Homeschooling an Only

I realize that each homeschool family faces challenges that are unique to their family. Our challenges center around homeschooling our one son. We are about to begin our 7th year and I look forward to the junior/senior high school years because I have seen the growth of our son and the maturity in his life. I look forward to the times he can do his work on his own and maybe I won't have to sit in the same room with him. This started happening this year and is was great! Not that I don't want to be there for him, I just want to share new things with him!

One of the challenges we face is not having competition to get things done. It just doesn't work to say "the dog will finish his nap before you finish that math page!" Our son doesn't have a competitive bone in his body, unlike his mom, so he's OK with the fact that I might beat him at games like Monopoly or Yahtzee. "It's just a game, mom!", he will tell me. OH, if I could just get good at his video games, then we might have some competition!

Another thing we have faced is finding friends. I have to just tell you that this was my responsibility to get out of the house and find us things to do with other homeschoolers. Over the years we have been blessed with great friends, both son and I. It took a lot of work though, to get us out of our comfort zone, our home, and out in the world of extra curricular activities. I have a confession to make, it wasn't hard on me, I love to socialize! One thing you must remember is not to overwhelm your only with too many people. Our son needs time away to wind down and relax before he goes again. That's OK! We have special words he can use that lets me know he has had enough of the noise around him. This helped him especially when he was young to be willing to go to places he was uncomfortable with and just to try.

One of the other things we have had to work on is stating our opinion out loud everywhere we are. This may be a shared challenge with all kinds of families but I know it's one we have had! Because there is just the two of us, we tend to talk about everything and have strong beliefs. My dh helps here because he is such a loving, tender man, he teaches us to be tolerate (in a good way) of differences and how to stay strong to our beliefs without offending others. Maybe, this is why Dh is going to school again to become an outreach minister!

I want to encourage you families of onlies to keep up the good work! Don't be afraid to get involved with groups of families with lots of kids! They can teach us so much about sharing and helping each other. And let those families get to know you, it might help them deal with a quieter child that just wants to be alone some of the time!

Remember, God made all our families just the right way, so if He has blessed you with an only, cherish the time! There will be a time you will miss the constant chatter, the asking if you would play with him, the times of never being by yourself, it all goes so fast! Take time to count the blessings and just love on your child!

Be blessed,
Terri Sue