Preconceived Notion #1

Reality: “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times”… Their best behavior wore off!

The kids started home-schooling with varying degrees of enthusiasm. However, it did not take long for the novelty to wear off and for real life to set in. Kids that did not like doing their chores did not like doing their schoolwork any better. Kids that tended to fight and quarrel when they were in school had an even harder time not fighting and quarreling when they were home all day together. Keeping the peace was a much bigger job than I expected.

I was worried about the difficulty of teaching all the various subjects to my children. That turned out to be the easy part!  The hard part was learning to get along together when we were all in the same house all day. Sending children off to school in different directions is a pretty easy way to keep the peace. Our commitment to home education required a commitment to working together as a family, communicating through problems and frustrations, and developing effective ways to deal with the conflicts that inevitably came up.

This may sound like a sad reality. It is not. The family is the great laboratory of life. One of the single most important things we learn in that laboratory is how to communicate, build connections with other people and how to cooperate and work together as team. When all is said and done, that is just as important, if not more so, than the math or science we do.

When tempers are hot, patience is low and things are not going harmoniously, remember that is simply a time for more “practice” in the subject of interpersonal relationships. Embrace it!