Category: Parenting

Let’s admit it. Too many times, we homeschoolers shake our heads at the operations of traditional schools. (Other parents and traditional teachers do so as well.)

Some things, which are beneficial in a traditional setting, would never work for homeschoolers. Parent-Teacher Conferences are an example. We would be talking to ourselves, which we already do too frequently.

However, I wish I had realized the benefit of Parent-Child conferences, commonly known as Teacher-Student conferences. I could have:

Affirmed my sons’ progress.

Asked their frustrations.

Voiced my frustrations.

Worked with them on a strategy to overcome our weaknesses.

Asked about their goals.

Explained my goals.

These discussions would have avoided a lot of angst in our home.

The Spring race season brings the anticipation of both familiar and new race venues. In June 2018, my husband and I looked forward to a 10-Miler an hour away. The advertised course was unique.

We started before sunrise to have plenty of time. It was a good decision because the directions were confusing, which resulted in us exiting and re-entering the highway twice. Upon arrival, there weren’t signs for parking. We wandered the complex with other cars. After parking, there weren’t directions to the race-packet pick-up. There was no visible start line and no signs pointing the way.

How could a race with over 1000 participants be so disorganized? Our confidence in the race organizers dropped and our stress mounted with each challenge. And our race-morning adrenaline was already high.

This was one of those times I experienced the result of someone else’s disorganization rather than mine. It was a lesson I did not forget. Disorganization has real costs to others.

My children were grown, but I was still teaching. If I was disorganized, I not only wasted my students’ time, but also reduced their ability to learn. Their confidence in me as their teacher diminished. Sobering.

February was one of the hardest months when my children were living at home. Some days, nothing worked. I didn’t like my kids or my spouse or certain friends or homeschooling or my curriculum or my house or perhaps all of the above. And none of them liked me back.

All of us lived and eventually liked each other again. (The love never stopped.)

No one ever said that they learned their deepest lessons of life or had their sweetest encounters with God, on the sunny days. People go deep with God when the drought comes.

John Piper