Thursday, July 4, 2013

Why Homeschool? Part 3

Every parent aches with the desire for their kids to reach their God-given potential.  We want to see them succeed in life, wherever it takes them.  Their talents and skills are uniquely ordained but often need to be fostered in order for them to come to full fruition.

As a trained teacher myself, I understand first hand the immense responsibility and even unfair expectation on any given teacher for them to shepherd 25 little children through a 9 month school year and have each one of them reach their fullest potential for the time.  Teachers face an uphill battle of administration, politics, learning styles, cookie cutter curriculum, hands on parents, hands off parents, behavior issues, incessant labels, IEP's, and often underpaid and appreciated as they attempt to help their class of little learners prepare for the next stage in life.

It is our belief that our children will have a higher rate of success in reaching their potential if their unique personalities, skills, talents, desires, and intrigues are fostered in an intentional environment at home.

This came about after many nights of frustrating math homework and writing assignments were done at the kitchen table.  Yearning to simply master 2+3, Izzy was paralyzed by confusing conceptualization techniques to 'help' her understand why 2+3=5.  Instead of building fluency of each writing step at a time (sentence structure, punctuation, vocabulary, spelling, details, etc) she was stifled in her creativity out of fear of what to focus on and to do it right.  We realized our first grader's potential would not be met under these conditions.  She was not designed to learn this way and it is our God given responsibility (and joy) to help her find what works best for her.

Even if just for the next year we help build confidence on her educational journey towards becoming the woman God has designed her to be, I will consider it a success.

Why Homeschool?
Part 1
Part 2

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