Imagine with me for a moment. The morning is cool and crisp. You hold a warm cup of coffee in your hand. From the next room you hear your children listening to a video in Latin, and you smile as they laugh at a joke in an ancient tongue. You pat yourself on the back for being so wise and choosing to homeschool. You are abruptly torn from this fantasy when your pre-teen shrieks, “Mom! He’s not wearing any pants and the curtains are open!”
No? Just me?
I think we all begin each homeschool day hoping that it will be the one where our children (preferably through osmosis or Divine Intervention) wake up and say, “Dearest mother and father, I must unburden my curiosity and seek out knowledge. Where is my literature reading!?” This probably seems even less likely when you have a child in need of an Individualized Service Plan (ISP). Let me speak hope and truth to you today. It is possible. Ok, the fantasy version may never come to pass, but your child enjoying learning and growing in knowledge can be a reality.
Our family benefits from the realistic approach we’ve received by asking for an ISP. We now have more realistic goals for our day. We started with little changes in our routine and in my way of thinking. Full disclosure: both my husband and I were public school students. Shocking, I know. Due to this, we both were burdened with the idea that the grade measures the person. Let me give you peace and say the grade is NOT your student. They can help guide you, particularly if you have a student like ours who is a talented thinker but often misplaces work, but the grade is not the child. My focus is more on where did my kids begin and where did they grow now. The ISP didn’t just help my child- it also helped me to reassess which part of the teaching was most important for me as well.
Our homeschool day is not picture perfect. We lost my cat under a pile of papers once (he’s a very relaxed cat). We will never achieve perfection in our day, but maybe we need to stop seeking that and seek more of Christ. If Jesus realistically expects that we will stumble and need His help to get back up, then we shouldn’t be afraid to reach out and ask for a hand for ourselves and our kids when it comes to the academic day either. For our family, an ISP has brought us a newfound peace…not pants…but peace.
Julia McCall is the hard-working mom of two kids, Kathleen in 6th Grade, and Ian in 2nd Grade. She has been at Christiana since 2016, currently tutors 7th & 8th Grade History, and also works as CHA's Director of Programming.
A copy of Christiana's Individualized Support Plan (ISP) overview is available on Parent Resources on Google Classroom. If you see a need to consider this process, please contact Erika Adam, Dean of Academic Support, at [email protected].
No? Just me?
I think we all begin each homeschool day hoping that it will be the one where our children (preferably through osmosis or Divine Intervention) wake up and say, “Dearest mother and father, I must unburden my curiosity and seek out knowledge. Where is my literature reading!?” This probably seems even less likely when you have a child in need of an Individualized Service Plan (ISP). Let me speak hope and truth to you today. It is possible. Ok, the fantasy version may never come to pass, but your child enjoying learning and growing in knowledge can be a reality.
Our family benefits from the realistic approach we’ve received by asking for an ISP. We now have more realistic goals for our day. We started with little changes in our routine and in my way of thinking. Full disclosure: both my husband and I were public school students. Shocking, I know. Due to this, we both were burdened with the idea that the grade measures the person. Let me give you peace and say the grade is NOT your student. They can help guide you, particularly if you have a student like ours who is a talented thinker but often misplaces work, but the grade is not the child. My focus is more on where did my kids begin and where did they grow now. The ISP didn’t just help my child- it also helped me to reassess which part of the teaching was most important for me as well.
Our homeschool day is not picture perfect. We lost my cat under a pile of papers once (he’s a very relaxed cat). We will never achieve perfection in our day, but maybe we need to stop seeking that and seek more of Christ. If Jesus realistically expects that we will stumble and need His help to get back up, then we shouldn’t be afraid to reach out and ask for a hand for ourselves and our kids when it comes to the academic day either. For our family, an ISP has brought us a newfound peace…not pants…but peace.
Julia McCall is the hard-working mom of two kids, Kathleen in 6th Grade, and Ian in 2nd Grade. She has been at Christiana since 2016, currently tutors 7th & 8th Grade History, and also works as CHA's Director of Programming.
A copy of Christiana's Individualized Support Plan (ISP) overview is available on Parent Resources on Google Classroom. If you see a need to consider this process, please contact Erika Adam, Dean of Academic Support, at [email protected].
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