THE RELAXED HOME SCHOOL

I learned of a woman today named Mary Hood. She has written a book on the relaxed homeschool mindset. An excerpt is available here.

With this being our first year of homeschooling, we have had many trials and errors. The thing I think I've learned the most is to be flexible, especially with younger children around. This exerpt described my thinking quite well. I think we have sort of adopted this style of home school without me having even thought about it.

Here are a few quotes, but if you want the entire blurp given on the web, just check out the website.

Excerpted from The Enthusiastic Homeschooler, Ambleside Educational Press,
Cartersville, GA


There is no other earthly expert who can possibly know your children as well as you do. No one else will ever care as deeply for them. That's why you are totally capable of doing this job successfully. You were made for this purpose! You were assigned this job! God wouldn't have chosen you if he didn't believe in you and know you were up to the task.

Having a "relaxed homeschooling mindset" will free you up from many responsibilities, and make the ones you do have clearer and easier to fulfill. If you aren't a "teacher", you don't necessarily need to make lesson plans, purchase teacher's manuals, test and grade your children, or teach them every subject known to man all by yourself. You don't have to select a particular curriculum, and have everything in place every year on September first, the way a classroom teacher does. You don't need to begin each day with a pledge to the flag, and divide the morning up into fifty-minute segments, each devoted to a particular subject. You don't have to go from room to room teaching fifth grade social studies, third grade science, and first grade phonics. You don't need to make a bunch of reluctant children sit at the kitchen table for hours laboring over boring workbooks....

...Establishing a lifestyle of learning implies that everyone in the family is actively pursuing goals, enjoying the acquisition of skills and knowledge, and sharing their discoveries with the others in the family. You need to re-discover a child-like curiosity about the world around you. You need to wake up every morning, singing, "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it." You need to see past the dirty diapers and the piles of laundry, and recognize what really matters in life. You need to loosen up your tendency to be control freak, and realize that, ultimately, you aren't in control of anything anyway. While that may be a scary thought at first, understanding that God loves you and your family, and that He is the one who is really in control, will help you learn to trust His judgment.


She also gives some really good tips on what to do when your kids seem to be unmotivated. I was really impressed with her thoughts! Check it out!