Request a CatalogContact Us
 0 Items
Home > Support > Homeschooling > I have serious doubts about my ability to homeschool at this time...
 
 
Question: I work part-time (generally up to 5 hours/week, on rare occasions as much as 20 hours/week) in my parish as a DRE, and am also pursuing a Master's in Pastoral Theology, earning 6 credits/semester through Ave Maria University's IPT. My family will be moving over the summer, so that my husband can return to his family's farm, and while we can remain in our parish, we will change school districts. As we are weighing schooling options, I've narrowed our choices down to a Catholic school or homeschooling, but have serious doubts about my ability to homeschool at this time. My husband in particular thinks it will be more than I can handle. Would it be wise to attempt it at this time, or should I perhaps wait a year, since I will only need eight credits, then (my final year), rather than twelve? What kind of time commitment could I expect?
Answer:

Dear Mom,

It is rare the mom who enters into homeschooling with complete confidence in her ability and a clear assurance of time to do the work ahead. I say this because I want to make clear that the nature of the homeschooling journey goes beyond a schooling option to a lifestyle that in many ways alters the way the family has been working up to the date that homeschooling begins.

For my family the homeschooling journey brought many opportunities to improve the quality of time that was spent on school work, etc. I found that once I started homeschooling there was suddenly time that I had never appreciated or enjoyed. There was time to pray together, learn together, and to support one another in all different sorts of activities up to and certainly including those activities that enhanced our faith and brought us closer to the Lord.

While all of these wonderful changes were by-products of our homeschooling lifestyle and indeed were positive and furthered our resolve to continue homeschooling year after year, it was an eye opener the amount of time to the commitment of homeschooling this lifestyle required. I found myself becoming more and more involved with each aspect of the journey including the need to connect with other homeschooling families in our area. I found this time to share with these families a priority in that it was important for my children that they experience the homeschooling lifestyle from the standpoint of others and that they saw that this lifestyle was not at all isolating or strange but indeed fulfilling.

While I firmly believe that through inspired conversations between your husband, your children and yourself you can overcome many challenges that will be unique to your journey, I must stress that you need to be aware that homeschooling is a commitment whose journey requires that it be a priority for many reasons not just academic.

Please spend time in prayer with your dear husband and speak candidly and openly about the challenges that you feel you will face. Ask for the Holy Spirit's guidance and empowerment as you begin the discernment process. Seek the input of other homeschooling families and spend time talking with other moms in your area who are traveling a similar journey. You will know that you and your family are within the Lord's will when the choice is made and a certain unshakable peace descends upon your spirit.

I admire your desire to explore the homeschooling lifestyle despite the many demands that you are facing. It is a holy witness of the true Proverbs woman when one allows their heart to be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Let us make a commitment to pray together for all families that find themselves in the unsettling position of having to make choices that are not easy or straightforward. Lord, we ask that You send Your Holy Spirit to inspire and empower each and every one of these families along their journey to the Heaven home. Amen.

Sending out a prayer,

Rita Munn

   
© 2024 Catholic Heritage Curricula