Making a Family Mission Statement

 

Home education and just parenting in general requires A LOT of teaching and instruction. I know that for our family, our learning started out so differently years ago than what it is right now. It was more complex, more workbooks and more structured time. Now that I have prayed and asked the Lord how HE wants our children to be educated, I have surrendered this area all to Him. He has brought amazing people into our lives and pointed us to wonderful books that have helped shape and mold our learning to what it is today. Every year truly is an experiment and not only for what my children are learning, but me as well.

 

At the beginning of the summer, I was reading a book (can't remember to save my life which one now!), but it suggested writing up a mission statement with your spouse. I loved the idea and recently was able to sit down with Rob and finalize it.

 

I keep it posted so that I can remind myself daily that it's not all about getting workbook page 143 completed, but an even bigger picture than that. If a child can't narrate (draw, write, act out or tell) back to me what they learned, then I have wasted my time teaching them. It also keeps in check that math, spelling or science is inferior to Rob and I teaching them about the Lord. 

 

A mission statement is different than family goals. I'll post our goals at a later time, but for today I'll just share our mission statement in particular.

 

 

Bates Family Homeschool Mission Statement

 

" The Bates family goal is to stimulate our children's appetites for learning, that they may have an excitement and a passion for learning. We realize that each child is different and has acquired from God their individual, God-given talents and gifts that the Lord will use to disciple and bring others to Christ as they grow older. Our desire is that they would be self-taught and help to teach one another as they try to master certain topics. Our main goal is to produce disciples of Jesus Christ, that they may come to know Him and love Him with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength, submitting to His will for their lives and maintaining a healthy fear of God (the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge). Our daily goal is to model this for them. As they gain knowledge, it is our prayer that they use this knowledge to acquire true wisdom, passing these goals on to another generation of children (should that be the Lord's will for their lives), living out Titus 2."

 

What is your family mission statement?