Educating MK's

When missionaries go overseas one of the big challenges they face is how to best educate their children.  There are so many things to consider in trying to decide what is the best option for your child/children.  Every child learns differently and also has different social needs.   Every mom also has different strengths and weaknesses that need to be considered as well.   Depending on what ministry a person has will also have a big part on how much time they can invest in educating their children.  Some curriculum take a lot more hands on time than others.  The number of children a mother is home schooling can also play a big part on what curriculum to use.   In some areas internet service is still not available 24/7 or it is not dependable and therefore some of the schooling options available through the Internet would not work for some of our families.  I also found that as our children moved into the higher grades I could not use the same curriculum for each child.   The last year on the field I was homeschooling five different grades using three different curriculum.  With my focus on Families in Ministry I am always looking for ways to help prepare our mom's in many areas and one of them is on how to help prepare them in educating their children.  One way I try to help our moms is to invite guest speakers in who have experience in education or in home schooling overseas.  Although everyone's experience is different there is a lot we can learn from each other.  Last week we had the privilege of having a missionary on furlough come in and share with our moms.  Rachel, has home schooled her children as well as other children overseas.  She is a Regional Educational Consultant.  I am thankful for people like Rachel who are willing to invest in our students and share practical advice with our moms.  Although there are many challenges for our mom's as they think of educating their children in remote areas, there are so many great options out there.  And I can speak from our experience that it can be done successfully.  Like I have said before, we don't just want to see our MK's to survive their overseas experience but to thrive in their MK experience.