Mrs. Homeschool

As a homeschool mom, my days can become monotonous very quickly.   In fact, there are times when I have to look online to know what day of the week it is…or what date it is.  Routine is comforting.   Days can go by with very little change and most of the time, I like that.

However, there are times when a video or blog post or
article or book can introduce something into the “daily grind” that acts like a huge boulder that has been thrown into a glassy pond.

Ripples happen.  HUGE ripples happen that not only change the
appearance of the surface of that pond, but affect the waters
underneath.

The ripple effect I am talking about in our family’s life is actually one that has been rocking our family “boat” for a while, but we have been relatively far, mentally, from the center.  Through several circumstances, we have been moving closer and closer to the center, where the waves are a bit stronger and cause our boat to rock a bit more dramatically.

The ripples we’re dealing with have to do with the way we see our world changing due to the internet and trying to predict how we need to best prepare our children to live in the world that is now being created.  It’s hard to try to navigate on a path that leads to an unknown destination, so perhaps we are pioneers or pilgrims, but we know we’re meant to travel the path.

The world as we once knew it, in some people’s opinion, is gone or, at least, fading quickly.  The times where a husband and father worked his whole life for one company and got a healthy retirement have all but disappeared.  The days when a public school diploma was a big deal are over.  And the days of landing your dream job because you have a Bachelor’s degree are fading fast.  Most of our friends who graduated in the mid-1990s have jobs that bear no resemblance to the degrees they have.

So if the world is changing, why do we keep pushing our children (and ourselves) along this worn path that is now leading to a dead end?  Routine and comfort.  Like little mice in a cage, we spin on a wheel that is going nowhere, but we got on the wheel because it was the only thing we knew to do.  Does that make it the RIGHT thing to do?

We’re taking a step back to examine the decisions we’ve been making for our children to see if they are based on what is best for them OR easiest for us.  OUCH!!  Those last 4 words sting a bit, don’t they?

Is it easier to plop a child into a team sport because YOU think it’s important or because all your friends are putting their kids into that sport OR because that child has a natural athletic gifting and needs an outlet for that gift?  Do you push and prod your children to learn a musical instrument because you never got a chance to or because it is important to you or a family member OR because you have a child that truly loves music and experiences true joy when playing?

In our culture, we’re told that our kids NEED to be “well rounded”, but I think it’s a false sense of security.  I read an article a few years ago about how colleges and universities are starting to have a desire to see students who truly excel in one certain area.  We’ve been trying to create “jacks of all trades and masters of none”, but who gets paid more?  Who becomes an expert in their chosen fields…the “jacks” or the “masters”?  I think you know the answer.

So with all this in mind, my husband and I feel a major shift coming in how we educate our children.  And we’re not the first.   Instead of focusing on having a killer college application, we want our children to experience things they can’t learn from books.  Life experiences.  Seeing where history took place, not reading about it in black and white.  Yes, reading is and will still be a large part of education, but as with most adults that came through the public school system and university systems, we don’t remember much that we were taught in the classroom.  We don’t want our children to end up the same way.

We have discovered something, though.  We DO remember much of what we experienced.  A summer exchange program in Spain.  A three week trip to communist Romania.  Extreme poverty in the streets of Mexico.  The beauty of the humble people of Costa Rica and the joy they have, even though they own very little.

What were the boulders that started these ripples in our family?

Here are just a few:

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
• Shift Happens
• The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
• Almost anything by Seth Godin

I know the mere writing of this is likely to cause some ripples and, you know what?  I’m okay with that.  Perhaps the Lord would use these words to cause you to examine what you are doing with your children and see if you’re going on the worn path because it is where He wants you to be OR maybe He’s pointing you in a new direction.

I am not here to tell you what is right for your family.  I just want you to think and not travel the road you’re on because you don’t know what other paths there are to take.

The world is changing my friend.  The “norm” is still a valid option, but we’re just trying to make sure we are not choosing it because that’s what everyone else is doing.