I have been speaking to a lot of people recently about the direction that their children's educational paths have been taking. To me, this is an incredibly individualized endeavor that needs to be worked and tweaked to fit each One thing that is often forgotten about when one begins down this uncharted path is to really think about what outcome they desire at the end of the journey. This might be something that is really overwhelming for a parent of a four year old to think about - where do I want my child to be in 14 years? - but it really is necessary. I don't mean that you need to pick your child's career or the type of haircut they are going to have. I mean think about the type of person you would like them to be and what attributes you feel are really important for them to be "successful" adults.
I, for one, wish more than anything that I had made the decision to homeschool my daughter when she was younger, however I was at least lucky enough to come to this conclusion before irrevocable damage was done. At 10 my daughter was taken out of 5th grade mid-year and we began our journey. I still had a good amount of time to fix many of the problems that the public school had caused. It has been very interesting since then, we have been on this journey and have taken paths that we never imagined were there.We started out very much in a "school at home" state, but have evolved over the last 3 years and have moved farther and farther away from the institutionalized mind set. We have moved more towards a system of learning that fits our family. We are fairly happy people around here, but lately we have been evolving again and taking a look at what else we need to change in order to let in more light, love and happiness into our days.
We are taking a few weeks off -from EVERYTHING- in order to really work on ourselves. We will be doing some self-reflection, meditation, yoga and reconnecting with each other. Our lives have gotten so busy and hectic over the last few months and I really feel like we may have wandered a bit farther off our path than I am comfortable with. We are going to focus on what values are truly important to us and what things CJ and I feel are extremely important to convey to our children.As we take this time to figure out what we want for our future, let us know what types of hopes, wishes and dreams you have for your families!
4 comments:
Hi, Gina,
I think you're quite right that it's important to stop periodically and ask ourselves what outcome we want. We can't know enough about what the options are when we start out and we will find that as we travel the homeschooling path we will learn more and more about not only our own desired outcome, but also about our child's interests and potential. Refining the goal as we go is one of the most brilliant advantages of homeschooling! Thanks for a great post!
Hi Gina,
I agree... it is a wondrous adventure, but one that prospers' from re evaluation from time to time. That is just one of the many beauties of homeschooling. It's a lifestyle at really allows families to grow together in spirit!
Great post today!
Deb
great post gina! as we navigate through this school year, i find myself re-evaluating our goals, and reflecting on how much we have changed and evolved since beginning our homeschooling journey almost 3 years ago. And we're still changing and evolving, letting go more and more, finding the freedom and joy in unstructured learning. love the purple hair too!!!
This post really caught my eye as I feel we are also traveling down this road as well :) There is a certain comfort in knowing other homeschooling families feel the need to stop and have a moment before continuing on in a certain direction. Thank you for the post :)
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