Yes, I have a couple of extra W’s in my title. This week I am posting about What Would Work For Me!
This year, we entered the homeschooling arena. For the past two years our kids attended an international school here in Chiang Mai and we all enjoyed the experience. We pulled them out for this year to become comfortable with the process, before we moved out to a more remote location and helps were less readily available. We have learned many things that do not work for us, and are still ‘getting comfortable’with the rest of it.
I have discovered what would help.
We have met recently, no less than two–count them two– homeschool helpers/assistants/tutors. (The precise title is fluid depending on the day. )
These intrepid young ladies have left their home countries to live with missionary families to lend a hand with the homeschooling process and help the mom have more opportunities with language and culture learning and involvement with the work of getting the Gospel to those who need to hear.
What a great idea! I want to know where I sign up! Is there some kind of list I can put my name on? Just tell me where, and my name is there.
Do you know Christian young person who would be interested in such an valuable life experience that would give them a look at life overseas, at mission work and perhaps even be able to help them make a decision about their future as well? We would feed them well! 
Hey, it does not have to be a young person either, experienced teachers can come too! Wow, wouldn’t that be great!
That would definitely work for me.
Now I am heading to Shannon’s site to see if anyone posted that they know of a bulletin board to find homeschool helpers.
Tina,
What a wonderful idea. I could use one some days here in the States, as well!
I would love for my daughter or son to do that. I was a missionary for two years after college and it was awesome. It would be great for my sons or daughters to get that experience. Bad news is you have to wait at least 9 years for one of mine. By that tine your need might not be as great.
During our year in Uganda we met several such young ladies. They were from countries using England’s educational system so they had a “gap” year between high school and college and had decided to spend it helping out missionaries. In Uganda they came under the auspices and direction of A.I.M. So I’d check with some of the mission agencies that have a large presence where you’re at, to see if any of them are doing something similar.
Another idea is to check with your supporting churches to see if there’s a young person who’d be willing to come for the school year. Just a warning about that, though. Be careful to go through the pastors. Two reasons: 1) it’s just the right thing to do since God has placed him in authority over his flock; and 2) a pastor will know the young person and be a little less un-biased that the parents who may not see potential problems. We’ve seen situations where enthusiastic but totally unprepared-to-be-away-from-home-for-that-long young people can end up being more work than help. We’ve seen an extreme case where the young person had such deep personal issues to deal with that they became suicidal when confronted with culture shock and actual responsibility on top of the issues, and ended up taking a HUGE amount of the missionary’s time before they were finally sent home. (Which then caused problems with that particular supporting church who didn’t understand and thought the missionaries were the cause of the young person’s problems.)
Not to sound too “gloom and doom” about it, but just to point out the need for caution in proceeding. We’ve also seen many successful situations where the young person was a HUGE help to the missionary family, and in turn learned a lot through the experience. When it works out, it’s beneficial on other levels too. The church that sends the young person becomes more involved with and supportive of the missionaries.