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Homeschool Helps
by Mike McHugh
The task of home education presents some unique challenges to parents who are involved in the teaching process. Perhaps the most difficult part of the routine of many home educators, is the daily struggle to try to be all things to everyone who is in need. Parent educators, by the very nature of their calling, must multi-task on a regular basis for when the school bell rings there is no way for them to shut themselves off from all so-called distractions.
Parent teachers can’t help the fact that during the school day babies still cry, phones ring, laundry smells, and sometimes loved-ones get sick at the most inconvenient times. As one who has been involved with home education for many years, I am only now coming to the conclusion that the quest that my wife and I have had to achieve the perfect schedule or routine may well be a pipe dream. Like the ancient tale of the man standing on the seashore trying to hold back the tide with a push broom, it now appears futile to continue stressing our family to the point of exhaustion trying to keep to the perfect schedule.
Home teaching, in other words, can not and should not be separated from real world demands for it is often in meeting the legitimate needs of others that the most important lessons of life can be taught to our children; or perhaps I should say caught by them. Like the Apostles who tried to distance themselves from the noisy children who were in their midst, many home educators may actually be inviting the displeasure of the Lord, as they refuse to permit the needs of others to disrupt their busy schedules. The touching scene of Christ rebuking his followers and taking the time to touch and bless the children who came to Him, speaks clearly to how we must remain open and flexible to the needs of those around us. We are, after all, teaching our children at home so they will have a big heart and not just a big head!
So, the next time that you experience what appears to be a legitimate call for your attention or aid during the school day, consider it an opportunity from the Lord and not a “distraction”. As Christ taught His followers in Matthew 7:7-12, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh fideth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”
May Almighty God help all of us involved in home education to teach our children by example what it means to redeem the days and hours of our lives as we buy up the opportunities that the Lord places in our path to do good.
Copyright 2007 Michael J. McHugh
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