If You Think You Want to Home-school...

I will be adding my second child to the home-school classroom this fall.

He is 5, and although I have not taught him anything yet,

he can count to 100,

write his name (albeit rather roughly)

knows all the sounds of the letters,

and is sounding out books,

such as Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham.

I have educational games and his older sister plays school with him:

this largely thank for all of the said accomplishments.

(I am not saying this to brag: only to share that home-schooling is not as hard as it is feared to be.)

He is, by no means, an advanced child.

In fact, when he was a toddler, I wondered if he was somewhat autistic.

He is very distracted, deliberate, 

and seems to falter on things that seem clearly normal to me.

I have several friends who are looking into home-schooling their growing breed

of tiny folk.

I remember how scared I was going into it,

not certain I would be up to the task.

So, I sat down and analyzed my home-schooling trail so far:

some coming from observation of others along the way,

some from my own high-school years of being home-schooled,

some from what I've learned with Violet so far.

I decided to share some things I would like to have known

if I had started out without any of it.

1.  Know why you are home-schooling,

 and remind yourself often.

Being a gardener has taught me much,

not just about plants,

but about life.

Anything in life that we value,

we put time and work into.

Precious things need care and protection.

A seedling must be put into soil that is conducive to growth.

It must be weed-free.

It must receive the proper amount of sun, nutrients, and water

or it will die.

Children are no different.

They enter life like a blank slate:

they know nothing except how to make you know when they are uncomfortable or comfortable.

I home-school for various reasons,

but the basic reason is this:

I want to control what my children learn.

 

There are so many opinions, philosophies, motivations in life.

My motivation for all of life is to please God and do what He wants,

to give thanks to Him no matter what my circumstances,

to obey His commands and trust Him.

Clearly, I am far from attaining, but this is my life goal.

I do not see this pathway being directed to children in public schools.

 My children are my treasures,

 and I cannot afford to offer my most valuable gifts to something or someone 

who will not care for, protect, and guide my children

the way the Bible directs.

The bottom line is,

 I cannot in good conscience submit my child to the classroom

or even the teaching

of the public school system.

To do so would be against the core of what I believe.

 

On days when I am tired or having difficulty getting my child to understand how to multiply fractions

or that Pharaoh is spelled with a "ph" instead of an "f" and is spelled with an 

"ao" instead of an "oe",

I have to remind myself of the big picture of why I home-school.

Sometimes, on hard days,

I have to remind myself this several times a day.

But I know why I do what I do,

and I take it as a serious responsibility.

2. Choose your curriculum wisely.

Days are gone when a home-schooler was a rarity.

The choices of home-school curriculum are not only abundant,

they are downright overwhelming.

Everybody has her favorite,

and it is incredibly hard not to push that favorite.

But everybody is different.

Find out what you want in schooling and why you want it.

What is your philosophy?

Then find the curriculum that makes that happen.

Do you want your child to be advanced and super intelligent?

(Think about this and why).

Do you want your child to enjoy what they are learning?

(Again, why?)

Do you want to have a broad education that includes many subjects and extra-curricular activities?

(What reasons for this?)

Do you want to cover the basics and then zero in on what your child has interests in?

(What benefits to this?)

Get a pen out and pray and write the answers to these questions.

What do you want from schooling your child?

I hated workbooks when I was a child.

I hated learning the bold-print facts.

Yes, I may remember a few,

but I remember, by far, the story books that I read about people.

Harriet Beecher Stowe - the preacher's daughter who could not do nothing

 during a time when slavery was accepted,

 so she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin which awakened people to it's ugly reality in advance of the Civil War.

Wikipedia.org 

 Thomas Alvin Edison - the inventer, "fourth most prolific inventor in history, holding 1,093 US patents in his name, inventor of the phonograph, motion-picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical light bulb."  And yet, as a little boy, he was not so much to think of.  "In school, the young Edison's mind often wandered, and his teacher, the Reverend Engle, was overheard calling him 'addled'. This ended Edison's three months of official schooling. Edison recalled later, 'My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint.' 

His mother taught him at home."

Wikipedia from the source: "Edison Family Album"

Robert E. Lee- the great Christian general,

caught in the middle of loyalty to his state,

 and his beliefs about not dividing the US

as well as his apparent opposition to slavery;

an incredible champion, even in the face of defeat.

a man respected by his fellows on both sides of the war.

Wikipedia.org

Sacagawea - kidnapped and married to a stranger,

stolen from the native American tribe of her family,

a woman who chose to live life well, despite her situations,

a woman who spent her days doing what she may not have wanted to do

but making the most of it.

The effect that she had, in traveling with Lewis and Clark,

not only to help guide and be an interpreter,

but also a symbol of peace to the people they met up with along the way,

contributed to generations to come the way no other could have.  

 Wikipedia.org

George Washington Carver - born into slavery but rising out of it to change the world. 

  A devoted Christian scientist,

Carver was often heard to say "The Lord has guided me," and "Without my Savior, I am nothing."

"He asked God to reveal to him the secrets of the universe,"

 Tuskegee University's Frank J. Toland said. 

"God's response to him was that his mind was too small to perceive that."

To that Carver replied,

 "Then teach me the mysteries of the peanut."

He said,

"I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station,

 through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in."

 He created over 300 uses for peanuts

and 100 for sweet potatoes;

Carver was a man who used plants to help people

during a time when these discoveries were essential for their survival,

he encouraged farming that would improve the soil,

he gave his life to share his studies,

he changed the shape of the world

through something as simple as a peanut.

 cbn.com: George-Washington-Carver-Master-Inventor-Artist

 Adolf Hitler-a boy who didn't get a long with his father, 

a lad who lost his little brother which left him depressed ,

a young man who clung to his mother 

but lost her to breast cancer while under the care of a Jewish doctor,

 a failed artist rejected twice from art school.

Instead of looking to God, who created all of mankind equally,

he chose hatred,

 a prideful anger of superiority,

 a view that man could chose who should live

and who should die,

what life was worth living,

and what life was not.

He pushed for a government to have full control of individuals and all that they owned.

Hitler let his bitterness at life and circumstances

 twist his mind

Wikipedia: Buchenwald Corpses

to devastate people all over the world.

 History1900s.about.com

From the books I poured over in my school days,

I gained a knowledge that we all have one life to live,

a choice to live for God and be used to do great things in our own way,

or a choice to live selfishly apart from God, the consequences of which could wreak 

horrendous evils on ourselves and many others.

I could go on with the details about these and others that I read about in books

far more than the isolated dates and terms I memorized about Magellan, Marco Polo,

and the chart of scientific elements.

Granted, terms and dates are important in the overall scheme

 and as a general knowledge base,

but the appreciation one receives from reading about people and history,

make their contributions to the world

come alive.

If your goal in home-schooling is to pack your children's days with terms, intelligence,

impressive overload of "look how smart my home-schooler is,"

if you think you need to teach them everything there is to know

in the few years you have with them,

you may be left with the many I see who go this route:

burnt out and loading them up to send to school

because they are as overwhelmed

 or as bored to tears as their pupils are.

 

Find something you love as well as your children,

and you'll both learn heaps of valuable lessons

while making wonderful memories learning.

3. Talk to other home-school moms.

My facebook message box is full of messages to other home-school moms.

I am nosey by nature

but I am also determined to find things that I love

 or I know will suit the personality types of my children.

Each child is different.

Violet excels at math and reading

but her spelling and grammar were atrocious.

I asked around to as many home-school mothers as I could

about their choices in spelling and grammar

and why,

and if there was improvement,

what the curriculum required.

I want my children not to be hindered by anything they set out to do for God

and I want to fully equip them to that end,

but I want the least resistance possible in the process.

It takes work and time

and contacting people who I don't even know for inpute,

but I have made invaluable friendships by doing so.

What better way to acquire information than from somebody who has been in the trenches?

The sisterhood of home-schooling presents an excessive concentration

of welcome gab.

Home-school mothers, in general, love to talk about home-schooling

because,

well, let's face it,

we're all swimming around in this pool of 

"gotta get it done right"

and we're all constantly learning everyday.

Sometimes I think that is why God have us basic guidelines for training up our children

but left the rest open.

His will for us is to seek wisdom

and ask for it

(James 1).

He gives the grace that we need for each day.

 

"And he said unto me,

My grace is sufficient for thee:

for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities,

that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

^{II Corinthians 12:9}

(To be continued).

(Thanks to my mom for letting me use pictures of her gardens.

Next time I will finish using pictures from my Mother-in-law's gardens).

Linking up to:

Theprairiehomestead.com
Weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com
Firefliesandjellybeans.com 
 Hiphomeschoolmoms.com
Raisinghomemakers.com
Gnowfglins.com
Time-warp-wife.blogspot.com