Education Burden

Getting ready to make a volcano

As we look at the challenges of the New Year, we see that one of the biggest is our great privilege and responsibility of educating our children. The part of this that I find most overwhelming is that we don't have the extra support networks that we had in the States. The biggest example is still the church. Yes, we attend a church here and our children attend the Sunday School (with an adult, as they still don't understand everything). But this is not a spiritually enriching experience for our children. For one, they don't understand everything (sometimes gratefully!). For two, culturally we would choose different stories (Have you ever heard the story of Jael from Judges chapter 4 told to 2-7 year olds?) Finally, for us it is important to prepare Sunday School before the children arrive, but here they may prepare the story while the children sit there, sing songs the whole time or memorize a random verse. So Scripture memorization, English Hymns, contemporary songs, catechism, communion education, prayer education, and learning the stories all fall to our responsibility. In addition there are the other areas children in the US enjoy - baseball, soccer, dance, piano, drums, language learning, art, and the list goes on where children may have a coach or take a class, but here it falls on our shoulders. Despite this pressure, still overall, I have loved teaching our children and it seems like they are thriving. We have started working on tennis and baseball skills as well as songs on the recorder. Their reading and math skills are taking off and science lessons are another favorite. There are certainly times of being overwhelmed, frustration and tears, but I don't think any one of us would change this opportunity for homeschooling right now. We also remember well that we are glad to be missing a lot of the extra pressures and different challenges of consumerism that kids and parents face in the States.

--La Maestra