Never let your schooling interrupt your education.

Q&A Friday: What if your child could only learn one lesson?

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Written by Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool and writer at Steady Mom

Homeschooling feels awfully complicated at times, wouldn’t you agree? There are multiple subjects, multiple children (usually!), and multiple household tasks to juggle.

All these categories place demands on our time, and in one way or another we need to devote energy to them. But sometimes we lose focus and our lives become a blur of reading lessons, math problems, and test-taking strategies. Not too fun for anyone.

We measure our kids–and our success as homeschooling parents–by these external benchmarks, but what is actually most important in the long run?

What if our children could only learn one lesson–in life or school? What would we decide to teach?

When I think about this question, I immediately know the answer for our family–I want my children to know and love God, and to believe that He has a unique and important mission and plan for their lives.

When I acknowledge the importance of this lesson for our family, I then need to back it up with our life experience. Am I structuring our homeschool days with this end in mind? Is our life arranged in a way that supports this core priority?

Let’s simplify and eliminate outside distractions and work on building the foundation to this vital lesson–so that our kids can pass life’s real tests when they emerge from our homes.

What about you: What if your child could only learn one lesson? What is the first thing that comes to mind? Is there anything you need to change in your life to provide more attention to the teaching of this lesson?

About Jamie C. Martin

Jamie is an introverted mom of three, who loves books, tea, and people (not always in that order), and avoids answering the phone when possible. She co-founded SimpleHomeschool.net in 2010 and began IntrovertedMoms.com in 2020.

Jamie is the author of four books, including Give Your Child the World (reached #9 on Amazon's Top 100 Best Sellers list), and her latest release, Introverted Mom (an ECPA bestseller). Her work has been featured by LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow, the Washington Post, Parents, Today Parenting, and Psychology Today.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  4. jill at tinyandsmall

    such a reassuring post! yes, to know HOW LOVED THEY ARE, by God & us.

    just in the last few days we’ve rearranged our homeschool to include more OUTSIDE, & immediately i felt an internal pushback to be more “schooly”. but “schooly” isn’t us.

    thank you for the reminder to check in with our own vision & core values for our families from time to time.
    jill at tinyandsmall’s latest post: breathing.

  5. Jeni

    It’s so hard, with all the “input” of blogs, curriculum companies, and relatives (!) to keep things in perspective. Thanks for the reminder. 🙂 Oh – and I just bought Leadership Education per your suggestion and I’m hanging on every word. Thank you for taking the time to guide people like me who are coming along behind you in the homeschool life.

    Warmly,
    Jeni
    Jeni’s latest post: Photoshop Elements for Bloggers: a Video Workshop

  6. Megan

    Thank you for being so open about your faith and sharing the importance of God in your family! I am so grateful for sisters in Christ and their impact on our world by using their voice and influence. You’re doing a great thing by writing posts like this! Praise God for his grace and wisdom! I was recently reflecting on this very thing of what’s the most important thing that my kids get while I homeschool them so we implemented a Bible study time in the morning in addition to our bedtime reading including Bible hero flashcards, prayer sticks and story time out of our “The Action Bible God’s redemptive story” by David C Cook which I highly recommend my boys love it!

  10. essijay

    The lesson I hope to teach is love and acceptance – for everyone (self included) and every living thing.

  11. Lorna B.

    Love this post! What a great reminder for why we home school! I want my girls to know that they are loved by God and their parents and to show that love to others through their lives.

  13. Myah

    I want my children to always have a love of learning and to be inquisitive and highly engaged in learning. I also want them to be kind, confident, yet humble – love the Lord, discover and live out their purposes God has planned for them! Finally, I want my children to feel peace.
    Myah’s latest post: Ian