Homeschooling is not rocket science. Honestly, if the public schools are turning out the kids they are – we can do far better with our one on one instruction and in a more simplistic way.
I have been homeschooling for over 18 years now. I have one child left. Six children and five are finished high school.
What have I learned?
I have amazing memories of my school years in small Christian schools and having great teachers. I wanted my kids to have the same experience. There is one problem here. They aren’t me and they aren’t in the schools, I was in. I was clinging to nostalgia. The first few years of homeschooling was spent trying to figure out what worked for us. I had some pretty harsh days as we tried all the things from school rooms (complete with desks) to being all around the dining room and finally to just being us. So, what did I learn?
EVERY child is different even when they carry the same DNA and live together. They have different habits and learning styles and their personalities just aren’t the same even.
EVERY child needs some form of boundaries to grow and learn and become a productive adult. We discipline so we don’t have a chaotic home and to teach our children to listen so as to possibly save their lives someday. So simple.
EVERY child learns differently. I have one boy that started life as a very active kid always smiling and always running around. He learned best standing or laying half way off the couch or lying on the floor instead of sitting at a desk. Two things: he happens to be my neatest at penmanship and today as an 19 year old he has become so slow! I think the teenage bug bit him. However, he graduated at 16, went to college and finished his associates degree in less than 2 years. He has a full-time job as an IT manager at a private school!
EVERY child has different learning abilities. Some learn by straight up memorization (I was like that in high school although now with old age, I struggle to remember things). Some learn by drawing as opposed to writing long reports and some learn by reading every book they can find.
EVERY child has different subjects they excel in and different subjects they struggle with. There are so many children out there struggling in school because they cannot keep up with others in the classroom. They might struggle with math and need more one on one or maybe it is history where they need to be made aware visually how exciting our world is. No one learns exactly alike. God created us all differently and thus we learn in different ways. On this note, I have recently discovered a great online math course that isn’t based on the common core method and I am loving it for my 4th grader. You can find it here.
I think it was this last point that woke me up the most and led me to believe that public schools are just not ever going to succeed at a high percentage rate while they insist on making the kids learn all at the same rate and level. Even some Christian schools keep insisting on children learning exactly the same way. If you have a child weaker in a subject, it will not only leave them far behind but beyond frustrated at learning.
So here are some of my tips (after years of trial and error) on the whole teaching process.
1-Find what schedule works for your family and stick with it. Routines matter to kids. However, the key word is your family – your family has different ways of living than mine. What works for us may not work for you or someone else. I cannot expect you to do what I do when your kids are vastly different. Children have different needs and it isn’t for us to treat them all the same.
2-Find what curriculum works for you. It may not be the same as what your best friend is using and it may not be even the latest greatest. Look them over and find what suits you and each of your children. It is again, a personal decision and some years you have to change and adapt depending on the child and the school year.
3-Find what environment works for you and your children. Like I have already mentioned, we started out at school desks. I still wish I could go back to them but my children are so vastly different in age range (as of today, we have ages 28-9: six kids) that it just didn’t work.
We have tried any and all ways to learn and for the past few years I have found what worked best was letting the older children (middle to high school age) work in their rooms and having the younger ones with me. I discovered that keeping a routine that worked for our family and teaching them from a young age how to study has meant they can be on their own and learn.
One last tip – be flexible during the school year. Stay tuned in to what is working and what isn’t and be willing to step on the pride of never changing something once you’ve started it, and bend a little. Adapt to the circumstances. I am preaching to the worst offender as I love routine and do NOT like change. Our oldest became my test case on this and he passed with flying colors. He also passed BMT with the Air Force well because routine matters there. He learned that the military makes you change and adapt all the time. Lessons learned!
Homeschooling can be a beautiful thing and I love it so much. I will never do anything else and I’m wondering what I will do when they all leave home. To have my children around each day has been such a blessing.
Let me know if you have any questions on any points I went over. I am here to help. And for those crazy homeschool days, check out this article. It may be of help to you.
“But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;”
(II Timothy 3:14)
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