most of us don’t just survive. We THRIVE! It’s true that parenting is hard, and the joys sometimes seem few and far between. But when you homeschool, you are at least THERE to see the joys – making the difficult times much more bearable. And because the teens are with family all day, they socialize with parents and older and younger people. Those are the people who will moderate their behavior. Teens become much more pleasant when they are socialized with a wide variety of ages! Instead of trying to fit in with the high school crowd, they experience peer pressure to fit in within the context of the family. That often means being nicer than expected to parents and siblings.
Still, there are difficult times when you homeschool. Don’t forget that some problems are inherent in PARENTING. Difficult times may not be the result of homeschooling – it could be just because you are a mom or dad. So how do you cope with the difficult times? I have a suggestion: lean on God.
Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
It will be hard sometimes, because LIFE can be hard sometimes. Teenagers will be hard sometimes, too! (And no, I’m not naming any names!) But God can give you peace in the midst of difficulty.
I meet with a ladies’ prayer meeting each week, and our leader is well into her 80′s. She often prays using one particular phrase. She says, “Lord, we don’t know how others cope when they can’t lean on you. Where would we be without you?” Did you see the news about the airplane crash this week? A young man confessed corporate prayer when the plane went down. He apologetically exclaimed “We all prayed to God!” God is in the trenches. Even the homeschool trenches.
Lean on God. It will help. At the very least, leaning on God can keep you sane when chaos is all around.
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- Brand New To Homeschooling High School?
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- Where do I start?
- Celebrate Homeschool Freedom: Join me on July 7!
- Homeschool High School: How Much is Enough?
Christianbook.com Curriculum Page
Cindy says:
I once was told “I could never be around my kids all day!” by a mom with her precious little ones standing right there listening. It almost made me cry…
When people ask how we do it, I tell them by God’s grace we have the privilege of homeschooling! It amazes me how our kids have thrived, sometimes in spite of me. Yes, God is in the trenches!
January 18th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
J W says:
Um, isn’t that why we have multiple rooms in the house, so that we *can* get away from each other when necessary
And every house, no matter how poor, has an inside and an outside, right? So there’s always a place for everyone to go during the crazy times to get away from everyone else.
The *one* week that I myself was sort of “homeschooled,” (I had chicken pox as a teen), I LOVED it! It was FANTASTIC! I did my work at my own pace, on my own schedule, and none of the kids who delighted in verbally abusing me were there! So… Yeah, those people who say they couldn’t be around their kids all day obviously don’t stop to consider that maybe their kids would give their right arms to be away from school. Thankfully, college was ever so much better.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:56 pm