Why We Home School: Part IV

Why We Home School:  Fun!

School doesn't have to be boring!  It doesn't need to consist of sitting indoors quietly at a desk for 5 hours, listening to the teacher talk and taking notes and filling in bubbles on tests.  Kids don't need to miss out on recess time just because one kid was being disruptive and caused everything to run late.

We go to museums - history, art, science museums.  We spend time at playgrounds.  We watch educational videos.  We weave education into camping trips, road trips, bike rides, hikes, ball games, board games, cookie baking, dog walks, swimming, play dates, and much, much more!  There really is no limit to the creative, fun ways you can teach your children every subject they need to learn.

We made the decision to home school our boys in mid-summer of 2010, with plenty of vacation plans still ahead of us.  We decided to start lessons in the summer, one or two a week, to slowly introduce the boys to the changes coming soon.  The very first lessons we gave them involved budgeting (a.k.a., mathematics), geography, and a mixture of science and art.  Tell a kid they're going to do math lessons during their summer vacation, and they'll either run away screaming, or fall on the floor in tears.  Math?  In the summer?  Boring!!!

But it doesn't have to be boring!

We traveled to Niagara Falls in our home state of New York, we camped, we visited the Buffalo Zoo, and we spent a day at Fantasy Island theme park.

For their math lesson, we gave each boy $33 spending money and a blank budget sheet.  We knew they'd want souvenirs at each of the three locations we visited, and we wanted to teach them both the value of money and how to be responsible with it.  So, their task was to keep track of the amount of money they spent, and when they ran out of money, that was it.  They didn't get any more.  This helped them make wise decisions about their purchases and forced them to add, subtract, and estimate.

Believe it or not, they loved it!  Each time we returned to our campsite after a fun day out, they looked forward to recording how much money they'd spent and seeing how much they had left for the next day.  It was by far one of the best object lessons we've given them thus far.

Back at our camp site, we dove into a geography lesson.  The boys' gramma gave them a book about maps and mapping.  We went over some of the information in it with them, then we went for a hike around the campground.  We had the boys use the information they'd learned as well as the campground map to lead us from our camper around the grounds and back to our camper.  They learned about map symbols, keys or legends, and the compass rose, and they learned how to read a map (and fold it back up when finished!)  

Along the way, as they led us around the campground, they also collected some samples of interesting natural objects, such as leaves, flowers, sticks, stones, etc.  They enjoyed trying to outdo each other in finding the most unusual object.

After they successfully led us back to our camper, we used their collections of objects for a science lesson.  I'd brought sun-sensitive paper with us.  They arranged their objects on the paper, set the arrangement out in the sun for a couple of minutes, brought them back into the shade, and soaked the paper in water for several more minutes.  When finished, the shape of their collected objects burned onto the paper, and soaking the paper in water caused it to create a negative image.  They'd never seen anything like it and were amazed!

As we drove home, sunburned and fatigued after our fun- and education-filled vacation, the boys exclaimed, "This was the best week of my whole life!"

Yes.  Learning can be fun!


Previous post... Why We Home School:  Faith

Coming up... Why We Home School:  Focus

Christian Curmudgeons

Christians are supposed to be happy, right?  I mean, we've heard and accepted the good news. The glad tidings and great joy.  So why are so many Christians such sour pusses?  Can anyone point me to the passage of scripture in the Bible that reads, "Thou shalt not laugh"?  Or "Thou shalt not have fun"?  I'm not a Bible scholar, but I'm pretty sure nothing even remotely similar exists in God's Word.  In fact, I'm pretty sure you can find plenty of examples of God-given joy, laughter, and merriment.

"But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
    let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
    that those who love your name may rejoice in you."

~Psalm 5:11

  Christians are supposed to be glad, sing for joy, and rejoice!

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
    burst into jubilant song with music;"

          ~Psalm 98:4

Christians should be joyful and jubilant!

"There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,"

          ~Ecclesiastes 3:1,4

There is a time for us to laugh and to dance!

So, why are so many Christians stodgy, stuffy, grumpy, curmudgeons?  Now, I don't want to stereotype, but, more often than not, these Christian curmudgeons are in the 50 and over crowd.  I know, when you all were younger, church was different.  You sat in your pew quietly, you stood when it was time to sing hymns and you sang your hymns almost as a chant along with the piano and the organ, there definitely was no guitar accompaniment, and drums in church were unheard of, nobody raised their hands in praise, the pastor didn't tell any jokes, he simply preached the Word, there was no time in the middle of the service to walk around the sanctuary and greet each other.  I'm only 36, and that's what church was like when I was growing up, too.  But... why?

The Bible is filled with not only examples of joy, but reasons to be joy-filled and to express it.  Can we not smile?  Can we not hear a joke and laugh at it?  Even a joke that picks at our own quirks.  We're not perfect, clearly.  Even we Christians do and say some silly things.  Or, things that seem normal to us, others may raise an eyebrow to.  Why can't we laugh at ourselves?  Why can't we enjoy our lives?  Be glad!  Be jubilant!  Laugh and dance!

Instead, Christian curmudgeons get offended.  They turn up their noses, turn their heads to their neighbors in the pews, and whisper about how the joke just told by the pastor was so distasteful, or how the video poking fun at different worship styles was so offensive.

I'm gonna be perfectly honest and say that if you can't laugh (even at yourself), then you don't truly know what the joy of the Lord really is.  You've never experienced it.  Oh, maybe you cracked a smile when you said the sinners prayer and realized you're going to heaven one day.  But you are clueless when it comes to the fact that Christianity isn't just news.  It's GOOD news!

So, as one of my favorite Christian comedians, Ken Davis, would say, "Lighten up, and LIVE!" 

To help you in that endeavor, check out these Christian comedians, and, remember, you're not perfect.

Ken Davis
Tim Hawkins
Mark Lowry

I leave you with this:

Why We Home School: Part III

Why We Home School:  Faith

God and Christianity are pretty much forbidden in public schools.  Kids can't be seen praying, or be heard talking to their friends about their faith, or be seen reading Bibles.  Their school work can't reflect their Christian beliefs.  They can't hold extracurricular Bible studies or prayer groups.  Teachers can't teach anything remotely Christian.  But it's perfectly fine for public schools to teach our children about homosexuality, promiscuity, and require them to participate in activities that are part of the culture of OTHER religions.  Much of what is taught in public schools completely defies the beliefs, values, and morals our family holds.

California led the way with the passing of a bill that mandates LGBT history be taught in all grade levels.  Since when does sexual orientation and activity determine the importance of historical events?  The Civil War isn't important because Abraham Lincoln was a heterosexual.  Martin Luther King Jr.'s sexual orientation is never mentioned as part of a school's study during black history month.  Why is it necessary to teach kids that an event is important only because the person at the forefront of it was a homosexual?

It doesn't stop at California, though.  This year, Chicago public schools are set to begin teaching LGBT-inclusive sexual health instruction at each grade level, including Kindergarten!!!  The homosexual aspect aside, it is not the job of public schools to teach my children about sex and to choose at what age they will learn it.  That's my job.  And it certainly isn't the job of the public schools to determine what my children learn about homosexuality, insofar as it relates to it being "good" or "bad".  That, too, is my job.

Beyond the issues of sex ed and homosexuality, there is the teaching of evolution as fact, and the teaching that all religions are equal and none is more "right" than any other, as well as many other, more subtle things kids learn in public schools that contradict everything our family believes and hopes to instill in our children.

Our faith is important to us.  More important than anything else.  Homeschooling allows us to weave all of our beliefs and values into every aspect of education.  While we do introduce them to opposing beliefs systems and issues, we do it when we choose to, and when we feel our boys are ready to learn it - when we feel they are emotionally, mentally, and spiritually mature enough to take in the information, weight it against what they know to be God's truth, and understand it.

Coming up... Why We Home School:  Fun!

Previous post... Why We Home School:  Family

Why We Home School: Part II

Why We Home School:  Family 

Our family relationships are more important to us than just about anything.  Homeschooling affords us the ability to build and strengthen our relationships with our boys to a greater degree than if they attended public school.  Instead of spending 7 hours in school, they are home with us.  We choose to raise our children rather than sending them away for someone else to raise.  When they are grown and beginning families of their own, they will remember our strong bond and the importance we placed on spending time with them and raising them in the embrace of family.  During the week, our boys are away from us for only 4 hours a day, but even then, they are with family.  When I leave for work after lunch time, I drop the boys off with their grandparents, who care for them until their father returns from work at about 4:30 in the afternoon.  We never have to wonder or worry about what sort of values our boys are being taught, or what bad habits they may be picking up after spending 7+ hours a day with people we don't really know anything about and who don't know us, and most of whom don't share our values.

Coming up...  Why We Home School:  Faith

Previous post... Why We Home School:  Freedom and Flexibility

Why We Home School: Part I

I've been working on a new post for a month now, in which I explain many of our reasons for choosing to home school.  But it's turning into a novella.  So, I figured I should break it down into bite-sized pieces rather than one large post.  Easier to digest that way.  Let's get to it, shall we?

Three years ago, my husband mentioned that he'd been thinking about homeschooling our two boys who, at that time, were in Kindergarten and 3rd grade. It wasn't something I had ever considered before.  And the idea did not appeal to me at all.  I have difficulty adding and multiplying, and I don't remember much about history.  How in the world could I teach my boys?  Not a chance.

A few months later, though, as our oldest son struggled with math and testing and was relentlessly bullied, the idea of homeschooling popped back into my head.  He came home nearly every day in tears, and it was a constant battle to get him to do his homework without fits of rage.  He became a boy I didn't recognize.  The further into the school year we got, the more I wanted to take my son out of public school.  My original fears disappeared, replaced with thoughts of how beneficial homeschooling could be.

After much prayer and thought, we decided to take the plunge.  We began our homeschool journey for the 2010-11 school year, when our boys entered 1st and 4th grades.  What follows are many of the reasons for our decision.  This probably won't be complete, so as I think of more reasons, I'll add them.  In no particular order:

Why We Home School:  Freedom and Flexibility
Homeschool happens when we choose.  If we're not feeling well one morning, we can choose to sleep in a little, and school later in the day, without missing out on any of our work.  If we want to school on Saturday and take Monday off instead, we can do so.  If we want to play in the morning and afternoon and school in the evening, we can do so.  

Stress-filled achievement tests don't apply.  Our children spend their schooling time actually LEARNING.  They aren't sitting in classrooms studying for state tests, filled with anxiety about performing well and finishing in time.  They don't spend 3 weeks filling in little bubbles with #2 pencils.  Instead, they're sitting with their books in their laps, learning new things, not worrying about flunking a test or making their teacher look bad.

If we want to pack up and take a week-long vacation in the middle of September, when public schools have already been in session for a couple of weeks, we can do so, because schooling happens wherever we are, not just in a classroom, sitting at a desk in silence.  Geography can be taught while driving between states.  Math can be taught by having the children keep a budget of their spending money during the trip.  Science can be taught when driving through a thunder and lightning storm.  History can be taught by talking about historical landmarks passed on the trip.  The possibilities are endless!

How much time are public school students made to waste on an average day?  Moving between classrooms.  Stopping to wait for a few of 20 students to understand the concept being taught.  Waiting for the class clown to stop disrupting the class.  Fire drills.  Bomb drills.  Test preparation and test taking.  Lunch time.

Homeschooling provides the ability to school without unnecessary interruptions or delays.  The work a public school class completes in a 7 hour day, we complete in about 4 hours, leaving so much more time for us to spend together, as a family. 

Coming up... Why We Home School:  Family.