The Balancing of Home and School in Homeschooling

This summer, I’ve been working on the atmosphere and function of my home in preparation for the upcoming homeschool year.

I’m not always great at juggling the demands of both home and school. The scales seem to always tip in favor of one or the other. With 2 hours a day designated towards intentional learning, I find other areas of our home life can get pushed to the side.

While it may be tempting to let school take precedence, I believe it must not do so at the expense of the home. Home and school must be integrated with the emphasis being on home.

Read my post on “Establishing a Peaceful Home” for tips on removing obstacles to peace!

The Ideal Learning Environment: Home

God chose family to be the place of formation for children. It is His ideal location to teach children because He ordained it to be a place of unconditional love and trusting relationships.

Children learn and retain best when they feel safe and aren’t under stress. A child who is forced to enter a classroom at a young age may experience anxiety from separation from his parents at a time in his life when he thrives under consistent attachment at home (Better Late Than Early, p.37).

I watch lots of homeschooling families travel near and far to ensure their children’s lives are enriched with educational opportunities. I believe there is a time later in the child’s life when specialized learning is important.

But “personal success for the child…depends to a large degree upon a stable, predictable, consistent early environment. A child needs a secure base from which to explore. He becomes self-reliant as he realizes that he can rely on others, and that the important people and basic things in his world are not always changing.” (Better Late Than Early, p. 36-37)

Sometimes we are driven to check off all the goals on our homeschooling to-do list at the expense of a loving, functional home. That is too high a price to pay.

On the other hand, there are times when I’ve felt it best to forgo school because we need to spend time focusing on a character issue in one of our children. Or because we need to establish a better routine at home so there is room for school. Or because a new baby has arrived!

But just because we aren’t formally school doesn’t mean the learning stops. There are always books to read, questions to answer, and things to create!

School Should Compliment the Activity of the Home

Home must come first. If your home isn’t functional, schooling will be an added stress instead of a compliment to your home.

Some have a designated classroom in their home for formal schooling. Although this seems to have some advantages, I have chosen to school on the couch, at the counter or kitchen table.

This helps remind me that…

• Life is learning. Learning takes place everywhere, all the time.

• All 

  are welcome. There is room even for the little ones to gather and join in.

• Home and school are interwoven and co-exist to compliment each other, not compete.

I am having so much fun planning out the school year.

But I must ensure my home functions in joy, peace and order (most of the time) in order to reap the benefits of schooling at home.

Help bring more order to your home with these organizing tips!

to see some of my favorite home organization ideas.

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