Well, it’s a new week, and week 2 of this 5-week stint of home-schooling.

For some of you and your kids the novelty may be wearing off around now (if there was any ?) and there may be a few new challenges arising.

I wanted to encourage you from a slightly different perspective – one that has helped me as a parent keep my eye on the big picture and not get swayed off track by the day to day.

One of the conversations we have had many times over our years of home-schooling, and one which I think applies to any type of schooling is around the topic of:

SCHOOL SKILLS VS LIFE SKILLS

You may have heard –

“I don’t want to do this.”

“Why do I need to do this or learn this? I’ll never use this in real life anyway!”

While it’s true there are things our kids will learn in school which they will never use anywhere else in life, the thing they are learning is HOW TO LEARN.

They are learning very important life skills such as – self-discipline, self-motivation, time management, and research skills.

When this has been raised in the midst of expanding out seemingly pointless algebraic equations, I remind them:

“Imagine you finish all your years of school and go on to Uni and pour many more years into study, or maybe you get a traineeship or apprenticeship and then that big day arrives, you are so happy – you’ve finally got your dream job! What if then your boss asks you to do something you don’t want to do, or they ask you to do something you think is not part of the picture-perfect job description you had in your mind? What if you say, ‘No I don’t want to’ or ‘Why should I? I don’t feel like it’ and give your boss some ‘attitude.’

You will most likely be fired.

How devastating would that be?”

We are not just equipping our kids with School Skills like Maths and Science; we are equipping them with Life Skills via Maths and Science that will set them up for an awesome future.

The life skills and habits we are imparting and building into our kids during their school years will carry them far beyond their report card. These life skills and habits will equip them to be hard working, resilient, reliable, trustworthy people who use initiative, don’t easily give up, and (a phrase that has become part of the language of our home) FIND A WAY.

Praying you all have a great week and enjoy this season! If you need some peace and encouragement, I would urge you to read Psalm 91 from the Passion Translation and declare it over your home.

Alana.