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Jennifer Cabrera
To Your Battle Stations! Never Surrender!
Sighs. Sips coffee. Shoves an ungraded chemistry test aside; a smoldering battlefield we’ll meet on later.
ertainly, stepping into “poised and patient homeschool mom mode” each morning would be a good first step into homeschool peace. If only it were a simple fuzzy-slippered stride into the kitchen; well rested, prepped and planned. Where smiling faces await, united in eagerness to learn together.
To your battle stations, moms! And pass the coffee.
In my humble hifalutin opinion, finding homeschool peace is not mastering a perfect parenting performance. It is not generating quiet, organized obedience. And it is certainly not falsely ensured success from a completed checklist on a planner before practice at 4 p.m., dinner at 6 p.m., laundry completed before bed, plastic smiles during family reading time, and then…
- Recognizing the progress in the pandemonium and praising the soldiers.
- Savoring the sweet character growth that follows the salty moments.
- Relishing the merry messes for the opportunity to teach family responsibility.
- Delighting in disagreements and the discussions they spark.
And then following through on the chance to teach these things, even when you haven’t got it all together. Onlookers may see organized chaos in our homeschools, but the battles of raising good people won’t fight themselves, and we’re not selling tickets to an audience anyway.
The peaceful images and anecdotes we see in curriculum catalogs and homeschool blogs, though charming and desirable, are not an attainable constant. Those glimpses of homeschool tranquility create impossible ideals and camouflage the crusade it really is to raise and educate our kids.
So, man your stations, mommas. Refill your coffee and listen up!
Endeavoring to enjoy the imperfect journey. Finding peace in the storm and dancing in the rain and shrapnel knowing the sun and the coffee will be up again tomorrow.
Remember, you and your kids are on the same fighting side… allied powers in the cause for a useful education and moral upbringing. Your only enemy is failure, and failure only happens when we give up. Never surrender!
Of course, skirmishes will break out within your ranks. Be prepared to run for cover and eat cookie dough rally the troops and recognize the teaching moments within the conflict.
You are the general, and good generals lead by example; bolstered with love, God’s word, plenty of coffee, and determination to see this campaign to its end. Good leaders work for peace by remaining calm with clear communication of expectations.
But good leaders also delegate powers. As our kids mature, we need to fall back in rank and begin to lead from behind. Pass on responsibilities. Then, when they are ready, let them lead. This won’t happen in perfect steps, overnight, or in any curriculum worthy fashion.
Maturing is a messy process. It’s sometimes two steps forward, three steps back. But we can model how to get up, dust off, strategize, and press on. Tackling each mountain worth conquering.
Promote peace in your homeschool through strength. Kids need boundaries, expectations, battle ramparts that they can butt their hard heads against in frustration, so to speak.
Parents, we must set these battlements of guidelines and limits for a time. Along the way we teach them to construct their own personal fortifications using God’s Word and expectations for their lives. All this in prayerful effort and hope they will be prepared to face their own frontlines as adults.
To your battle stations! Never Surrender!
“I’ve spoken my piece and counted to three.”
ennifer Cabrera is a physician assistant/MPH who left medicine to homeschool her three sons, two of which are graduated and studying electrical engineering and professional aviation at university. Jennifer is the writer, speaker, author and homeschool advocate behind HifalutinHomeschooler.com and strives to offer truth, encouragement, and humor to new and seasoned homeschool parents. Jennifer co-hosts The Homeschool Solutions Show podcast, is a speaker with Great Homeschool Conventions, and has written for the Epoch Times. Her publications include the humorous language arts series: Gross-Out Grammar & Revolting Writing and Socialize Like a Homeschooler; A Humorous Homeschool Handbook.