Dear Carrie
Missionaries Needing Help on Deciding When to Homeschool
I have 5 kids, and we’re missionaries in Indonesia. We’ve used Heart of Dakota (HOD) for two years. This year, my oldest two are being taught at our missionary school. I convinced the missionary school to use HOD, and they love it! Next year mid-June, I’ll be homeschooling all my kids again (then in 7th, 6th, 4th, and two in 1st). My older two place in Revival to Revolution. The fourth grader places in Preparing, and my 1st graders place in Beyond. The older two are largely independent, which really helps! However, we’re going to be on furlough for three months, traveling all of September, settled for October, and traveling all of November. Maybe I could homeschool for the summer months, and the months we aren’t on the road? Then, I could take off the months we are on the road? What do you think would be best?
Sincerely,
“Ms. Please Help This Missionary with Choosing When to Homeschool”
Dear “Ms. Please Help This Missionary with Choosing When to Homeschool,”
We feel so blessed to have many missionaries using Heart of Dakota, and I’d be glad to answer your question! I would probably lean toward taking the months off that you are traveling, which sounds like all of September and all of November. I would look at doing school during October, which sounds like it will be the month you will be more settled. With that in mind, I would look toward schooling in the summer for two months to make up for having all of September and all of November off. Hopefully, this would still allow you to take at least a month off in the summer.
If needed during the summer, you could go half-speed with the 1st grade twins (doing the left side of the guide one day and right side the next, or any combination you felt would work well). You could actually just keep the twins at half-speed for as long as needed during the year too (since they will be on the younger age range of Beyond). This would allow you more time to work with your Preparing and Revival to Revolution kiddos to get them started and progressing well.
Hopefully, this will help a bit as you ponder your scheduling options as missionaries. I just want to encourage you that we have had other missionaries use this same kind of scheduling and truly enjoy it! Sometimes it just helps to talk options through with others to find the one that will work well for you.
Blessings,
Carrie
