“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” Psalm 127:3
We all grew up being told that there is no talking during school class, right?
When I was in PreK (4 years old), my father was principal of a large Christian school in Flint, MI. My mom taught in the school. I was the cutest 4 year old. I say this because my mom told me 4 was my cutest age! That year, I received enough demerits (remember those?) basically to be kicked out of school. What did I do wrong?
All were for talking out of turn. I didn’t raise my hand before I spoke! Me, the principal’s daughter! In my defense, my teacher wrote a sweet note that I still have today. She said that “Julie just has ideas and wants to share. They are all still learning how to raise their hands first.” Adorable, right?
Now, I understand in a school classroom setting that if every Julie or Johnny wanted to share something there needs to be order. If there was not some rules or guidelines in place, then nothing would be accomplished and the room would get quite noisy!
It’s also not a bad thing to have rules for our children in order to teach them how to follow the rules both at home and out in the world.
However, I’m realizing the beauty of homeschooling is we don’t have to have the SAME rules.
My rules are quite different and not really related to how schools are run.
Yesterday, in Geography class, we were learning about maps and how to read them. Specifically, Melanie learned how one inch would equal so many miles and you can figure out how far one town is from another.
Her map happened to be of Tennessee. My closest friend lives in Tennessee and she is like a grandma to Melanie. This woke Melanie up in school and she had to tell me to come over and see what state was on the page. Deena’s state!
I got thinking that if I had a class of 20 and everyone had a story during each class period, we might get precious little accomplished. With homeschooling, time doesn’t matter really. Some days we are finished her “book learning” in an hour (yes, you read that right!). Depending on the day and the work set out, she might take an hour or she might take two. She tends to be finished early because her mother is working close by encouraging focus.
I’m so thankful that we can stop, though, in our focus, to discuss how this page or that poem relates to our personal lives. Conversations flow both ways and I DO believe the shape of Tennessee is now engrained in her brain because we stopped to talk about her beloved Deena.
Homeschooling isn’t about an 8-3 book learning experience. Homeschooling broadens their horizons, starts conversations and slows us down to retain all that we are learning!
Happy conversations!
“And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” Isaiah 54:13