A Treatise on Why We Do What We Do

Recently, several of my homeschooling friends have made blog entries about why they homeschool, or what their philosophy on homeschooling is and why that matters…so I thought I would try my hand at the idea and give you a little insight into how our family works and what we believe!

I think I need to first talk about the 2 different “styles” or “philosophies” in homeschooling…one is, that homeschooling is just taking the classroom and moving it to your house OR the second idea is, that it is a lifestyle decision, a total commitment to full discipleship of your children, no matter what other educational options are available.  We are in the later camp.  We feel very strongly about what the Lord says in Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

I don’t see how I can teach them, disciple them, and work on their character all during the day if I send them away for 6+ hours of that day to another adult, no matter how Christian they are….the Lord gave US that responsibility when he blessed us with our children.  In all good conscience, I cannot abdicate that responsibility and role in their lives.

I think one of the greatest “side effects” of homeschooling is that they are used to having the same teacher every year.  I have known them from birth, who else, besides our Lord, their Dad and their siblings, cares more about them and knows them better than I do?  I can move at their speed in each and every subject.  I know what makes them tick, what their difficult areas are, a new teacher each year will take months to know those things about them, what valuable time is being lost?!  For continuity’s sake, we will definitely continue to homeschool .

I know lots of people make the point of socialization…and I would say, we don’t send our children to school to be with their friends and play…when else in life will we be artificially age segregated to learn things and play?  I certainly don’t see this in our families, not at church, not in our future job scenarios and most definitely not in ministry.  My children are young, and yet they call people their friends that work at the Y, at the stores that we often frequent…I want them to feel that way about all people.  I teach them to respect adults; but, I pray I never have somber teenagers that are unable or unwilling to participate in conversations with adults.  I pray they can also play with toddlers of friends that come over to dinner.  We have been blessed to “socialize” with many a homeschool family that don’t even have children that are my children’s ages, and yet their teens will “play” with my children for hours while we adults converse.  What a blessing that has been!

I am also a big fan of homeschool co-ops, we are currently involved in three!   We get together and do activities and support each other.  We spend the day together or else meet a few times a week to do crafts and talk about what we’ve been learning, do a story time, go on a field trip/outing…it really is exciting and fun, and by necessity includes children from all age ranges…from our oldest at 7 or 8 years old, down to our youngest newborns.   

You might want to know how I run my day, how I decide what kind of curriculum to use….that is a long one and quite honestly, schedules change from year to year and I’ve been known to change a curriculum or two as well.  I work very hard to prepare for each year, each week, and each day of school; to have books that I need on hand from the library or borrow or buy them.  I try to keep our area creative and yet organized and clean.  I spend time in the summer researching and talking to other moms about what they have used and why it works for them and/or why it didn’t work.  I won’t lie, it is a job, it is work, and it takes a commitment!

This year has been a bit different because I’m now doing school with both of the boys (2^nd grade and Kindergarten).  We do a bit of pre-school with Sissi and she’ll listen in to some of our school; but, she is good at playing and stringing beads or playing with play-doh when necessary!  I start off each year with a planning session and I first figure out every subject that I can do with the children together; Bible and Character Training, History, Science, etc.  Then I make a list of their independent subjects; Math, Grammar, Writing, Spelling, etc. and I figure out and annotate, can they do this by themselves or do they need me to do it with them.  I then always start off the day with our Bible Study and then work with the youngest child for a period and have the older two work on something that they can do independently.  For example, I’ll do tracing and coloring books with Sissi and the boys are doing their Handwriting….I spent one on one time with them when they were younger to be sure they knew how to form all their letters, they just need spot checking now.  Then I move to working with Gwangi on his Math, Grammar, and Reading while Sissi goes and plays and Krypto is still doing independent work like his Logic books, reading Comprehension in the McGuffey Readers and some fun stuff like Sudoku books or dot to dots that are up to 200 ;).  When Gwangi is done, he’ll go and play with Sissi, and then Krypto and I can work independently in peace because the younger two already had my undivided attention.  Krypto and I will finish off the morning doing his Spelling, Writing and Grammar.  At that point, we’re done with our morning routine and they can play, we can go on an outing, meet a friend, attend a co-op, eat lunch, etc.  We have a similar routine in the afternoon with our other subjects.

As to what kind of homeschooler I am…well, I would say we are Christian Classical in our model.  I have really enjoyed reading Susan Wise Bauer’s book “The Well Trained Mind” and use many of her curriculums for Grammar and Writing, etc.  When we were beginning to homeschool, I was going to “recreate the wheel”, according to her descriptions and lists.   When a long time homeschooling mom friend pointed out Tapestry of Grace (www.tapestryofgrace.com) to me, I was quickly convinced that I had found the best of both worlds.  Here was a curriculum that used the 4 year classical model of going through History chronologically and tying in Geography, Literature, Religion, Philosophy, Government to the Historical timeline while showing the Lord’s hand in everything … it made so much sense to me!  I love the classical model, I like the rotating through History at higher and higher levels as your children mature.  They learn all the basics the first time through and then in late elementary and middle school they are already making connections, able to do basic analysis…these are things I could barely do in High School because I still had not had  “one time through History” by the end of my school career.  It had all been in bits and pieces and Unit Studies.  I remember studying about China in my Social Studies class at the same time I was learning about Shakespeare in English…no wonder connections were slow to be made for me.  Tying together the Humanities and seeing the Lord’s hand ALL throughout History is absolutely amazing and I am loving learning things all over again (and learning things I never knew) afresh with my children.

I could go on and on, honestly.  But, I’m sure you’ve heard enough.  You can probably tell that I’m passionate about my children, about having our family be together, about education and most importantly about doing what our Father has called us to do.  Is it hard, YES, is it worth it, YES!  I pray you can discuss this without feeling any offense or judgment and that it will give you a view into how some homeschoolers think and why we do what we do.  I would be thrilled to answer any questions or concerns that you might have.