The Challenges of the Homeschool:

As is true for all aspects of life, blessings come with their counterpart challenges. From the Enki perspective, the point is not to make these go away or pretend they are not there, but rather to acknowledge and attend to them in the most direct way possible. Two inherent challenges regardless of the homeschooling curriculum used are:

1. the human need for community;
2. meeting the needs of different ages without overwhelming the parent-teacher.
   

Community is the human ecosystem and family is the first community in a child’s life. This is where a sense of community will be built, home base, ground zero. For this reason, in homeschool programs it will be particularly important to spend a significant part of each day doing something together as a family, working as a community with all the give and take that entails. As well, beginning and ending the day together as a family can serve as an anchor in community life.

Being part of a community is an important part of being human; for children, this includes the peer community. In many ways, the great challenge for homeschoolers is in this social aspect. While in the standard school we must look for ways to help the children pull inward and connect with their own hearts in an overly social environment, in the homeschool we must find opportunities for them to move outward and have social connections. Each homeschool situation will have different possibilities: after school sports, lessons, clubs, back yard games etc. The important thing is to keep an eye on this area.

Many parents also find it very hard to do activities such as circle, music, drama and the like with only one or two children. Some have solved this dilemma by forming homeschooling cooperatives and using the group time, one or two times a week, to introduce material through movement, art, and storytelling. From there, practice in a smaller group is much easier to manage, especially since the children will be joining again and again and can share the results of their work.

Lastly, it is difficult to offer children a taste of traditional cultures, in which community is a central element, outside of a community. Even such things as folk dance and games present their own challenges. The Enki Resource Libraries include CD’s and DVD’s, as well as stories and activities, to help bridge this gap. These offer a support, but do not replace the experience of cultural community life. Therefore, we also recommend that with each unit, parents find a time to bring the family to a celebration or folk dance event of the culture in focus. Fortunately, cities are within reach for special events for most of us, and virtually all cities have these events.

Homeschooling Siblings: More often than not, homes include children of many age groups and this makes work with a  homeschool curriculum within the normal family context a bit trickier in some ways, and a lot richer in others.

Along with meeting the reality of this situation, we feel it is important to focus on how the sibling community is a central blessing in the homeschool and in the family (even if there are days and weeks where the children may seem to be practicing guerilla warfare). Honoring and supporting the relationships between siblings is of greatest importance. When working with the Enki homeschool program, we encourage parents to look at their days in terms of supporting these all important relationships.

Establishing a rhythmic flow that works for all is the ground of supporting sibling relationships. On this base, looking at the heart of what each curriculum area has to offer (as described on the preceding pages) you will be able to tailor parts of the day or week to the specific needs of each child without overwhelming yourself or fracturing the family – this is what happens in the normal flow of life anyway.