Maintaining a Healthy Homeschool Perspective

Woo-hoo! Max turned two yesterday! We survived! Major milestone.

You may remember Max from a post I wrote about this time last year called Max-imizing Your Parenting Efforts. But, just in case you haven’t had the pleasure, Max is what you would call “strong-willed,” and because of that, he has done a miraculous job of swiftly whipping our rusty parenting skills back into shape. Among the many things this 74 pound 2-year-old has reminded us is to keep our eye on the ball and to maintain a healthy perspective. Max if you haven’t already guessed is a dog, but these same points are also true when it comes to homeschooling our children.

With the world changing at a breakneck pace, it is more important than ever for us to keep our eye on the ball and focus on what matters most: character, virtue, and the spiritual health of our families. If that means cutting back on extra-curricular activities, so be it. It’s more important that we grow happy, healthy homes and allow the time necessary to shape and mold our children into godly men and women.

In the midst of shaping our children, however, I encourage you to step back and weigh the issues of your days. Don’t sweat the small homeschool stuff. Instead, focus on lovingly shaping your children in the big things, worrying less about the little things, and embracing the blessings of this fleeting season.

Training Max has reminded me once again that as much as I need to take my day-to-day responsibilities seriously, I also need to remember to embrace some of them more lightheartedly and to maintain a healthy perspective. As homeschool parents, we can often get so bogged down by the small stuff that we feel like a failure and begin to wonder “What was I thinking?” But, Max has reminded me that the real challenge, believe it or not, lies not with our children, but in our own hearts and minds. After training Max and homeschooling two sons, I can tell you that maintaining a healthy perspective is everything!