Accidentally Homeschooling… Intentionally Parenting

Was it really less than two weeks ago that we were handed our children, a packet of worksheets and sent out into the great wilderness of our homes to fend for ourselves?

Time flies when you’re having fun…

I’ll confess that I was more prepared for this than most. My girls are 4 & 7 and we have experimented with flexischooling and homeschooling over the past three years. But nothing can prepare you for the spontaneity and uncertainty of the situation we’ve all found ourselves within. Any seasoned home-schooler will tell you that being forced to stay within the confines of your house is far from a normal experience for them.

We are all in unchartered territory.

The internet is serving us well at this time, not just as the purveyor of memes, but also with a seemingly never-ending torrent of resources. Many schools have done a phenomenal job with activity packs and online portals. Celebrities are lined up hour by hour to teach our children in all manner of entertaining ways.

It’s truly amazing, and a complete blessing.

But, I find in the noise of so many options, my soul is overwhelmed.

Before me are so many answers to the question, “What should I teach my child?”

But my soul wants to know, “How?”

HOW do I do home education, not merely home schooling?

HOW do we best use this opportunity?

HOW do we come through this time not just smarter, but deeper?

This is an exceptional season.

When again will our parenting generation have weeks/months at home, mandated by the government, with low expectations of what constitutes as an education?

When again will we have time, indoors altogether (albeit juggling work alongside!) without the normal constraints of our busy schedules?

When will we have a time again when the only place we need to be is at home with our people?

Even for those of us who are key workers, when we return from shifts, the beady eyes of our little people will be waiting up for us.

We will still have so many more hours together than in our previous weeks.

And in so much as it petrifies us, and exhausts us as we adjust to this new path, let’s allow it to excite us.

You are the new curriculum maker, the time decider, the priority manager, the new minister of education. 

What do you want to educate your child/ren with?

What are the passions you have as a parent that you want to transfer to them?

What are the stories you want to share?

What skills do you want to pass on?

What dynamics in the family do you want to change?

What emotional lessons need to be journeyed through?

Ask yourselves these questions, and then make them a priority.

Above the English.

Above the maths.

Above the other subjects they didn’t send you home with work for as the government doesn’t assess them as much.

Show them how to budget because you are crap with money, and it was never modelled well to you, and you want them to grasp it and have financial freedom.

Choose to linger in moments and sit together, rather than rush around with housework, so they can experience a parent with abundant time for them, when so often they feel unheard.

Write out the positive mantras, the verses of hope to decorate their bedroom and help them speak them over their lives so as to build their confidence.

Educate them with the details of your life, open up the world, your world to them, far beyond what any textbook can.

Model a life parents, before the world takes your place.

I’ve always dreamed of having these family devotionals in the morning, starting our days reading verses together, drawing pictures and sharing our hearts. 

And here we are, sweaty from a workout, just about eaten breakfast, 10:30am and no school work done, but enjoying God’s words in our messy and pyjama-clad way.

And no we haven’t managed it everyday, but 5/8 days is better than our previous ratio of 0/300+.

The fights kick off, the muddy child enters the house wearing the clothes she’s not supposed to, another bust up over screen time and phones in bedrooms, the tempers flair…

 But we have the time.

The time not to rush into “because I told you so” because we are squeezing in a meal before ballet/swimming/karate class and things Just. Need. To. Get. Done.

We. Have. The. Time.

To take stock

And check in

And allow this to be a moment, a season, to build resilience and character and esteem.

We have accidentally ended up homeschooling.

But let us be intentionally educating, intentional in our heart for our families in this season.

Hours will be put into ensuring my children go back to school smarter than they left. Hopefully my eldest will finally write more than two sentences willingly and my youngest will have worked out how to write “e” not “g”.

But more hours will be spent intentionally investing into their beings, into their spirits, so that when they stride back into school, in their somehow still un-ironed uniform, they will go in with heads up having had the intentional space to ask more questions, have deeper conversations, explore the Bible more, and our little house will all be closer to each other, and to Father God.

This is the education I will make space for.

This is the call to go beyond school work into soul work.