Home Education is an exciting and daunting journey that we have embarked on! In this post I am sharing some insights into why we have chosen this path. Our why acts as a framework from which we desire to build a life of deep meaning and adventure with our children and on the days when it feels like I am being completely buried in demands and needs, it helps to anchor me.

Before I became a mother, and even after, I was never the woman who knew that she would want to home educate my children. In fact I had never heard of home education/homeschooling until I had my second son and my husband suggested it to me as a very viable option in introducing them to life and learning.

Although I knew that I wanted to do something different for my boys, I must admit that this really blew things out of the water for me. I felt instant overwhelm at the thought of teaching them and all I could see were my shortcomings and inadequacies. I threw myself into a lot of reading, prayer and thinking about this journey. If we were going to do it, i knew that it would change so much for us as a family.

What helped me greatly during the first few months was to speak with other mothers further along on their journey of home educating. This filled me with great encouragement and helped me to flesh out our personal answers to why we home educate our 3 boys. Our why acts as a framework from which we desire to build a life of deep meaning and adventure with our children and on the days when it feels like I am being completely buried in demands and needs, it helps to anchor me.

‘Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.’ Charlotte Mason

For our family, here are some of the reasons that we have chosen to adventure down the path of home education;

• Firstly, to instill a Biblical worldview in them

The whole of our life is built on the truth, hope and life that knowing Jesus brings. He illuminates our days and gives it great purpose, and it is our desire to introduce this in our home as we do life everyday as a family.

• We want to offer the boys a different route to “success”. Success is not what mass society tells us it is. There is not one path to it. No to products of the system

I think it goes without saying that success is not linear, and as a ‘product’ of the education system, I didn’t know this! We really want to spend time expanding and encouraging the boys to think and live outside of the norm so they won’t be hesitant or afraid to explore and lean into the gifts that God has already put within them.

• Character character character

One of the strong value pillars that we want to nurture as it underpins all that they will do, and the opportunities that will open up for them. Character traits such as respect, compassion, responsibility, integrity, and honesty, are just a few of the areas that help us make good choices, develop self-esteem, and become responsible, caring individuals.

• Focusing on the tailoring and personalisation of education based on their gifting and strengths

This is another area that I am excited about! Nurturing the individual strengths in each boy will help them to build self confidence in their learning style and thrive! I love that I’ll have the time to see each boy..

• A focus on our home (relationships) and faith as the nucleus from which all things grow and are nurtured. Normalise togetherness.

Redeeming family time is really important to us. Building bonds and deep relationships is crucial. That takes time, investment, intentionality, creativity, sensitivity, vision and perseverance. I just know that the seeds sown into this area of our lives will reap wonderful results and blessings in the future.

• Preparing them with life skills from an earlier age as we do life with them on a daily basis

Doing daily life in a very normal and natural way introduces the boys to hard work and the reality of being together as a team. Life skills are normalised from an early age and hopefully enjoyed! ha!

• We want to move away from performance driven learning and inspire a personal desire to learn, grow and thrive

This area is a sensitive one because I think that you can either thrive, or crumble when it comes to constant testing. Ultimately though I just don’t believe that it is a true reflection of a person. I do think that it has its place, but when done from an early age it can create a deep insecurity in a young heart and place a spotlight on a weak area to the neglect of the other great areas that are within a child. More will probably be said on this in a blog post!

• We want a life of adventure!

The flexibility of living a life off peak is so exciting!

At home, I can make sure we have mastery of subjects, go at the right pace for each child, have one-on-one (not one-on-twenty) teaching, and I can tailor my curriculum to their needs and our family values.

We’ll be sure to tweak this list as our family grows and our needs change.