The hardest part of homeschooling...

The hardest part of homeschooling is everything is your fault.

I spent the early morning hours creating "report cards" for my children. I did this for their benefit, since they like positive feedback, and they are all geniuses... and also for Daddy, as he likes to see their progress.

I started out by searching for a template; something that looked sort of official.

There is a simple one here

I ended up using this one because I like MS publisher and knew I would be able to make changes and adapt it to my needs.

So, that part was easy. Then, I needed to fill in the grades for each subject. Some were easy; my boys are awesome at math, and always working ahead, so A's across the board. But, then, there's penmanship... a definite struggle. But, how can I label my child, "unsatisfactory"? I chose "needs improvement", which is true, but seems less harsh.

I realized as I filled out these charts that my children really are Excellent in some areas; like "helping others" but they all have shortcomings; my oldest has wretched spelling. I suppose this is because they are human, born into sin, and therefore lacking perfection.

If I was just the parent, I could blame their shortcomings on the poor educational system; blame it on the teacher. If I was just the teacher, then I could blame it on poor parenting. But, when I am brutally honest about their academic accomplishments, I can chalk up their failings to poor parenting (I don't make them work hard enough) or poor teaching ( I don't push them hard enough), either way it's my fault.

The most difficult part of homeschooling, for me, is knowing that it's all my fault.

Now, don't feel too sorry for me though. I have come to realize over the years that God gives us all different abilities. I do not bemoan the fact that my child can't spell because I know that if she needed to be the spelling bee champion, then God would have given her the gift of excellent spelling skills. I also know that my husband's penmanship is not much better than my son's and he gets along in life just fine; and so will they.
It isn't the end of the world if I can't honestly say that each of my children is Excellent in every category, and even if I sometimes have to say that they "need improvement".  In fact, these observations can lead us as parents to see the areas where our children need help, and the areas where they are gifted and we should push them forward toward even more challenging work, and possibly even encourage career opportunities in those areas.