I've been teaching Andre (my oldest, who is eleven) at home for a couple of years now. My reason for keeping him home was primarily because he did not do well in a traditional classroom and he was quickly becoming a very angry, unhappy child. After a few months of teaching him at home, I saw a dramatic improvement in his emotional well-being.
Since then, I've debated with myself about whether or not to homeschool all four children. I've wondered what was really, truly the best option for them. My biggest motivation for considering homeschool was their character development. Slowly but surely each child is developing character traits that I really don't like. But, honestly, that's only logical. They spend a few hours at home and church each week learning positive traits, while they spend over 40 hrs a week in a school enviroment which models an unknown amount of negative traits. I feel like all of my time is spent correcting behavior which leaves no time for improving behavior.
At the beginning of the summer, I began to do some research and seek guidance. I prayed that God would make it clear to me what was the best choice for our kids. And I really believe that God answered that prayer.
There were two events over the summer that made a big impact on me. The first one was at a "Getting Started" event with my local homeschool group. They call themselves the Unfailing Homeschoolers, and many of my close friends are members. I attended a couple of their events last year with Andre and I was really impressed with the size of the group, the organization, and the committment of its leaders. So I attended the "Getting Started" event, even though I had already been homeschooling for two years, because I was now about to "jump in with both feet", as they say. One of the leaders gave a very encouraging talk which addressed many of the fears that mom's face when they first make this decision.
- What if I don't teach my kids everything they need to know?
- What if I can't be organized enough and we end up in chaos?
- What if I actually do more harm than good?
It was encouraging to know that all moms have these fears, and yet they become successful homeschoolers anyway. But the one phrase that really stuck with me was something like this: If you don't start out with a strong conviction that homeschooling is best for your family, then you won't last long. That's what I needed: a strong conviction. So far, I really didn't have one. I thought that the idea of homeschooling was great for some families. But lots of kids go through the traditional school system and turn out just fine. So I needed to be convinced that homeschooling my children would be a better option than any other before I could finally make this decision.
The second event that impacted me was the H.E.R.I. Convention here in Jacksonville. The keynote speaker was a man named Andrew Pudewa who is the director for the Institute for Excellence in Writing. I really enjoyed hearing him speak. His lecture on "Freedom Education" opened my eyes to different methods of teaching children. He made me question the history and philosophy behind our American school system, referring often to a book called "The Underground History of American Education" by John Taylor Gatto (which can be read for free online). I was reminded that our public school system has not really been around for very long, and that many of the great founders of our country were taught at home. When the lecture was over.... I was convinced.
Since then, I have purchased the curriculum (more about that later), made our daily schedule, bought school supplies, and officially began school on Monday, the 24th.
I'm planning to blog every now and then about our experiences. I expect to have lots of interesting stories. :)
In my next blog, I will go into the details of what I learned in that lecture and in beginning to read that book for myself.
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