Tuesday, January 21, 2014

5 Essential Attitudes in Homeschooling - Day Two: Flexibility



Today’s Essential Attitude I would like to write about is FLEXIBILITY.

Flexibility is important in homeschooling because we are training little people, not assembling robots. Each day will be different with its new challenges. Life has a way of throwing curve balls at us when we are least expecting them. Just when we think that we are finally starting to get this parenting thing figured out, a child will do something outlandish to show us exactly where our faith and dependence need to remain.

It is important that we have a mindset of flexibility and put it into practice. This will likely call for a great deal of patience, especially if you are the type of parent who likes all their ducks in a row and everything scheduled.  A group can only move as fast as its slowest member. This might require slowing down and taking in the scenery sometimes!

Making a plan and following it is important, but be sure to build in enough time to keep it flexible as well. Teachable moments come and go quickly, and we must take advantage of them when the opportunity arises. They may never come again. If we are so rigid in our scheduling that we miss the chance to answer a question, or touch our children’s hearts, that moment may be lost forever. That child may feel that their question or silly little story was not important enough to interrupt our day, and they may never ask it again.

Children will have sick days, storms and natural phenomenon will happen, power goes out, visitors come in, friends have a crisis…. All these are events that naturally take place in life, and provide great life training. When God sends them our way, we should always thank Him for the lessons, and take that moment to reach into the heart of our children, showing them the way that God would want us to take care of these things, and building memories.


Our children may or may not remember that they finished a certain workbook, but they will remember those ‘big moments’ when their family made good memories taking care of an unforeseen circumstance. Plan your work and work your plan…but while you are doing so, be sure to leave enough flexibility for the real lessons of life!



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5 Days of Homeschooling EssentialsStop by and see what other homeschool moms are writing about, as they share what their homeschool essentials are!

Ellen @ Grace Tells Another Story

Jenn @ Treasuring Life's Blessings

Christine @ Our Homeschool Reviews

Michelle @ Delightful Learning

Sharon @ Life With The Tribe

Hillary @ Our Homeschool Studio

Melanie @ FinchNWren

Brittney @ Mom's Heart

Heather @ Principled Academy


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7 comments:

  1. So true, Erica! I find that if I can combine laughter with trying to move our family thru those unforeseen, unexpected moments, it helps to get us over the hump. Thanks for sharing! :)

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  2. Oh yes...I wrote about flexibility yesterday!

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  3. I love this: "Plan your work and work your plan…but while you are doing so, be sure to leave enough flexibility for the real lessons of life!" This is what will help to equip them for the real world and to also help train them in seeing God's Providential Hand in their lives. ~Heather @ Principled Academy/the Crew

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  4. Love this! My dd asked that I add this to my five days so it will be day 5. She likes to take breaks and get time off...I need to work on this. ;)

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  5. Yay for flexibility! Happy to see it on your list. It IS a virtue! :)

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  6. I had a very hard time with flexibility when we started. I do better now, but I still have a hard time when something shakes my day!

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!