This year marks our third year of officially homeschooling. Hard to believe our oldest son is entering 3rd grade! I’ve learned so much in those two short years. One lesson I have gleaned is in expecting excellence from your homeschool student, although this applies to our children in all aspects of their life.
My beginning homeschooling efforts were directed toward a very reluctant five year old boy. He would rather be absorbed in anything besides “school” and to persuade him to complete his lesson, I accepted any effort he produced. My bright boy was capable of much more than his efforts demonstrated.
I hoped eventually he would naturally strive for excellence, but I soon realized I had set him up to “just get it done.” My main mission as a homeschooling mother is to first and foremost lead my child into a life of virtue with the amount of work accomplished as a secondary goal.
Not only did accepting less affect his work, it negatively affected his confidence and our relationship.
Entering homeschooling, our minds are awash in ideals. These abstract ideals collide with the concrete reality of day-in-day-out homeschooling. Our unremarkable, everyday life clouds the vision of our God-given, supernatural mission as parents. We forget every expectation is a training ground in virtue and character. What steps can we undertake to regain and implement our original vision of excellence?
Steps to implement excellence:
- Contemplate God’s desire for excellence and pray for His assistance in pursuing it.
- Discuss excellence as a value for your family to pursue as well as what it looks like in each dimension of life (obedience, academics, attitude, chores, etc.).
- Know what each child is capable of and do not allow less than their best efforts.
- Require your child to redo anything unsatisfactorily completed.
We have been pursuing excellence the last year in our home. This IS a workable philosophy as evidenced by the response of our children. Though not without initial and small ongoing conflicts, they understand what is expected and have taken up the challenge. Our school-age child has even developed new self-confidence and pride in his academic work.
When a task is completed unsatisfactorily, it doesn’t indicate the value or incapability of the child or myself. Instead I can see it as a training ground and require them to continue working on the task until it is done with their best efforts.
I realize requiring excellence is not a task to check off your homeschooling to-do list, but a virtue to weave into the very fabric of our family character. I must remove my task-oriented mentality and constantly bring it to God in prayer. Excellence is something to strive for in all our lives. Let us take up the challenge, lean on God, and achieve our best!
“Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men…”
Colossians 3:23
