Homeschooling

 

Educating a child is a natural process. Home schooling is nothing more than an extension of parenting.

 – Sue Maakestad 

 



    I love the above quote by Sue Maakestad, it simply explains  what homeschooling is to me and so many others around this country and the world who home school their children. It isn't new, home schooling has been around for as long as their have been parents. William Lloyd said "Home schooling is a very old way of doing things. If you look at any of the bills in your wallet or the coins in your pocket, they all have a picture of a home schooler on them". Hmmm.... so I guess you can call me old fashioned.

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   A lot of people ask me "why do you homeschool your daughter?" So, I thought I would put a few thoughts together to help you venture into the mind set of home schooling. It is not for everyone but for a lot of us it is rewarding and simply a way of life. Our way of life is centered around learning about the world we live in on a daily basis. I am creating in my daughter a life long learner, not one who only learns for test scores. Homeschooling is extremely hard, ask any educator if teaching is easy, it is not. Most things that are great and worth doing are hard that is what makes them great. Homeschooling your child is simply another way of doing private school and no one has any issues with that. I have always found it humorous when friends, family or especially teachers look at me like I could not possibly handle teaching my own child. I certainly managed to teach her everything up until traditional school age, everything from eating, talking, social skills, her colors and numbers and so on and so on. Professional Teachers not only juggle parenting their own children but then go to a school and teach sometimes as many as 28 kids at one time all day and then go home to parent their own kids the rest of the night. It is tough and they deserve to be paid more then what they receive. But, I cannot manage to teach my one daughter or my friend who has six children could not manage that, six is way too many ? Why can't we ? Teachers do it every day. With all the amazing Homeschool coops around the country we home school Moms and Dads pool our talents, strengths and sometimes degrees together and help our children become the best people God designed them to be. Not to mention all the amazing curriculum available now to teach your children. Everyone learns in different ways so you can customize how you and your child or children learn about God's world. That is all professional teachers do is utilize curriculum and usually a curriculum the state picks for them or private school they teach at. Its not like they have everything memorized for crying out loud, they go by curriculum. Please don't misunderstand me,thank God for all the teachers we are blessed with in this country. But thank God also for the parents who see their children need something different and decide different options for teaching their children by enrolling them in private schools, hiring private tutors or home schooling. Thank God we live in a country that lets us choose that.

Here are more thoughts on homeschooling from great minds through the ages. You know me, I love quotes and thought provoking thoughts by others.


Thought #1 We’re not trying to do “School at Home.” We’re trying to do home school. These are two entirely different propositions. We’re not trying to replicate the time, style or content of the classroom. Rather we’re trying to cultivate a lifestyle of learning in which learning takes place from morning until bedtime 7 days each week. The “formal” portion of each teaching day is just the tip of the iceberg. – Steve and Jane Lambert ( Five In A Row )

Thought #2 What is most important and valuable about the home as a base for children’s growth into the world is not that it is a better school than the schools, but that it isn’t a school at all. – John Holt
 

Thought #3 The idea is to educate, not follow anyone’s schedule about when something should be studied. – Ray Drouillard

Thought #4 Home schooling is a very old way of doing things. If you look at any of the bills in your wallet or the coins in your pocket, they all have a picture of a homeschooler on them. – William Lloyd

 Thought #5  Educating a child is a natural process. Home schooling is nothing more than an extension of parenting. – Sue Maakestad

Thought #6  The geniuses of the ages were generally brought up in home schools. – Raymond Moore

Thought #6  This website published a thought provoking article on reasons why public education came to be in the first place. Some would agree with this article and some will not but it is thought provoking either way.  http://www.home-school.com/Articles/the-history-of-public-education.php
  

Words on education by: Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

- Laura Ingalls Wilder is one of my favorite authors and I absolutely loved the show Little House on the Prairie which of course was based on the books of her life on the frontier.

 

 

* I believe it would be much better for everyone if children were given their start in education at home

* No one understands a child as well as his mother, and children are so different that they need individual training and study. A teacher with a room full of pupils cannot do this.

* At home, too, they are in their mother's care. She can keep them from learning immoral things from other children.

 



                           Lots of love, Kimberley