Homeschooling Thoughts

Twenty years ago, I started homeschooling my oldest son, who was 10 at the time.  Last week, my youngest son had his final homeschool evaluation.  I paid his evaluator, and she signed his diploma.


Done - end of an era! 

Everyone always asks, "Which curriculum did you use?  What about high school classes?  How did you apply for college?"  I could give lots of practical advice about homeschooling.

I could also share some family stories...like the seven weeks we lived in a hotel room...or when I made a pot of soup during a biology dissection.  Use your imagination!

But, no stories, no curriculum.  Instead, I'm choosing to share these three thoughts.

First, teaching isn't difficult.  A person with a high school diploma, who's married, and has had a child...that person has enough experience to teach.  

And homeschooling has come a long way in 20 years.  I ordered my first curriculum from a catalog, through the mail.  Now courses and materials are available through the internet, YouTube, social media, homeschooling groups, co-ops, online courses. 

If a parent is unable to teach a certain subject, options abound to cover that subject.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.   Colossians 3:17

Second, teaching a child and raising a child...it doesn't take a day, a week, a month, or a year.  It takes years.  Results take years.

And a child's progress shouldn't be "compared" to siblings or to other homeschooling children.  Just give it up.

My first two sons devoured books at an early age.  Al...not so much!  It took years and years to get him to read anything.  His reading appetite kicked-in during his sophomore year, when he chose to read Les Miserables, a book about grace and redemption. 

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  Matthew 6:34

And third, the coolest aspect of homeschooling is the shared experience and knowledge we gained as a family.  We read the same books, learned math and science in the same manner, watched the same teaching videos.  We cooked, cleaned, and spent time together.

Along with that shared experience, we have the same Lord, we have the same faith.  We know we're sinners, and that we sin, even against each other.  And, we know that Jesus died for that sin, and rose again.  Being Christian, believing in Jesus, is a part of who we are as a family.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.  Psalm 127:3

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.  Proverbs 22:6