|
|
|
 |
|
|
| The following are some common difficulties along with suggested solutions. |
| Lack of confidence: At first one may lack confidence in choosing materials and methods and doubting the ability to teach. I think everyone I know was faced with this challenge. Be patient experience and the Lord give parents confidence. |
| Fear of being able to work with ones own children: Parents who do not have their children's respect will have trouble getting cooperation. Gaining respect through proper relationships, discipline, training and example should be the parents' top priority whether or not home schooling is involved. Home schooling provides the incentive and optimum setting to accomplish this task. |
| Lack of commitment: Parents gain the strength to overcome difficulties when they develop the conviction that home schooling is best for their family and is the Lord's will for them. |
| Social pressure: Pressure from well-meaning friends and family can be a real deterrent. Make a well-informed decision and then stand on your convictions. More information and a loving attitude often help others understand and accept decisions made by the parents. |
| Uninformed bias: "You are making things worse for the rest of us." Some people feel that if you educate your children at home that you are being unpatriotic. Home school families are sometimes blamed for the fall of the public school system. |
| Others fear you are not doing your job: Some people resent the freedom your children have and feel a need to "test" your children by asking them their times tables or to read something they have or to ask questions from history or science. |
| Others resent the "special treatment" and feel that all children should be taught the same things. |
| "Forced to be with you…" Some people believe that you are forcing your children to be at home with you away from their peers. It is assumed that the child would prefer to be with other children. This assumption is not correct. If you had a choice would you rather work at home or go to the office? Children who are able to be home to learn love learning at home and being with their families. |
| Sheltering… Some believe that home schooled children are sheltered and need to be around evil influences to gain strength. Harold B. Lee stressed that "beautiful, luscious fruit does not grow unless the roots of the parent tree have been planted in rich, fertile soil and unless due care is given to proper pruning, cultivation and irrigation. So likewise the luscious fruits of virtue and chastity, honesty, temperance, integrity, and fidelity are not to be found growing in that individual whose life is not founded on a firm testimony of the truths of the gospel and of the life and the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. " 'Stand Ye In Holy Places\Section Five\Chapter 22. I believe that we can't set out our tender seedlings in the freezing weather but will wait for the right season. |
| Teaching your child to politely explain how they learn and what they are working on will help others to learn what home schooling is, how the child feels about it and what is going on at home. |
| |
|
|
