Recently I’ve been contacted by several mothers, who are new to homeschooling, asking for advice on how to get started. In response, I’d like to begin a series of articles directed to these young mothers, who, in addition to their school-age children, may have other young children, toddlers, and babies to care for. Homeschooling can appear daunting at first, and that is a good thing. What you are about to undertake is serious business and should not be taken lightly. But with planning and the right principles in place, you can have a peaceful and fruitful homeschool.
As you begin to consider homeschooling, the first principle to think about is the Golden Rule. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39) The first principle that you need to consider when setting up your school day can be seen here. You need to make sure to meet your duty towards God. The second principle is like it, to meet your duty towards your neighbor.
What does the Golden Rule look like in practice in the homeschooling day? First, you need to make sure that you keep God in your mind as you go about your day. Begin and end your days with prayer. Pray throughout your day; giving thanks to God and imploring His help all day. Little prayers, such as the Sign of the Cross, “Jesus, Mary, Joseph, I love you,” and longer prayers, such as the Our Father or the Hail Mary, throughout the day help to keep you mindful of God’s presence.
Second, you need to keep love for your neighbor in mind. As a married woman, your first “neighbor” to consider is your husband. Your day needs to be organized around making sure your duty to your husband is lovingly and graciously fulfilled. This includes making sure anything he needs for work is prepared for him–his clothing, his food, etc. Next, this means making sure all of your duties to him as a wife are generously and lovingly considered. He needs to be your priority above any other person in the world, and he needs to feel that he is. Remember that your relationship with your husband came before the children. The children are to be lovingly welcomed into an already existing family and never to be given priority over the husband-wife relationship.
Your next “neighbor” to consider is the children. They have one mother–you. They need the full attention of a loving mother during the school day. Resist the temptation to socialize during the school day, both in person and on social media. Pray for a content and loving spirit, to be happy and fulfilled in your home, caring for your children. St. Paul gives a beautiful description of a Christian mother in the book of Titus, where he says that young women should be taught to “be wise, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, sober, having a care of the house, gentle, obedient to their husbands: that the word of God be not blasphemed.” (Titus 2:4-5)
Those are the most essential and basic principles to begin thinking about as a new homeschooling Christian mother. If you keep those principles in mind, you are well on the way to having a joyful and peaceful homeschool. In the following article, I’ll give you some more principles to help guide you to planning a smoothly running school day. May God bless you and your families.
