Be careful about letting life derail the home education train.

One refrain among parent-teachers is that life sometimes (for some, often) gets in the way of schooling. Without entering into the “Life is the education” debate, let me gently suggest that one needs to be careful about letting life derail the home education train.

Family M-mv has been at this gig for seventeen years now. Yes, life happens, and, boy, does this family know it. Death. Grief. Health scares. Job changes. Work demands and travel. Relocations. Automobile accidents. Illnesses. Broken bones. Budget woes. And so it goes.

What has kept our train on the tracks, then, is remembering that we have an obligation — in fact, a legal responsibility — to educate our children. While homeschooling certainly gives us some flexibility in terms of coping with life’s challenges, it does not give us a “pass” on getting the job done. Teachers in traditional classrooms also experience life’s upsets, great and small, but if our children were their students, we’d have every expectation that despite the other demands, those teachers would teach our children.

And so we must have the same expectation of ourselves.

Life happens, then, but the teaching, learning, coaching, studying, and all the rest must continue. No, I didn’t have Family M-mv whip out logic texts during a wake or read Shakespeare during medical testing. But with only a single and obvious exception, I have handled all but the most pressing aspects of our crises when the work of teaching and the work of earning my living (because, yes, until four years ago, I also worked — sometimes, nearly thirty hours per week) were done.

Sure, we take a day here and a day there — more, when needed. But we use a year-round schedule, so there’s time enough for life and education. And, yes, sometimes life’s challenges are the education. But if I had found myself in a perpetual round of skipping lessons and work assignments to cope with life, I would have needed to evaluate seriously my ability to continue with home education.

Some practical advice

■ Schedule routine medical and dental appointments for early in the morning or late in the afternoon. This allows you to get a full day of studies in after or before the visit.

■ The needs of one’s own family must be first. We are allowed to say to others, “No. I’m sorry, but, no.”

■ Illness happens, to be sure, but unless the teacher is ill, some things can go forward as planned. Reading aloud, for example, works well with young patients. Books on tape. Science videos. Unless everyone is down for the count at once, use illness to give the well students some extra attention.

■ Meetings? Again, before school hours or after. On the weekends, even. I was able to conduct a lot of business between 6:30 a.m. and 8 a.m., and 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. when I was working. Many folks now keep a sliding schedule. See if those who need to meet with you can accommodate at either end of the business day.

■ Turn off the phone. Yes, you can. Don’t splutter at me about the pressing reasons you can’t. Just do it. Turn it off. (For that matter, some folks may also need to shut down the computer and hide the iPad, too.) The only time my telephone ringer is on is when the kids are out. Otherwise, I check messages when I’m on break from our reading-thinking-learning day.

■ Put the children’s education first. Force it to the front of the line on your mental to-do list. Once this becomes a habit, you will be better able to discern when it’s acceptable to let life creep into the day.