Why You Should Homeschool Your Child : A Public Schoolteacher’s Confession Brought to you by http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Copyright © 2007 Lisa Preston 1 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Why You Should Homeschool Your Child : A Public Schoolteacher’s Confession © 2007, Lisa Preston All Rights Reserved No part of this book may be used in other publications, digital or print, without express written permission from the author. To contact the author, please visit http://www.homeschoolhelper.com 2 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Why You Should Homeschool Your Child : A Public Schoolteacher’s Confession Warning! I am NOT by nature a person of controversy. In fact, I strongly admire peacekeepers who work to make life run smoothly and harmoniously. I don’t routinely rock the boat. Honestly, I prayed long and hard about even putting my real name on this book. But sometimes a truth hits so hard, you wake up from a narcotic slumber and reality stares you smack dab in the face. You’re moved from complacency and the comfort zone to a battlefield of sorts. You must appeal to change. Please dock. The boat is about to explode. I hope what I share will make you sick enough and angry enough that you will seek change. Not just demand a better education for your children, but to make any sacrifice necessary to see that they receive it. 3 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Why Homeschool? Volumes abound on the topic of why parents should home school their children. Reasons include poor discipline, disruptive students, inadequate curricula, little one-on-one attention, etc. I’m approaching the topic from a unique perspective. As a public school teacher who has researched brain strategies and the absolute most effective ways to learn, I can tell you wholeheartedly that one of the last places on earth that can provide an effective atmosphere for optimal learning is the public school classroom. Indeed, “ineffective” is one of the best words I can think of to define Public Education. First of all, I want to say that I taught elementary school for seventeen years- in two top schools, with the highest caliber of colleagues, with caring administrators. My fellow teachers sacrificed time, money, and tears for their children. They championed the frustrated learners, came to work an hour early, left two hours late, and took home three hours of work a night. Some even swung from the chandeliers alongside some of the kids with ADHD. These were dedicated individuals with whom I am proud to have worked. And the town in which I taught - well, we’re talking Bible belt all the way. A semi-rural area that was touted to have one of the highest level of college graduates in the United States. But even in this supposed “educational utopia”, life wasn’t Mayberry. Not even close. In fact, the longer I taught, the more worried I became for my own family to have to endure a “public education”. One of my most eye-opening moments occurred when I started hanging out more with my home schooling friends. Their children acted totally different than 95% of the children I was teaching. These home-educated kids conversed in an articulate manner with folks of all ages. Their eyeballs stayed in one position most of the time instead of being dramatically rolled every time a parent spoke. 4 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com They knew about exciting periods of history that none of my children had heard of. They enjoyed hands-on learning experiences daily and seemed to slurp up every ounce of learning available in every situation. Being around these friends and their children exhilarated me! Plus, their children were raking in the scholarships right and left. I’m talking full-ride scholarships to great colleges! Well, I’d return to my classroom, where we were chained to worksheets and forced to teach to the test at the end of the year so we could improve scores. I envied my home school friends. What I would have given to have been able to take my kids to the supermarket to learn math, to have been able to cook alongside them, teach them marketable hands-on skills. But our district had no money for that sort of teaching. (Not that it could be done adequately with one adult for every 25 children anyway!) As the heat from our state capital cranked up, we were forced to teach questions that could be on the test at the end of the year. In fact, we spent hours each week teaching for that final test. Much of the educational monies we received were spent on increasing test scores. 5 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Shocking Confession! Just because it’s being “covered” in the public school doesn’t mean it’s being learned. At one education seminar given right smack dab in our school library, the presenter shared a quote I found fascinating and startling. She stated that one-third of the children in your typical classroom will understand the information presented. One-third will NOT understand at all, and the other third will NOT understand in the amount of time allotted. Two-thirds of children in public classrooms aren’t going to comprehend the information taught. Please let that sink in. This is research done by and for the public school. Educational leadership flat out states that only one third of the children in their public school classrooms is going to learn what they need –period. Part of the reason is that teachers can’t spend much individual time with students and teach all that is expected of them. Some writers assert that in an average year the amount of focused individual attention a child gets is less than one hour. Less than 60 minutes focused one-on-one attention in nine months. And even then it can’t be 100% focused on one child –not when you’re responsible for 25 more! Another reason, in my opinion, is that the most optimal ways we learn can’t be taught in a public school classroom. One room full of children subtracts the kind of quality that optimal learning requires. The good news is that the home is exactly where the strategies for high-quality learning can take place. And who can be surprised with all the success home schooling parents have had? 6 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Problems Caused by Small Teacher – Student Ratio Lack of attention It’s impossible for even the best teacher to give adequate attention to each student while monitoring an entire classroom. Instruction time limited by interruption You can have the most entertaining, most gifted teacher at the chalkboard, and the flow of the lesson be hindered by constant interruptions from students. When the teacher has to address discipline issues throughout the lesson, learning decreases. Yelling out answers give introverted children no time to think It’s difficult to keep everyone quiet while the introverted children are thinking. After the answer is yelled out, the processing stops. Restricted movement One room, two dozen or more children. Need I say more? Best learning practices not possible Due to the number of students and the small spaces, it’s impossible for even gifted teachers to implement the best learning practices now hailed by researchers. Peer pressure Forget your child walking in his own destiny, her own path that God designed for her. Nope, cookie cutter education creates cookie cutter learners. Remember, two-thirds of these children didn’t understand the info the way it was presented. How prepared can these children be? Peer dependence One teacher and the lack of ability to reach her when I need help means I’m left with peers as my role models for life. Teacher stress Teachers, bombarded with more work than can be humanly completed in a day’s time, find teaching more and more stressful. 7 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Behavior issues You’ve taught your little one right from wrong since day one. Good! But all that will be challenged by peers who never learned there is a right in the first place. Little money for real hands on learning When you’re buying supplies by the dozens, with limited funds, the hands-on learning is limited seriously. Fewer field trips The high cost of gasoline and severely behavior challenged students make field trips almost impossible. The actual learning/instructional time in a classroom can be as little as one hour and a half per day! More children with serious mental illnesses are mainstreamed into the classroom, and there’s nothing teachers or parents can do about this. Many children from institutions have a personal assistant hired to keep watch so the child doesn’t harm others. Teachers are sometimes bitten, kicked and clawed. They have to take courses on how to restrain children. Tell me your child is going to have an optimal learning experience at public school. Not even the best public school can come close to the kind of education a parent can provide at home. Home schooling trumps all. Ironically, test scores prove that. 8 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com So How Does Homeschooling Make a Difference? Okay, how different can home schooling really be? Don’t you just sit around the house all day and do worksheets? Actually, the goal of home schooling isn’t to recreate the public school setting in our own homes. It’s not about buying a cute little school desk at a yard sale and chaining your child to it all day. Learning is about discovery, exploration, and experience – all which are too expensive for a poorly funded institution to provide on a regular basis. I would have loved to take children to the grocery store to shop when teaching percentages, economics, price comparisons, addition, etc. That’s the effective way to teach! But going to the store involves sending out field trip permission slips, taking up money for the trip (and since busses take lots of gas, even a short trip can cost a small fortune), calling the store, finding parent volunteers to help chaperone and teach the mini-lesson… Too much of a headache to do more than once – IF that. How fun would it have been to teach children fractions through cooking! But cooking with 25 children can get wild, especially during the “wait time” as you try to get around to each group. Real hands-on learning works at home, because the supplies are readily available and because you’re not trying to deal with 25 children at once. 9 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Brain Research More and more information emerged about learning and the brain, and I devoured it by the volumes. This simple movement helps children retain information – oh, that’s awesome! Until I realize that 25 children performing that little movement in one room is nearly impossible. Ah – there’s a scent that increases memory? Wow! How awesome! I could use that with my students if I had the money to buy the scents for 25 children. Listening to this kind of music increases test scores?? Cool! Until you realize that the state won’t let you play the music while kids are taking the test. The list goes on and on and on. At first I was transfixed by these new learning techniques based on the latest brain research. I attempted to use them in my classroom immediately. The trouble was, I was handcuffed. I couldn’t fully implement these ideas because they didn’t fit into a four-walled classroom in which children sat all day long. These activities did fit like a glove in the home school setting, though. 10 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Cutting Edge Techniques – from the 18th Century! Increasing my research on home schooling, I discovered Charlotte Mason - eighteenth century educator from Britain who – shocker of all shockers – wrote about the same “just discovered” brain techniques and secrets. After reading her book Home Education, I wrote in my journal… “There’s an agony in my spirit of having missed out on 38 years of life. I feel I’ve been educated on cream puffs. I’ve missed out on the crunchiness of a carrot, the “squirt” of the tomato, the sweetness of freshly picked corn on the cob, the tart flavor of a juicy green apple. No, I’ve been educated on pockets of air. Shrouded by ignorance of what education can really be.” Then I penned this article… “It was a temper tantrum extraordinaire. Feet were stomping, arms flailing. Furrowed eyebrows and a bottom lip that hung over the chin. “Humph! Humph! Not fair!!” Stomp! Stomp! No, it wasn’t my child throwing the fit from you-know-where. It was me. I had just finished Charlotte Mason’s Home Education and felt literally cheated in life. Glaring out the window into my flower garden, I complained, “I could have been out there drawing and painting those wild flowers. I could know all about nature and have tremendous descriptive talents if,,, IF,,, IF ONLY I had been home schooled in the Charlotte Mason method! Truth be told, I didn’t get over the whole thing for a good week. Just walked around sulking, pensive and brooding over my lost childhood. 11 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Heck, I love to learn. I’d have gone so much further in my education, understood so many more things if I’d been home schooled the Charlotte Mason way. I literally felt a deep loss over having had to go to public school. While Charlotte Mason kids were learning about geography and science through nature, I sat with textbooks that didn’t make any sense. That was okay. All the questions over the chapter were in order, so if you just followed along each page, you could figure out what the teacher wanted. While Charlotte Mason kids learned how to read and write in short lessons designed to teach, not bore, I wrote my spelling words 25 times each. It wasn’t so bad, though. I mean, if your spelling word is weather, all you have to do is write 25 w’s going straight down the page. Then 25 e’s next to them. Etc. Tremendous learning experience. While Charlotte Mason children enjoyed the great outdoors each day, honing their senses through discovery of nature, I sat dutifully chained to a desk for hours. Yes, I was angry. I could have learned so much more, been so much more, if only I had had the opportunity to be home schooled the Charlotte Mason way. Sigh. Oh, well. What’s done is done. I can only tell my story and hope to save some other child from the same fate.” 12 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Important Note First off, and I must admit I feel coerced into saying this too many times; I am not against the public school. I have no vendetta. No ulterior motive. Public school teachers are my friends. But we’re not in Kansas anymore. Things are different. Frighteningly so. Bottom line, I wouldn’t want my own child in public school. One of my school teacher friends shared her exasperation with me. “So, what’s the deal, Lisa? Don’t you think we do a good job??” I know teachers do a fantastic job. They work in a high-stress, highadrenaline job with little respect and littler pay. When I taught school, I gave 110% until I totally burned out. Nearly every single teacher in our county did the same thing. So, let it be known, loud and clear. I shout it from the roof tops. “Elementary school teachers are some of the best human beings on the planet! They work tirelessly and sacrifice their own time and money to make a difference for their students. Three cheers for elementary teachers in the public schools!” I mean that. However… Things are different now. We don’t have small classrooms like Laura Ingalls Wilder, where the meanest boys in the class pull pigtails and stick frogs atop the McGuffey Readers. In one of my third grade classes (in rural America – Bible Belt through and through) I dealt with homicidal threats, marijuana, and some of the worst sexual talk you can imagine. And that was just the children. You should have met the parents. 13 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com I have as much empathy as you can get. I want everyone to love each other and hold hands and live happily ever after. I believe the best about everyone. But the bottom line is, some children don’t need to be in a public school setting. Some children suffer serious mental illness and throwing them into a regular classroom with a teacher’s aide to follow them around all day and make sure they don’t kill anyone – that’s not conducive to learning for anyone. I’ve seen teachers bitten and bruised, cursed and threatened. I’ve seen chairs fly across the room. One girl in our school was so dangerous, she couldn’t be out of sight of an adult for fear she’d abuse another child. Reading , writing, and ‘rithmetic? Are you kidding? How about survival skills and hand-to-hand combat? And then there’s the emphasis on test scores. Used to be, teachers would rather walk over a bed of hot coals than to “teach to the test”. Of all the underhanded, low-belly things. Scoundrel-ish! The last year I taught, our school spent three hours a week starting in September teaching how to take the test in April. State mandates were so skewed that schools had to show test score gains every single year or be in danger of having the state take them over. The top dogs could come in, fire everyone down to the lunch ladies and start from scratch. So administrators did what they had to do to survive. Teach how to take the test at the end of the year. Now, no school can improve every single year. Let’s face it, even if a school scored 100%, they couldn’t improve on that the next year. What’s gonna happen? The state educator cops come in and remove everyone due to a school maintaining a 100% average two years in a row? Sheesh! 14 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com But logic doesn’t prevail among state legislators and folks who make school laws. After all, they were educated in public school. It’s not their fault they don’t know how to think. (J I just had to throw that in.) So we end up with an educational system that’s trapped the very ones they’re paid to educate. Who suffers the most? Administrators are stressed to the limit, teachers about to fall over from exhaustion. But who really suffers the most? You’ve got it. Our children. They’re the ones being robbed of an education. Thank God for every child who escapes public school with a love for learning. And thank their moms and dads. They probably learned it from home. Learned it from home? What a novel thought! Let’s pursue that idea further! So, Should Everyone Homeschool? I am a firm believer that a child can be best educated at home if… • there is no abuse of any kind in the home • parents really want their children to develop a life-long love for learning It doesn’t matter if the parents can read and write. Doesn’t matter if they graduated high school. It sure doesn’t matter if they went to college or have a degree in teaching. A parent with a sixth grade education who wants her child to learn can educate her child better at home than a teacher with a master’s degree and 30 children in her classroom. I’ll go you one further. I say that the parent can spend one hour a day home schooling and her child learn more at the end of a year than the average child in the average public school classroom. Check out who’s getting the scholarships to colleges these days based on SAT scores. Home schooled children. And I’m not talking children whose parents are teachers, either! 15 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com The Time Issue The last year I taught in a classroom, I started counting the amount of time children actually spent learning. With so much of my time being spent addressing serious discipline issues, I felt more like a prison guard than an educator. What was the seven hours a day really comprised of when you added it all up? I was shocked at the results. Take away the time wasted waiting on five of the children to finish their work so we could move on to the next topic. Take away the time needed for classroom discussions about what was appropriate and what was not. And what was left? What was the actual time spent in half-way effective learning activities? From one hour to an hour and a half a day. That’s it! An hour and a half of learning per school day. And beyond that - at least 20% of the time s pent in class was spent “waiting”. Waiting on other students to quiet down. Waiting on other children to get their supplies out and catch up. Waiting on the few stragglers who never finished a paper. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Children who actually followed directions and finished their work in a feasible amount of time were rewarded by sitting in the chair, able to do extra worksheets for fun while they… waited. Did God not give us 24 hours in a day? Is that time not His gift to us? We can’t get it back once it’s wasted, right? Time is more valuable than money. No one enjoys having his time wasted. Who appreciates having to sit for three hours in a doctor’s office, coughing your head off, with two children who are on each others’ last nerve? Who could tolerate being at a job in which you could never move ahead on your work until everyone in the whole building was done with their job? Wouldn’t that drive you insane? 16 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com So why are we so nonchalant and content to let our children’s time be wasted on irrelevant busy work disguised as “learning”? Why isn’t their 24 hours as much of a gift as our own? If one of your work goals was to learn how to make a Power Point Presentation, would you want to click your mouse 25 times a day just to make sure you remember how to do it? Why ask a child to write a spelling word 25 times if he already knows it? Further, why have anyone write a word 25 times when there are ten dozen other shortcut ways to learn how to spell it correctly? Busy work is the name of the game. And let me tell you, it’s all about survival. I can complain and judge now. But put the two of us in a classroom of 28 children, some of whom are bouncing off the walls and tell us to teach? We’d be assigning busy work like it was going out of style, just to get by. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do to make it through the day in the classroom. And it’s not all about the best and most efficient ways of learning. Sometimes you assign a chapter and the questions at the end just so you have a moment to breathe and get done work that the principal needs by 2:35. 17 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Real Learning – What Is It? Learning is so much more than any public or private classroom could ever offer. Real learning involves relationship. And the best learning involves a relationship with a loving mom and dad. Why miss out on the best hours of your child’s days? Why wait to relate to your children when they’re spent from a school day? Chances are they’ve been bullied or ridiculed in some way, or they’ve worried about some discipline issue in class, so they’re emotionally exhausted as well. I long to see parents giving the very best of who they are to their children. Not only for their children’s sakes, but for the blessing to themselves as well. I will never ever forget a young fellow in our community named Jarrett. He met cancer at age two, and as a result, couldn’t come to school as often. Jarrett spent much time being instructed at home. At the ripe old age of 13, this precious son went to meet God. I just keep thinking - his parents have not one more day to touch his face. There’s not another day that they can hold him close -that they hear his laughter and the sound of “I love you,” Tell me they wish he’d been in public school seven hours a day. No. They will never ever regret having him home for those extra hours. Life is so short. We don’t know when our children will go, we don’t know when we will go. And so to be home in that lovely ministry of sharing God’s Word as our children rise, as they go about their day, as they go to bed at night – helping these precious, precious gifts store up God’s Word in their hearts and walk in the way that leads to freedom. What a ministry! What a joy that is to a parent’s heart as well as to the child’s! 18 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com It’s All About Connection In this day of fast-this, convenience-that, even church loses intimate fellowship. What we call small group, “intimate” fellowship often ends up with everyone sitting around sharing problems, somebody prays and we all go home. There’s little real connection made with people –little real love that is shared. We are a society absent from community. America’s culture doesn’t recognize the benefits of spending lots of time with and nurturing our own children. What a message of strength and hope that a parent would say, “You know, I want my children with me. I want them holding my hand along this journey of life –not their peers’ hands.” One friend told me, “Well, I don’t know if I’d want to home school, because it wouldn’t leave me any time for ministry.” While Paul says… some plant, some water, and some reap the harvest, our usual interpretation of ministry is one person preaching to a congregation and people going to the altar. I have been ministered to a million times in that way. But rarely has a person taken me by the hand and said, “I’m not letting go until we reach the next step. I am holding on to you. I believe in you, I will listen to you, and I will love you no matter what.” That’s powerful ministry. And you can’t offer it to a hundred people at once! What greater blessing to be able to give all of that listening, mentoring, love, challenge, –holding the hand and never letting go– to our children. How devastating not to give them that. Time is so important. And if “all you do” is raise your children to be godly, to love Christ with all their hearts, souls, minds and strength, YOU have had an awesome ministry. What greater blessing for a mother or father than to have the time to gently instruct her children in the ways of God. You can’t hurry that. True discipleship and commitment aren’t “convenient”. They take time to develop. 19 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com The beauty of home schooling is that it allows time for that commitment in a less-stressed, slower paced atmosphere. The awesome sense of connection we’ll have with our children will be worth any sacrifice we make. And the blessings will last a lifetime. 20 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Home Schooling – The Best Educational Option Bottom line, home schooling allows parents to utilize the best teaching and learning practices (such as one-on-one learning instruction) and to implement unique brain strategies. And since you don’t have a classroom of 25 children to manage, you can allow your child to pursue areas of his own interest. This freedom skyrockets motivation! A home schooled child can have a customized, tailor-made education. How freeing to learn at his own pace, not hurried and frustrated or twiddling thumbs while waiting for others to listen or catch up. Home schooling also allows for a breadth and depth of curriculum that isn’t available in the public school. For instance, recent studies show that listening to a foreign language before the age of two gives a child the ability to later learn and speak that language like a native. You don’t have to wait until age 14 to begin Spanish! Many home schooled children learn real-life skills – they can cook, grow their own vegetables, build a house –and they develop musical and artistic talents, too. Some even start their own businesses as early as age 8! Also, when a person is schooled at home, and there is an emphasis on meaning and understanding. Learning isn’t just a bag of trivial facts, it becomes an entire dimension when you’re home schooling. Home schooled children are likely to become independent, creative thinkers. They feel free to search for truth and question opinions stated as facts. Most of a child’s day in the public school is spent trying to fit in, and that interferes with the learning process. Children who don’t have to take the time to develop and use survival mechanisms to keep from being made fun of or bullied, develop strong, confident self-concepts. Moms and Dads are thrilled at their children’s creativity, and at home no one is criticized for having a unique idea. 21 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com This relaxed atmosphere allows learning to catapult to heights that just aren’t possible when you have to create ways to survive, and plan ways to belong. One of the most profound benefits of home schooling is the strong family relationships that are forged. Respect and manners can be not only taught, but modeled again and again. Service to others just becomes a part of life. Strong families work through their problems together. The companionship and gift of time with our children takes precedence over the frantic pace of the treadmill. Mae Shell, a home schooled young lady, is quoted in The Home schooling Book of Answers (by Linda Dobson). Her words say it better than I ever could. When asked what she’d most remember about being home schooled, Mae replied, “The first thing that comes to mind is the importance of my family life. And I mean this in every sense you can imagine, not simply loving, but being friends with my family, enjoying their company, supporting them and knowing they support me no matter what happens…More than being just parents, they are my friends, mentors, teachers, and counselors. I also cherish the friendship of my three younger sisters and older halfbrother and sister. I know I will always have these rich, wonderful relationships with my siblings.” Mae goes on to speak of what her family means to her. “I value being a part of this intricate living quilt above everything else.” (pg.222) Can you put a price tag on this type of family strength and love? It’s worth everything! 22 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Yes, but are They Socialized?? I find that home schooled children tend to be more mature, sensitive to others, caring and ministry oriented. For people who question the socialization aspect of home schooling- socialization skills are not taught at school. Survival skills and street skills? Definitely. But not socialization. There may be character curriculum in a public school, but its teaching comprises a tiny part of the child’s week. Character isn’t integrated into life as it can be in a home setting – it’s just presented as another lesson. As a school teacher for 17 years, I depended on parents to teach kindness self control, caring for others, manners, and appropriate behavior. In order for my classroom to be effective, those social skills already needed to be learned at home. Bottom line - moms and dads are the molders of social skills. Home schooled children are among the most considerate, sensitive, mannerly children I have ever come in contact with. Someone asked me if not sending a child to public school would be detrimental. I replied, “Imagine never having to deal with being pushed into your place in the hierarchy based on what clothes you wear, what you look like, and how much of a clone of your peers you become. Imagine never having to worry about being bullied, not having to hear obscenities or witness fist fights. I know many people who have gone through years of therapy to try to get beyond ways they were treated as children in public school. Imagine being so free that the whole “you don’t belong here” worry is totally foreign. I have to ask - would you have wanted you child socialized in a classroom with children who had serious psychological issues? (One parent called to tell me that her child’s psychologist told her to remove all knives from her home, as he could harm someone. This was the same child who was writing notes to other children, claiming he’d kill them.) Then there was the kid who brought marijuana to school and the children who taught me a few new vocabulary words related to the birds and the bees. Boys who showed body parts to class members. Oh, yes, Bible-belt, highly-educated area. Third graders. 23 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Do I think the public school has a place in educating our children? Yes, but I believe it is primarily for those children whose home life is abusive –when horrible things are witnessed at home, and their only way of escape is coming to school. Many children live in these situations and, for them, school is a godsend. No, it’s not the very best educationally and emotionally, but it’s far better than what they could have at home. So while the public school has its place, I believe it’s secondary in quality to the type of education that can occur in the non-abusive home. Okay, I have stood and vented like a volcano on top of this soapbox. Normally, I’m not this opinionated. Really. However, when it comes to real learning and a pitiful substitute, I must stand and give an opinion, no matter how unpopular among my former colleagues. What I’m saying here, is that YOU, Mom and Dad, whether you have a high school education or not, YOU can teach your child more in one hour a day than I could in one seven hour day. That’s me, 4.0 grad student, Master’s Degree in Education, nearly twenty years experience. Me with twenty-five children offering a whopping 30 minutes of individual time a year. Kids need one-on-one attention when it comes to learning. Isn’t your child important enough to warrant one-on-one attention? Why put your child through one more day of inadequate education, when in one hour a day you can offer your child more than he could get in a public school in seven hours? You can do it! 24 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Insecurities Overcome You’re going to feel it occasionally – the creeping uncertainty that you’re not doing it right. That the public school is far ahead of you and your children are behind. The truth is that all teachers have the same basic concerns. So let’s address some key issues and dispel myths that can discourage you in this process. I don’t have a degree. You don’t need one. I’m not smart enough. Great! Many public school teachers are forced to teach classes in which they’ve had no training. They just read the book and stay one chapter ahead of the children. That’s all you have to do, too. How could I teach physics? I was never any good at math or science. There are more ways to supplement your child’s learning than ever before. From DVDs to Home school Co-ops in your own hometown – you don’t have to worry about teaching subjects you’re not familiar with. I don’t have enough money. Neither do public school teachers, so you’re in the same boat. They utilize many free resources for their classroom material, including the local library. What if it’s too hard? What worthwhile activity isn’t at times challenging? You will embark upon a new adventure that will radically improve your life and your relationships with your children. From the moment you say yes to home schooling, you’ll never be the same. 25 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Teachers have the perfect curriculum. They have all the good learning materials. I can’t afford a curriculum. Every few years the school system “adopts” new textbooks. Usually we’d get to look at some free samples the publishing companies sent us and then vote on the one that looked most user-friendly. There is no perfect curriculum. If one did exist, it’d put the ParentTeacher stores out of business. Who’d need the extra books to supplement an already perfect curriculum? Look at any educator’s bookshelf and you’ll see rows of teacher resource books designed to include what the publishing companies left out. During my public school career I searched far and wide every year for resources to help children learn more easily and master subjects they struggled with. So no matter what curriculum you find, you’ll be looking for additional supplies to help the learning really sink in. If I just had some training in teacher education, I’d be much better qualified. Nope. In Kentucky, teachers are required to get their masters degree within a certain number of years or they lose their certification. So here you have loads of teachers with 6 years of “certification” under their belts, and we’re still struggling to help kids learn effectively. Mass education stinks! Remember, just because it’s being covered in the public school doesn’t mean it’s being learned. Also, we’re not trying to re-create the public school inside our households. Home schooling should be very different so that real learning takes place daily. You don’t need seven hours of instruction. A loving, literate mom can offer her child more in a one or two hours a day than a child can get in a seven hour public school day. No certification required. 26 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com One way to de-brainwash yourself from public school dogma is to consider, “How do I learn? Would I want to learn this topic in this manner?” Respect your child’s time by not giving her junk work and busy work. Let’s review some powerful ways to learn quickly so your children don’t have to do 10 worksheets on adding fractions. But my child has special needs! If I don’t send him to school, he won’t get the help he needs. Squat. That’s all I can say. Did you know that the special education teachers in our school all worked from the same manual of ideas for kids with learning disabilities – a manual you can purchase yourself and use? And I flat out asked the speech teacher one day if she had in all her special training unique techniques that a parent couldn’t learn without tons of training. “Of course not,” she replied. What I have, they can use at home. There’s nothing about what I do with their children that takes years to learn.” Mrs. So and So said her child was reading on a 6th grade level, and he’s in first grade in the public school. My son is eight and has just started reading the Frog and Toad series! HELP! This reading issue rears its head within the public schools, too. I spent the majority of my public school years teaching third grade. Often, parents would be so upset to see a low grade on the report card in reading when the child had done so well in first and second grades. What happens is this. In first and second grades, the emphasis is on learning to read orally. To identify letter sounds and put them together to form words. Many children can read fluently and not fully comprehend what is going on in the story. In third grade, we assess reading mostly on comprehension. The assumption is that by age 8, most children are reading aloud well 27 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com enough. Now that children can pronounce words, it’s time to focus on comprehension skills. Let’s say Mrs. So and So’s son picked up The Boxcar Children and actually read the first two pages aloud to his mom. Some editions of the book say level 1 on the back cover and some say level 3. So does the child read on the first or third grade level? That’s confusing enough. Then there’s the dimension we just discussed. Maybe little Johnny did pronounce the words on the pages, but was he able to tell mom what the story was about? I have taught many children who read aloud as fluently as an adult but couldn’t tell you one thing that went on in the text. Teachers don’t count that as “reading on the appropriate level”. Now, if even the publishers differ on what grade level a book is onhow on earth are teachers and parents supposed to know? So the next time you hear someone say that their four year old just finished the Chronicles of Narnia, just smile and say, “Oh, my! She must be so smart!” and take it with a grain of salt the size of Texas. If your children can summarize accurately the story they just read, that’s the key! Research shows that for every 35 books a child reads on her level, she’ll automatically rise to the next level in reading. So if you help your child develop a love for learning and reading, you’re way ahead of the game! 28 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Resources There are some awesome resources that I personally consider invaluable in the quest to help your family become lifelong, motivated learners and keep you sane in the process. You’ll want to read The Five Love Languages. This book will open your eyes to ways to show your children you love them and have them know it in their hearts without a doubt. It’s changed my life dramatically, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. You know those books you read, close the cover and say, ‘Boy, I wish someone had told me this 16 years ago. It would have saved me so much heartache.”? How to Talk so Your Kids Will Listen and Listen so Your Kids Will Talk is one of those books for me. While not written from a Christian perspective, the insight offered in this book will save you many arguments and frustrations in the home schooling process. Read a book by Raymond and Dorothy Moore sometime in the next four months. They’re all top-notch, in my opinion. This couple shares home schooling helps with such a freedom - I felt a camaraderie with them as I read. The Moores will give you insight into various home school methods you may want to explore. Homeschooling, A Patchwork of Days: Share a Day with 30 Homeschool Families is just the kind of book I like. Thirty different ways of educating - and all effective. This book will help you feel more comfortable about making curriculum decisions, see how different folk schedule their days, etc. A nice eye-opener. Home Education by Charlotte Mason hit me like a ton of bricks. Wow! This is what education is supposed to be like! I was honestly angry for several days after reading this book. I felt cheated out of a real education, and I determined I was going to home school myself for the pure enjoyment of it! Mason’s style of writing takes some time to get used to – it’s from the 1800’s - but once you get going, it gets easier. Don’t let the old timey style rob you of this gem. It’s a must-read. 29 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com Michael Pearl and his wife Debbie write books on child training that have ministered to many families. Go to nogreaterjoy.org to sign up for their newsletter. Later you’ll want to buy a couple of their books like To Train Up a Child and No Greater Joy. Marilyn Howshall writes about giving God control of your home school and reaping great benefits! Her booklets will encourage you and help you keep a steady gaze upward. Sally Clarkson writes about reaching your child’s heart and growing as a family that loves each other and God. Her book Educating the Whole Hearted Child is worth every penny. It’s an investment in the future of your family. Oh, also, to make home schooling as fun as can be, check out books written by Cindy Rushton. I love her Notebooking and Language manuals! For more resources and help with home schooling your child the easy way, including the brain strategies Lisa researched, visit http://www.homeschoolhelper.com and http://www.homeschoolevangelist.com . 30 http://www.homeschoolhelper.com