Our homeschool room:
Sept. 2009
Sept. 2019
1. Homeschooling is an Investment
When one makes an investment, it usually requires some kind of stake with the notion that time will reward the investor with a return. There will be small pay offs within the days, months, and year, but I have found that the deeper return will come years later when our students are adults.The goal is that this return will come in the form of WISDOM, and that wisdom will be applied to their lives.
'Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom." - Charles Spurgeon.
We invest a great deal of our time, money, resources, space, and energy into home education knowing that it will produce fruit in time. Lord, let it be!
2. Shaping Skills
The work place is looking for leaders who have a skill set. These skills are divided into HARD and SOFT skills. Everyone might know this already-sorry.
The HARD skills come from education- proficiency in a certain field, a degree or certification. Time will lead your student to those skills. The beautiful thing is as a home educator, you can start equipping/preparing your student for their lifelong calling.
--Example #1: Our daughter wanted to be a pilot. Not only did we help our Em with her physics and math studies, but we were blessed to also allow her experiences to engage in this specialized field while she was in highschool. See her solo flight here.
--Example #2: Our other daughter wanted to get into photography. We looked for opportunities for her to develop these skills and actually she was able to win photo contests, capture important memories, grow as a photographer, and now make money off of her work.
The SOFT skills are personal attributes that can be acquired over time. Luke 16:10 talks about being faithful in the little. Our kids need opportunities to be faithful in daily tasks that enable them to learn bigger responsibilities, and also to learn to manage their time. Chores, Tidy Zones, and Weekly Charts were/are the nuts and bolts of our school. Believe it or not, but our freshmen can write out his lesson plans for the week on his own. Our daughters in college are still utilizing these skills as they lay out their college schedules.
Also, what about LIFE skills- like money and budget? One of our favorite things to do for school on Fridays is go get groceries. My kiddos buy their own groceries people! I made up this post a few years ago. All my kiddos were smaller then. Now my college students know how to budget and grab their groceries, and so do my 12 and 14 year old boys. :)
3. Celebrating the Differences
This nugget of truth is obvious, but was the hardest to learn as a home educator. Each student/child came with their set of strengths and weaknesses. We had some major academic mountains to move over these years. With the help of the Holy Spirit, I learned to praise Him on the mountain, praise Him for His creations- the good and the bad.I have found that with His help, we were able to conquer these mountains one step at a time.
I found it interesting that my daughter changed the sign in their apartment to this as they start the new school year.
4. Work With What You've Got
It has been a hard financial journey to home educate. We pay our house taxes, AND we pay for all our curriculum, supplies, tutoring, and lessons. We had to improvise and work with what we had. Look around you, what resources could you pull in? Our Mommaw worked with our girls to help them with sewing lessons, which in turn was used for a Choir Concert.
We have also bartered for help with laundry. We have had retired teachers willing to come and help our students with reading. We are so thankful for these extra helps!
5. Be a Lead Learner
I have also learned so much as home educator. I cannot even begin to express the depths of growth I've experienced. I can honestly say I have:
- solidified my Algebra skills
- gained insight into be a rhetorician
- mastered writing essays
- learned Latin
- mastered music theory
These are just to name a few. Even more than that, I've also learned how to teach, how to pray, how to impart, how to study, how to love unconditionally, how to trust, how to forgive, how to manage my time, how to be refined.
Here is mom's Latin workbook. :)
I would say there is one key ingredient in being a lead learner and that is humility. I heard it once said that if we could parent perfectly, our kiddos would not be in need of a Savior. It was a liberating statement to hear that my children's lives are not hinged on my perfection. We have to remember we are on a journey ourselves. We have to point our children to Jesus, we have to say sorry to our kids. We have to model humility to our kiddos, for they are watching.
6. Read to Succeed
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People has a quote that says, "The person who doesn't read is no better off than the person who can't read." Most books on success or leadership will promote reading! Reading is the medium in which we can be inspired and changed like no other. These books can answer life's greatest questions about man, God, and ourselves. These experiences reach past ours and allow us to take in more than we ever could with our own experiences.
If your kids are babies, toddler, young, teenagers, adults--> read to them. My husband made a commitment to read to our kids every evening before bed. I was so thankful for these times for him to connect with the kids. If you are tired of reading to them, get an audio book out. If you are on a trip- play an audio book in the car. Read together at night instead of watching a movie. Have your student read so much that it becomes a habit. There are so many resources out there for reading- the library, Read to Succeed, and LibriVox to name a few.I have a quote up in our homeschool room that says "TODAY A READER, TOMORROW A LEADER" by Margaret Fuller. I truly believe this.
7. Always Attend
Multiple kids, chores, bills, practice, dogs, church, life- OH MY! It is easy to get washed up in the fast lane of life. We musn't allow this to keep us from being intentional about our time.
Ephesians 5: 15-17 says, "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."
I come back to this scripture on a consistent basis to help me remember my key objectives as mom and as a home educator in each season. There is this thing called MARGINS. You have to decide how much time you want to devote to school at home, and once you do that- you protect those margins. The Strickland School has a schedule and we keep to it. I rarely allow things to interrupt our school hours.
Attending is not only the act of taking charge of something, it is also the act of being present. I have been known to look at my child in the eyes while they tell me something and not hear a word they said because my mind was off somewhere else. I find that when I am engaged in the subject my students are partaking in, they also become more interested.
Attending is also choosing to say NO. I heard it said once that there isn't a shortage of good things to do. I have found in this season that I have to lay aside what is good for what is GREAT. Choose wisely.
Me 'attending' to the boys during our Latin Hour.
8. Pursuing Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
I've heard this phrase numerous times before I truly understood the meaning of it. We started homeschooling because we believed that education should be more about hands on discovery and less about test taking. (More on that with Nugget #10.) I did not realize that we could find God in Math, or find His Thumbprint in Science. I didn't grasp that worship could be the paper we write about on His Goodness. And theology class was happening when we gave a persuasive speech on His Truth. DUH! We honestly don't need to start our school day with devotional because our school day is one long devotional! God is the unifying principle to our studies. He is our study. I try to not let a day go by without pointing out His Truth, Goodness, and Beauty in our studies.
9. Togetherness
Community is another key ingredient needed in order to thrive academically. You must be connected to a group of people in one way or another.
We decided to home educate with Classical Conversations. With CC, families come together once a week to present, dialog, and work together on many subjects. Everyone then goes home to accomplish their weekly work. The parent remains the academic advisor for their student all year long. They have the power to veto, switch, add, scale, tweak, or alter their student's academic trajectory. This is a right and privilege I value and take seriously.
Other than CC, I am blessed to have several other homeschooling resources in our region. Our kids can participate in a group History Fair or Field Day. We educators have even banned together for retreats, and recently to help put on a graduation ceremony for our seniors. We are also thankful for our church and the amazing programs that have for us all.
Helen Keller, who truly knew the need for community once said, “Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much” I believe this in so many regards, but mostly, with our ability to glorify God. We just recently sat down with a few parents and contended for our children's academic year. This is a tradition we have been doing since for a decade now.
Do not go at it alone. Connect with other families in the trenches just like you!
10. Nourishment and Assessment
I started this post with the backstory of how we came to the decision of home education. I was grieved by the reality that our daughter was drowning in the mandates of standardize testing. At first, we thought there was a major learning disability. I found myself frustrated when the results offered no major disabilities. This was confirmation that she needed an alternative education. "Children are souls to nourish, not products to be measured."
-Leigh Bortins Unfortunately, we felt our daughter was just another measurement to uphold the exemplary status for the new school marquee. For a few years following, we did not require our daughters to take any major tests other than the chapter quizzes and such. This was a huge mistake. We later realized that assessment was necessary for a multitude of reasons. We had now experienced the two extremes.
With this said, my last nugget of truth would be to find a balance of nourishment and assessment.
Nourishment:
I usher my students to wonder and worship. Remember, Proverbs 25:2 says, "it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to search it out!" Learning is said to be glorious!! Given enough of these opportunities - how can anything damper the zest for learning. I consider these as deposits into their love tanks. We want to keep a surplus!
Assessment:
And all the while I must drill study habits into my students for test taking. Galatians 6:4 says, "But let every person carefully scrutinize and examine and test his own conduct and his own work. He can then have the personal satisfaction and joy of doing something commendable [ in itself alone] without [resorting to] boastful comparison with his neighbor." I offer them enough opportunities to be tested and to be satisfied. I also offer feedback on both the quality and quantity of their work.
Quizlet, College Prep Genius, Academic Records.net, and https://homeschooltestingservices.com/ have been amazing resources with assessments, transcripts, and college readiness.
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Well! There it is! Thank you for reading. I hope you have found these personal experiences from the last eleven years insightful/inspiring for your own journey. God willing, I have six more years at home. I'll have to post again at that time! <3 span="">
One last thing, before I end this reflection. I feel it necessary to thank all of those who have impacted and sown into our journey. First off, thank you God for your sovereignty over our home.
A huuuuugggeeeee shout out to Papa & Granny and Pawpaw & Nana - you both were/are our biggest supporters. You backed us financially, you helped with school supplies, curriculum, you've come to school presentations, graduations, and you have celebrated with us all the way!
Another thank you to Leigh Bortins and Classical Conversations teams for blazing a trail for us in C/TX. Thank you to Robin Tipton for modeling this thing called homeschooling. Thank you to all of you who have tutored or sown into our home academics in one way or the other.
With gratitude,
Disclaimer: these experiences listed in this post do not prohibit anyone from their own experiences and deductions. I personally endorse public education to educate the public. I know and love many excellent public educators and I think highly of their endeavors. We also have no hard feelings for our elementary school our daughters attended as well as the leadership who served and is currently serving. Lastly, this post is not exclaiming that home education is the gospel-the only way to Truth, knowledge, and success. Only Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Light, so I will leave it at that.
