The Top 10 Reasons We Homeschool Our Children

Has anyone ever asked you why you homeschool?  Did the question catch you off-guard, or were you prepared to answer?  The first time that I was asked that question, I was not really prepared to answer clearly, so I purposed to get my reasons fleshed out and written down.  This exercise had multiple benefits ... I was better prepared the next time someone asked why I homeschooled, and I could read through my reasons when I was waivering after a tiring day.  Several years ago, Sonlight published ten reasons which stated mine (and additional reasons that hadn't yet occurred to me) in a more succinct manner:

1. To instill your values and beliefs in your children - this is a primary reason for most homeschoolers with whom I talk.  We want to be the ones who guide our children in developing their character and their faith, and to do so in our home amongst those who love them, rather than trusting them to learn from their peers.

2. To encourage academic excellence in your children.  That phrase - academic excellence - can bring both delight and fear to parents.  Perhaps you aren't confident in your own academic excellence and thus wonder whether you will be able to set an appropriate standard for your children.  If that is the case, then set a new standard for yourself alongside the children, because most homeschooling parents find that they learn quite a lot in the process of guiding their children in their studies.  Seek out materials that do not require you to know the subject, but will enable you to learn with the children ... you'll be amazed at the results.

3. To speak to and meet your children's unique, individual needs.  Let's face it, in a classroom environment, everyone can't march to a different drummer.  But in your home, you can tailor the materials you use to best speak to your children's individual learning styles.  Explore my earlier posts about this topic and equip your child with the tools that God designed him or her to use most effectively.

4. To help your children through the difficult times in their lives.  Or even allow them to help you through difficult times.  That's why God placed us in families - not only to grow together, but to also hold each other up.  I have often said that I believe our teenagers need us (parents) as much as our preschoolers do, and the years between are equally as important.

5. To help your children understand the hard questions we face in life.  Of course, "understand" is somewhat a relative term for children, since they will grasp increasing depths of understanding as they develop.  But we can still be there consistently, answering their questions at the level they can grasp, affirming their desire to know and our faith that God is always with us.

These are enough for now - I'll finish the list in my next post.  Meanwhile, I encourage you to contemplate these reasons.  Do they reiterate your reasons for homeschooling?  If so, what have you done to put them into action, and could you fine-tune your efforts?  If not, then how do your reasons vary, and what are you doing to act on them?

Kelly

Develop a Love for Learning, part 2

So let's look back to our formula. We've talked about Exposure through Exploring, Experiencing and the Emotional connection, but now we look at what these yield, and the first thing I think of is Creativity. When you read great books together, the children's interests in the information to which they have been exposed can inspire their own projects and activities, rather than activities planned by the parent. A pre-planning activity that is instigated by the parent may not tie in to the children's interest, in which case the time and effort devoted by the parent is not as fruitful as letting the chldren drive the activities. When we studied Egypt our boys begged us to delay planting the garden so that they could set up a model archaeological dig - this was so much more effective than my spending an hour planning and prepping for an activity that the children would spend 5 minutes doing and not necessarily find enlightening. When you read a pioneer book, your child may want to churn butter; when you study pyramids, your child may want to find a few boxes of sugar cubes handy for building a model; when you study Samuel Morse, you may find your children working to set up a mini-telegraph in your home. The possibilities are endless, as is the fruit. This creativity results in greater Comprehension of the information that has been explored.

While reading great books together is a primary way to encourage children to love to learn, there is another key way that incites a love for learning and also encourages Creativity and Comprehension. That is to share something you love with your child and do it right along with them. If you have a skill or hobby, share it with your kids. This could include fishing, music, baking, car mechanics, or gardening. Your child will be unskilled and probably make more of a mess than you would, but because they want to be like you, this type of shared experience will make them not only want to learn more about the activity but also to know more about you. Beyond imitating mom or dad, your children may seek to imitate heroes they discover in their books. Ben Franklin, Helen Keller, Thomas Edison, William Wilberforce, Albert Einstein and so many more can inspire your children to dream big and aim high. When learning side-by-side, you will be encouraged to learn more, explore more options and feel excitement in finding out what happened. Your enthusiasm will inspire your children, and the more experiences they have, the closer they will come to the last part of our formula - Mastery. This occurs when information has been clearly fixed in a pattern with which new information can fire in the brain and turn on the lights.

Einstein's formula has been used to provide a familiar visual reminder for the key points presented for developing a love for learning:

Exposure in Exploration, Experience, Emotion, Excitement = Mastery, Creativity, Comprehension

When we incorporate exposure, exploration and experience that ties emotions into our learning, we immerse ourselves into what we are learning, experiencing it with multiple senses, as opposed to skimming the surface, and we find that mastery comes from the creativity and comprehension that this immersion fosters. Put these to work in your homeschool adventure and I am confident that you will find your children - and even yourself - developing a love for learning.

Kelly

Develop a Love for Learning, part 1

Whether you are a current homeschooler, or considering homeschooling, if you have a child that thinks school is boring or anything but fun, you are looking for answers. How do we develop a love for learning in our children?

As I pondered this question and began jotting down ideas, it occurred to me that the ideas I had could be visualized through Einstein's familiar formula.

Let's start with E ...

Exposure - working from the fact that the brain's primary function is collection of information, we need to expose our children to information in a variety of forms that employ multiple senses.

• Examples bring awareness of a topic and spark their interest. Whether you are presenting engaging characters in context of a story, or taking your children on a nature hike, or showing them the variety of fruits and vegetables in the produce section of the grocery store ... you are bringing awareness. Facts presented without a connection are harder to grasp, but examples provide the context needed to retain information and begin to use it.
• Exploration is the next step as you gain Experience by putting the example into motion, test its application, discuss it and make comparisons, build a model or create a map. By working to provide opportunity to exercise the examples, you will find your children's interest growing.
• Emotion is the "gatekeeper of learning and performance," according to Susan Kovalik, the founder of Center for Human Brain & Human Learning. She points out that emotion keys memory, as you will understand if you think back to significant childhood memories. Invariably those memories can be tied to a strong emotion, be it anger, fear, joy, etc. Likewise, your child will remember information that is tied to emotion, even in the realm of academics.
• Excitement on your part is contagious and is the key to drawing in your children. Many of us have seen Brad Stein's Visine commercial where he epitomizes the lack of excitement with his "wow." If you are just going through the motions to press your children to get their work done, your children aren't going to be absorbing as much as if you are eager to see what can be discovered each day. If the curriculum you are using doesn't inspire excitement for you or your children, you may want to consider a change.
  

Even more intricately than the computers that are so central to our society today, our brains make meaning of new information by storing it in patterns. Your brain organizes information into patterns which are cataloged for storage and future retrieval, just as a computer would store information in documents, files and folders, according to the way you save the data. When you as the teacher present new information already sorted into a pattern, then your child's brain is easily able to use the information. Academic examples would be studying materials in a historical theme, or focused on geographical cultures, teaching Math with manipulatives or exploring fractions through a baking project. When we studied Science, we not only read about it, but we also did experiments, which naturally inspired my children to want to know more, dig deeper and find answers to their questions. When your child's brain seeks to retrieve information that has been stored in a pattern, the information in one neuron connects with information in other neurons, creating a brain-firing, electro-chemical reaction ... what we commonly refer to as the "lights go on." Susan Kovalik says, "the more experiences children have, the greater their ability to make connections."

My family has experienced this time and again when reading books or watching movies. Think about it - when you go to a movie, pay the admission price, perhaps stock up on popcorn and drink, and settle in to the theater seat, you would not be pleased if what appears on the screen is a list of bulleted statements telling the story. Interested? NO! The story in visual movie form, or in the rich word form found in great literature, calls you forward to find out what happens. "Just the facts, ma'am" is not appealing, yet if you imbed any amount of otherwise dry facts in the storyline, they become meaningful and memorable. This is because they are attached to the pattern of the story. An example of this would be our experience with the movie, National Treasure. The plot was intertwined with a mystery related to history, and set in a variety of historical places. What child or parent didn't learn American History in the process of watching that movie? We had the opportunity to be in Philadelphia after the movie came out on DVD, so we watched it again before venturing out to see the sights. Suddenly, the buildings had a whole new meaning - my boys were looking for the different places that were shown in the movie, searching for artifacts like those they had seen, and even got very excited to meet a park ranger who had been in the movie.

Great literature does the same without requiring the movie theater, projector or other technology - in fact, I love the versatility of reading. Great books can not only be read almost anywhere, but can transport you anywhere, anytime, and give you and your children a thirst to find out more about the person, time period or event. Emotional connections that are necessary for children to learn can be found by reading - and living the events through the characters in - great literature.

stay tuned for the rest of the equation ...

Summertime Strategies

Ah, the good ol' days of summer. We remember them from our childhood as carefree days when we didn't have to dress for school, but instead could spend our days playing barefoot outside. Fast forward to the present and you may not see the summer as a carefree time. Some homeschooling families choose to school year-round, taking short breaks distributed through the year, while others follow the traditional school calendar and take 10-12 weeks "off" of school.

If you take a break from formal school work in the summer, do you sometimes feel like you take on the roll of referee in place of teacher? You aren't the only one! I often have homeschooling moms ask me how to make summer feel more productive and less like a free-for-all. My answer comes from a good friend of mine who has often said, "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

Think about that statement. It is really true in every aspect of our lives. Now, I'm not advocating that you schedule every moment of your summer days, weeks and months. I don't even schedule that much detail into my normal school year. But ... it helps to have a general template to follow, and include some regular activities to keep the days in order and give the children benchmarks to follow.

What are some items that you can include in your general template? Well, here are a few suggestions:

• continue the habit of reading aloud together - if you didn't finish all the Read-Alouds from your program in the school year, use your summer to complete them. This might be a great lead-in to a post-lunch quiet time, helping your children calm down and relax during the hottest part of the day.
• don't abandon the chore list! Those everyday and weekly tasks still need to be done, and there may be additional projects that could be completed with the help of your children. This is a valuable part of training them in life skills.
• set regular times for the beach, pool or park, and perhaps invite friends to accompany you. If this activity is scheduled consistently, you shouldn't have to field repeated questions such as "when can we go to ...?"
• focus on Science during the summer - this subject is sometimes one that gets overlooked in the demands of a heavy schedule during school, but it can be a delightful, hands-on project for the summer time, when you can take the time for rabbit trails according to your children's interests.
• planning a road trip? Add some journaling activities for your 3rd-grade-and-older children to help them record the adventure. You can print copies of the road maps you would use and teach the children how to read the maps and mark the route you take. When you stop at various sites, encourage them to collect brochures and take pictures that can then be incorporated in their journal, along with a brief note about their experience. These can be as simple as a pocket folder with notebook paper, maps and brochures, or can grow into a scrapbook of the trip if your child is so inclined.
• find a volunteer opportunity for individual children or the whole family. Whether helping at the local library, the animal shelter or a nursing home, there are a variety of options to demonstrate Christian service and reach out to people.

No doubt you will hear at some point in the summer the inevitable phrase ... "I'm bored." What's your response? Well, my first piece of advice is to limit the amount of electronic entertainment your children are allowed each day. The more time they spend in this way, the more addicted they tend to become, and the less creative they are with unplugged time. Part of your summer plan should include parameters for electronic entertainment. Then supply some craft kits or general creative supplies for your children to use. Another friend shared a wonderful response to this phrase - when one of her children declared his boredom, she would tell him to go outside and play for a bit, and when he came back in she would have a chore for him to do. Oddly enough, he was generally outside for an extended amount of time.

I pray that you have a blessed summer, with an occasional opportunity to sit on the porch with a cool glass of lemonade in hand as you visit with friends and family.

Kelly

Move and Learn

Do you remember your days in the classroom? Mine were so long ago they are pretty fuzzy, but I do recall hearing the teacher reminding students to sit still, encouraging them to focus rather than fidget. Did you hear that when you were in school? Perhaps you were one of the students they were speaking to, and you were struggling against your natural inclination to move while you learned.

Research is now demonstrating that children benefit from having the freedom to move while they are learning. According to a recent report on ABC News, classrooms have begun incorporating more exercise and beneficial movement, and the student's scores are improving significantly. Some classrooms have stability balls for the students to sit or bounce on rather than the traditional desk chair. Other classrooms are set up for students to stand while they work, and take movement breaks regularly. A high school near Chicago has shifted each student's schedule to start the day with physical education, as well as providing balls and bikes in the classrooms so that the students are constantly on the move. The result ... reading scores have doubled, and math scores have risen by a factor of 20. Rather than cutting the PE program, this high school's administration is looking for additional ways to get the kids moving.

Do you have children who struggle with math or reading? I would suggest that you get them moving. One of my earlier posts spoke about the kinesthetic learning modality, but I don't think that these schools are finding that the movement is benefitting only those students who are wired kinesthetically. I think there is benefit for everyone in movement. Exercise, such as square dancing, which incorporates aerobic activity to increase the heart rate and intricate movement to stimulate thinking, can jump start your child's brain (or your own) for better problem solving.

So break away from the desk, table, or couch on a regular basis during your school hours, and get moving! Explore new ways to challenge your children and yourself. You'll provide an outlet for their wiggle and, no doubt, discover that thinking is not as challenging as it was in your stationary past.

Kelly

Feeling Weary or Discouraged?

Do you find yourself counting the days until this school year is ended? It isn't uncommon for homeschool parents to feel fatigue and even discouragement in the spring. The Bible indicates that many of our experiences in daily life correspond to spiritual situations. Fatigue and discouragement in the physical can be a reflection of spiritual battles. My pastor recently shared some valuable insights for having victory in the spiritual and physical aspects of life and I thought they may be of help for you as you come into the home stretch for this school year.

First, you must know your enemy. There were days in my homeschool experience that I was inclined to think that my children were the enemy, but that was really not the case. Read 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 if you don't believe me. Your children are a gift from God, not your enemy; so you need to look at the bigger picture to identify your enemy. Perhaps it is a schedule that is packed far too full, allowing no breathing space or down time. In this season of your life, you need to protect your school time and carefully select your outside activities. If you feel that you are making little progress in your homeschooling, you may need to examine your approach and explore other options. When I began to explore my children's learning modalities and selected materials that worked in conjunction with those modalities, then our efforts were much more successful.

Second, you must know your weak points. If your children "push your buttons" that will be a clue that you have weak points. You may find it helpful to find an experienced homeschooler or 'Titus 2' woman at church and ask her assistance in identifying those weak areas and her advice and prayer support as you seek the Lord's help in fortifying those areas. God can using the homeschool setting to show you areas that He wants to develop in you. Don't ignore these opportunities ... it's a valuable part of your growth, and can demonstrate to your children that God works on us all.

Next, you need to know your weapons. The passage I referenced earlier in 2 Corinthians tells us that "the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful" and 1 Peter tells us that God's grace is as varied as the trials we face, so you can be confident that He will help you. Your first weapon is prayer, surrendering yourself as you seek His guidance. You can also explore alternate curriculum options, seek to plan your schedule and days more carefully, and practice employing the word "no" with a smile. I'm primarily referring to not agreeing to participate in every possible activity, but choosing them carefully, ensuring that they provide greater benefit than cost to you in time, preparation, and energy. This was a hard lesson for me.

Lastly, I strongly encourage you ... don't give up! If you know in your heart that you are called to homeschool your children, then press on. If your current approach isn't working, then explore other options. Attending a homeschool convention is a great way to revive your vision, explore those options and redirect your efforts. Perhaps this needs to be a 'Mother's Day/Weekend Out' type of trip, giving you time to get away, rest and renew your energies. Trust me, you are worth it!

Last weekend was my first homeschool convention of the season. I traveled to what I consider my "home" event - the CHEF of LA convention near Baton Rouge. Though the attendance is not high at this event, it is always encouraging to see familiar faces and meet new homeschoolers who are just beginning their journey.

Mike Farris of Home School Legal Defense Association was a keynote speaker this year. Though the graduation of my youngest son finished my years as an active homeschooler, I still like to stay abreast of what is happening in the community, so I purchased the recordings of his sessions. He opened with a "Past, Present and Future" view of homeschooling which I found very interesting! The homeschooling movement has reached the 30-year mark, and it is obvious that God has intervened repeatedly to open doors and clear the path. However, lest we become complacent in our assumption that our rights to homeschool will continue, I encourage you to beware. There are still many individuals and groups who seek to quietly take those rights away. Stay alert to what is going on outside your homeschool walls ... the enemy is prowling ...

While a wide variety of informative sessions were being held, my assistant, Sherrie, and I spoke with veteran and prospective homeschoolers about their options. For those of us who grew up with a classroom education, textbooks and related materials seem to be the norm for education; but there is so very much more available. I think back to the various travels that my boys experienced through the pages of biographies, classics and historical fiction, immersed in the lives and thoughts of the characters in the books; and I would not want to return to the surface-skimming pages of a textbook. One episode in particular has stuck in my memory for some 14 years ...

In our first year of using Sonlight, my 5th grader had read a biography of Orville and Wilbur Wright, and his Language Arts assignment was to pretend that he was their mother, Mrs. Wright, and write a letter to her grandchildren relating a story from their father's childhood. The idea was for my son to review all the accounts he had read of the Wright brothers' adventures and select one to narrate in an informal letter format. However, my son informed me that he couldn't complete the assignment. "Why not?" I asked. "Because the Wright brothers were bachelors all their lives, and they didn't have children for her to write to!" was his reply. I was momentarily dumbfounded. I had not grasped that level of detail about their lives from the textbook that I had read as a child. I knew that they flew the first plane at Kitty Hawk, NC, in the early 1900s, but I did not know that their father owned a bicycle shop and their childhood exposure to mechanical things had sparked their inventive minds. This was a clear illustration of the level of comprehension and retention that a child experiences from real books as opposed to textbooks.

What are your stories? Did you have a Sonlight "aha" moment? I would love for you to share with us all ...

Kelly