Dear Mater: How do I get through it all?

Ask the mothers who have gone before you.

Dear Mater, 

I feel guilty when I don’t get through everything on our homeschool list. How do I distinguish between what is truly important and what can wait?

Signed, Feeling Guilty

Dear Feeling Guilty,

The most important thing on your homeschool list should be your child/children. Some questions to ask yourself.

Am I homeschooling or am I schooling at home? What’s the difference, you may ask? Well, school at home is getting through a certain amount of subjects by the end of the year. It is finishing the book. 

Does it matter if my child is learning or not?  Homeschooling is having a concept you want to get through to your child and taking the time to achieve that. This may take a day or it could take a month! Homeschooling can be more creative and flexible. It’s also a time to build a relationship with your child; time to be together and get to know one another, to snuggle as your child reads to you. Children learn best in a healthy relationship. Learning is relational.

How does one know what’s important to achieve in homeschooling? We know that there are certain concepts our children need to know to graduate but we also know we need to educate the whole person- body, mind and soul. Having our children learn reading, writing and arithmetic are desirable goals; we also need to build virtue and faith-filled children! We want our children to have a unity of life, to be kind, to persevere and most importantly to love! To love God, one another, others and to love learning. 

Warmly, Mater

Dear Mater is a Catholic homeschooling advice column for the questions that keep mothers wondering. With wisdom, warmth, and a little humor, ‘Mater' offers perspective on the everyday joys and challenges of forming a family at home. Join ‘Mater’ Diane Aquila, wife to Dominic, mother of 13 (11 on earth), as she answers those questions and gently reminds us of the joy and gift of the vocation to home educate. Diane homeschooled all of her children until college (though a few attended school here and there as life demanded). She may not be a professional but loves to share her insight as a Catholic parent and home educating mother of many. 

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