My Homeschool

People used to be blown away that we have so many children. And they would ask what we did with them all day. Now that Meg and Israel are school age, they ask if they have started school. When I tell them that I homeschool then they are aghast! Then they say things like how brave I am or how patient or how ambitious or some other illusive character trait that I am sure cannot be applied to my parenting nor my homeschooling.

I guess I take schooling a little bit differently than most people. I am not particularly concerned that they cannot yet count the change in their pockets, or that they don’t necessarily color inside the lines, or that they often write only in capital letters.

But, they can sing “A Bicycle Built For Two” perfectly and they can recite The Lord’s Prayer and the 23rd Psalm. They know the three forms of matter and the five senses. They can find Indonesia on the globe and can tell you about the persecuted Church there. They know stories of David Livingstone and George Mueller and about young people with
life tape over their mouths on the steps of the Supreme Court.

So, what if they are still trying to sound out Green Eggs and Ham! I don’t suppose they’ll be going into high school still sounding out Dr. Seuss. I know they know the important stuff….and the everyday stuff like how to set a table, how to sweep the kitchen, and how to sort the laundry into darks, lights, and towels.

I think that most people have a misconception or two about homeschooling. They think you have to be super smart or super creative or extraordinarily patient/organized/wealthy/[insert whatever you want] to do it. And it’s just not like that. I think successful homeschooling takes a love of life and learning and a willingness to get to know your children! I think that latter thing is what holds people up a lot of the time. I think probably a lot of parents don’t know their children well enough to recognize what is a passion for them, what discourages them, what intimidates them, and what they’ve always wanted to try. It takes a willingness to get intimate with your child’s mind and spirit to homeschool with great success. I don’t know that I’ve had great success yet, but I know homeschoolers who have and they are my role models.

Because I’m getting to know my children, I know that Meg’s motivation to learn to read and write is, “I’m going to India when I get bigger and if I’m going to read the Bible to them and teach people to be healthy, I have to learn to read better.”

I know that Israel is fascinated with Knights and swords, as well as dragons and the sea and any other danger he can conquer to prove his young manliness.

I know that Luc has a two second attention span and his goal in life is to make everyone laugh and love him.

I know that Caesar can understand and follow simple instructions.

Homeschooling, to me, is about capitalizing on a child’s strengths and letting those strengths and natural love of learning new things to guide them to learning everything there is to know, learn, and love about our world and our God.

So, what’s schooling been like in our house lately?

~Last week, I gave Meg and Israel each five random letters in the alphabet. Then we walked to the local market and they had to find things that started with each letter. When we got home they drew pictures of each thing and made a book of their trip to the market. (letters, phonics, observation skills, reading, writing, and art)

~I’ve seen lots of alphabet and phonic charts designed to help children learn sounds. But, I’m not sure they are enormously helpful when the child sees the S for SPIDER and says, “S is for a BUG!” So, I decided that the kids needed to make their own alphabet poster. I bought a big piece of poster board and we printed from the computer a word that started with each letter of the alphabet. Then the children looked through old magazines to find appropriate pictures. Everything got glued on the poster board in order and now it hangs in the boys’ room. (reading, observation skills, and art)

~The kids experimented with the three forms of matter a few weeks ago. We had a bowl of ice. Then we melted it on the stove. Then we watched the steam rise in the air and evaporate. SOLID, LIQUID, and GAS. Then we put some ice cubes in a cup and watched them melt all day. Then we made a mark at the level of the water. For the last few weeks we’ve watched the water become less and less as the liquid turned into a gas. (science and safety—how not to burn yourself on the stove!)

~In another science/art experiment, they played with colored ice cubes. I made ice cubes in three primary colors. Then the children made various combinations of colors and guessed what they would become. Then they played with the plastic bags of ice cubes until they melted. Then they charted if their guesses were correct or not. (art and science)

The kids filled this out with colored pencils.

~I got a children’s cookbook from the library. I told Meg she could make whatever she wanted. She chose “Traffic Light Cookies.” We went shopping together to purchase the ingredients. Then I let her make them as much as she could. She made them for her Papa and Nana and served everyone a cookie when she was done. (Servanthood, consumerism, cooking, math, safety, colors, etc.)

Sure I could be sending the children to preschool or kindergarten, but as yet, I don’t know what they would learn that they aren’t learning at home. But, I do know that we probably wouldn’t have time to spend the day lounging on the front lawn on the blanket reading The Snow Queen, which is how we spent an entire day a few weeks ago.