HOMESCHOOLING...FRUSTRATION, PRAYERS, AND JOY!

We started homeschooling our daughter, Myah, last summer. I think I started in July -- one of the flexibilities of homeschooling! :) We got off to a great start. I spent plenty of money on curriculum (yes, for kindergarten...) and figured with my teaching experience that this should be a breeze. Well, as we approached Christmas, things sort of were dwindling downhill. She had learned so much, but it was becoming such a chore and not fun for any of us. When we got back from our trip over Christmas, things were just plain bad. (I definitely had to swallow my pride!) She didn't want to do school and homeschooling was doing exactly what I DIDN'T want it to do -- giving her a bad taste when it came to learning.

One of my goals for Myah, and all my children, is to teach them to ENJOY learning so it is something they will strive to do for the rest of their life. I wanted it to be a LOVE for her -- something that brought her joy. I had to face it, my methods were not working.

I spent time praying about my frustrations and listened to some wisdom from a friend to take some time off until I felt what direction God was leading us in, so I did.
During this time period, I received an article in the mail from No Greater Joy Ministries that really spoke to my heart on this very subject. It focused on the importance of knowing your child's learning styles. In my selfishness, I realized I had been trying to conform Myah into doing school the way I wanted instead of teaching to meet her needs.

I'm so thankful for fresh starts! We had an amazing day of school today. I give God all the glory for answering my prayers for wisdom. We both had fun with our activities and I can just see the lightbulb turning on in so many different ways! My prayer now is that I won't slip back into my old habits and that we can continue on in this pattern! I'm sure we'll still have bad days, but I feel like we've at least made a huge stride in the right direction!