It’s good to check your stats sometimes

Ξ November 11th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Homeschool |

Otherwise you might not know you’ve been nominated for an award…

A big thank you to those of you who nominated me! Now go vote for me!

Chomp Chomp Chomp

Ξ September 12th, 2008 | → 9 Comments | ∇ Homeschool |

Besides a deep-seated violence, back to school time also brings out my insecurities.

See, I really believe that the benefits of homeschool include being able to work at the children’s current level and to study their individual interests instead of being forced to study what all the other kids are studying when they study it.

But that belief falters a bit when I start comparing my kids to other kids.

It’s terrible, and I know I shouldn’t do it, but sometimes I can’t help myself.

The kids just moved up a grade in Sunday School.  Chloe is in first grade, and with her November birthday, she is one of the youngest in the class.  We haven’t worked much on writing since she just can’t get herself to hold a pencil anywhere close to correctly yet.  But I see the other kids writing between their little guidelines and I think, maybe I’m just not doing a good enough job.

Then I see Luke in his preschool class at Sunday School.  With his November birthday, we chose to make him one of the oldest in his class.  Yet there are still several kids who know all their letters and numbers and some of them can even write their names.

And I doubt myself more.

And then at home I watch Luke playing.  He’s making some sort of spastic movement with his head and putting plastic trees in a large pile.

Wha???

And then it hits me.

“Luke, are you pretending to be a beaver?”

“Yeah, mommy!  I’m chopping down the trees and making a lodge to live in.  And this is my dam and when the danger comes I’ll slap the water with my tail.”

And I realize that it’s ok.  The writing and the letters can wait because he’s learning something he loves.

What makes you doubt yourself?

It brings out the schizophrenic in me

Ξ September 9th, 2008 | → 8 Comments | ∇ Homeschool |

Back to school time, that is.

See, suddenly all the bloggers out there are talking about this thing called “free time” that they suddenly find themselves with.

And us homeschoolers are all, “What is this free time of which you speak?”

And they speak of shopping by themselves and doing things with no interruptions.

And I look at my jeans with holes in them and my empty refrigerator shelves and the icky stuff growing on my shower door and the paint peeling off my toenails and I think how much I could accomplish with this free time.

And then my friend says how it’s not really all that much time, why with all the driving to and from school and waiting in line for pick-up, it’s only like three hours a day she has to herself.

And I think, “Yeah, just join me and a baseball bat in that room over there and I’ll show you just how long three hours is.”

He Built His House Real Good

Ξ June 6th, 2008 | → 14 Comments | ∇ Homeschool |

The wise man built his house upon the rock.
He built his house upon that rock.
And on that rock he stood.
He built his house real good.

And when the rains came down
the man was safe and sound.
Oh no, he did not drown
when the winds rolled up and
blew around his town.
They did not blow him down.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

Now the foolish man built his house upon the sand.
He built his house upon the sand.
It was not a very good plan.
He was a wishy washy man.
A wishy washy man.

And when the rains came down
the floods were all around.
He was not safe and sound.

When the winds rolled up and
blew around his house,
it blew right to the ground.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

‘Cause Jesus, You are true,
You are the rock
and I’ll build my life on You, yeah!

I will not be moved.
You are the way,
I will live for You, yeah!

Jesus, You are true,
You are the rock
and I’ll build my life on You, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah-yeh!

Lyrics from “Wise Man Rock” by Phil Joel, Deliberate Kids (our absolute favorite kid’s cd).

PS- What is it about veins in a man’s arms that I find so attractive???

Even so, I still think he’s crazy

Ξ May 14th, 2008 | → 17 Comments | ∇ Homeschool |

The first time I heard about someone my age who was planning on homeschooling his kids, I thought he was crazy.

It was a friend in grad school, engaged to a girl who had been homeschooled.  I had never met her, but he told me all about how they were going to have a room with desks and a chalkboard and it was going to be just like school, during school hours, five days a week, with their kids having to raise their hands to ask questions.

They were considering getting a bell.

I was less than impressed by the idea.

I got married three days after I finished grad school and then we moved to San Diego.  Our new church asked us to help them start up a college ministry, and then one day we were called to come to an emergency meeting with the high schoolers.

Andy Williams had walked out of the boys bathroom and opened fire, killing two students and wounding thirteen.

I talked with one girl who was standing with her friends, facing the bathroom.  She saw the boy next to her get shot.  She was so scared that she just froze, with another friend yelling at her to get down.

We worked with them for several more months before we were transferred to Japan.  In preparing to move, I knew that Isaac would be very busy with his new job and I would be friendless, family-less and jobless in a foreign country, so I went to the bookstore and stocked up on a ton of books.

A lot of the books I just grabbed without thinking about it much.  I think there were probably 15 or more that I bought that day.  I bought one about the Columbine High School shooting.  I bought several about marriage, some Beth Moore, one or two Christian fiction, and one about homeschooling.

I didn’t get to the homeschooling book for quite a while.  I think it was the last book I read, and I wondered to myself why in the world I had bought it.  I think I was mostly looking for more ammunition that my friend was making a really bad decision by homeschooling his kids, along with the idea that maybe it was safer than public school, but I really didn’t think it would be something I’d ever do.

Instead, my interest was caught.  I learned that people who do school at home, as my friend was planning, are in the minority.  As I learned about the different styles of homeschooling, it just sounded so…fun.  I read about children being able to follow their interests, learning survival skills and flying and cooking, and incorporating math and physics and history into those interests.

I thought about my school experience.  As an elementary student I was often sent to the one computer in the class to play games because I finished my work early.  In high school I got to skip several finals because my grade in the class was over 100%.  In Chemistry I sat in the back of the class with the JV football team and after the teacher taught the lesson, I re-taught it to them in a way they could understand.  After my SAT scores became known, our English teacher had me helping her prepare the other students for their SAT’s.

And I had forgotten most of what I had learned.  School had taught me to memorize and then forget, and I most definitely did not learn to think deeply or to work hard, much less find an interest I was passionate about and pursue it.

I started sharing the statistics in the book with Isaac.  Homeschooled children had higher standardized test scores, had a higher rate of college acceptance, and, despite the many doubts people have, studies have shown them to be better socialized.

I started reading every homeschooling book I could find.  As I shared what I learned we both became convinced that homeschooling provided a better quality education.  And what finally convinced us was when we started looking at the spiritual side.

Almost 90% of evangelical children will leave the church when they leave our homes.

But that number changes when you break it down by how they are schooled.  Children who go to private school have a lower percent who will leave the church.

Children who are homeschooled?

Over 90% of them stay in the church.

Of course, just going to church doesn’t guarantee that they are following their faith, but it is a good sign.

Let me take a break here and say that I don’t believe EVERY Christian has to homeschool.  However, I do think every Christian should seriously and prayerfully consider it, and then do as they are led by God.

I had always known that God has charged us with the spiritual development of our children, but what I had never really thought about was that children are gone away at school for 6-8 hours a day, plus they have homework, so the time we get with our children who are schooled out of the home is the leftover time, at the end of the day when everyone is tired.  

And all those school hours?  Are spent in an institution that is not religiously neutral, but is openly hostile to the Christian faith.  Many of those hours are also wasted.  Homeschooling takes less time, and leaves more free time for play, family and personal interests.

We’re still early in our homeschooling journey.  Chloe is doing kindergarten work, but the public school system would consider her a preschooler because her birthday falls in November.  We do school when we feel like it.  We play when we don’t.  I am having to grow in personal discipline because I would be perfectly happy reading and scrapbooking all day while my children are away at school.  I might have a cleaner house and fewer laundry piles.  Routines and schedules don’t come naturally to me, but “me-time” does!  And as the kids get older I know I’ll have to be working on that.  Right now I love cuddling up on the couch and reading together.  I love it when Chloe is so proud of herself when she reads an entire book with no help from me.  When we all rush to the computer to figure out what kind of lizard we just caught.  That we have time for daily devotionals and dancing in the living room and tea parties.  That my children are best friends and math is a fun game to play.  That everyone gets excited when a new box of school books comes in the mail.

But you’ll never see me with desks lined up in a row facing the chalkboard and the kids longing for the bell to ring.

Because I still think that’s crazy.