Thriving or Surviving?
Yesterday I found a few free moments to sit down, put my feet up, and read a magazine. Sounds like heaven, I know. I grabbed the latest issue of my MomSense magazine and flipped to the feature story called “Are You Thriving or Surviving?” The main focus of the article was mothers should not stay stagnent, they need to grow and change and mature just as their children do. As I was reading a small section stood out to me.
“But there’s a difference between learning and growth. Learning is gaining knowledge and growth is moving towards maturity.”
Wow, does that say a lot about why some parents choose to homeschool. Giving our kids an education is more than just learning, it is about helping them grow. Knowing how to add and subtract is great, what what about knowing when it is worth saving your money or worth spending it. Reading about animals will help you learn, but it can’t beat going out and getting your hands dirty on a farm. For every lesson that can be learned by sitting behind a desk there is real growth that could happen by going out and getting a hands on experience.
The author of the article went on to talk about her experiences volunteering in college and working with the wives of international students she was able to understand the issues at her church with communication with the missionaries overseas. Because of that she was able to offer her services writing for the church to keep them informed of what was going on. In the process of that she became passionate about teaching her children become aware of global issues. From a simple volunteer oppertunity in her university she grew and was able to pass on that knowledge to her children.
Isn’t that the kind of growth we hope our children will have? Rather than just reading about other countries they grow in their awareness of the issues surrounding them. In my own home enivronmentalism is important. We could gain knowledge reading about pollution, but we will all gain real growth by going out and cleaning up trash from the pond and by taking our recycling to the center together.
When we are thinking about homeschooling we have to ask ourselves if our children are growing or just learning. Giving them a chance to grow and mature with their new knowledge can be the best experience we can offer.
homeschooling, growth, maturity, MomSense, knowledge
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