Education is Discipleship

Education is Discipleship

In my last post I asked,

“WHY is it so important to you to home school?”

It wasn’t an overnight decision to home school our daughter.  It was something I thought I wanted to do since she was born!  Somehow, we ended up at the close of 4^th grade before we made the leap to home school her in 5^th grade.  Initially, it was dissatisfaction with the public school system which propelled us forward in this decision.  However, around the same time, in my personal life, I was being pushed into discovering more about discipleship. 

As I was scouring the internet for information about homeschooling I discovered Dr. James Dobson’s radio program "Family-Talk."  In the episode on homeschooling, Dr. Dobson interviews Jay and Heidi St. John, founders of First Class Homeschool Ministries about, you guessed it, homeschooling.  Heidi made a statement that really stuck with me; I think because it was on a subject I had already been primed to pay attention to.  She said,

“ …Jesus said in Luke 6:40 that when a student is fully trained he will be like his teacher.  We need to be thinking about who is teaching our children and looking at education as an opportunity for discipleship.  When we talk to home school parents or people who are thinking about homeschooling we remind them education is discipleship.  Who is discipling your child?” 

(visit  http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/family-talk/listen/homeschooling-in-2010-ii-131002.html  to hear the 25:55 minutes long episode.  It’s definitely worth it.)

Did you catch that?  Education is Discipleship.  Wow.  Any of us who grew up in church recognize discipleship as a couple of classes you have to take when you join a church.  But a closer inspection of the Bible reveals that discipleship is a lifestyle.  It’s welcoming others into your life and them welcoming you into theirs.  It’s a time to learn and train, by example, in a hands-on kind of way.

Daddy and I chose to home school because DD was beginning to hate learning; her attention was moving toward what others thought of her rather than increasing her knowledge.  I remember being that age.  It was such a hard time to balance education, boys, friends, self esteem, chores, parents, etc…..  We believed that by bringing her home for her education she would not have to worry about wearing the right clothes, being pretty enough, and knowing the right things to say to make others like her.  By removing the distractions she would be able to discover who she was and who she wanted to be without someone dictating to her who she ought to be because they said so.  And she would be able to focus her attention on her education, especially the parts that she liked best!

I must say, although it hasn’t always been easy and she hasn’t always loved it, the changes I am seeing in my daughter make me proud.  While she was in public school I felt like I was losing her.  Choosing to home school her gave me my daughter back.  And I couldn’t be more proud of her or more happy with our decision to home school.

So?  Why is it so important to ME to home-school my daughter?  Growing up, one of the things I disliked most about my father was his ‘Do as I say not as I do’ philosophy on rearing his children.  Some of the things I hate most about myself now are things I grew up seeing my dad do.  Heidi is right, education is discipleship.  And my opinion is that discipleship is leading by example.  I didn’t like the example her teachers were providing her with.  And despite my imperfections, I felt I could provide her with much better examples of how to live while giving her an education the public school system could only dream of providing.

When I started writing this, I was planning to go in another direction with the next post.  But I believe this post, with all of its talk about removing my daughter from the opinions of others and their “bad” examples, lends itself to a question commonly asked of parents who have made the decision to home school and is a pivotal  consideration for those thinking about home schooling:

What about SOCIALIZATION?

New Beginnings

New Beginnings

8:20 am, August 20, 2012.  That was DD's first day of 7^th grade.  The beginning of our third year home-schooling.  The family all piled into the mini-van and headed down town.  Daddy had a meeting to attend.  DD brought her school books; I brought my camera and subject, DS.  C:

 

While Daddy attended to his meeting and I photographed DS  (he will be beginning his first day of 2^nd grade in a few days), DD got to work studying about America’s first state, Delaware and taking her very first math pre-test of the year!

Afterward, we took DS for a haircut and went to a new pizza place for lunch (it was REALLY good!)  Finally, we headed back home where DD finished up her school work between short breaks.  It all went smoothly and, at the end of the day, I was pleased with the way it turned out.

That’s not to say I didn’t spend some time breaking up sibling rivalries or reminding/encouraging DD to continue plugging away at her work.  Or even reminding myself to stay calm and patient (I apparently woke up on the wrong side of the bed  yesterday morning and just had an overall bad attitude to overcome in addition to all else that was going on).  Despite all of it, I felt prepared and organized for the work of the day and really, of the school year.  A far cry from the first day of our first year of homeschooling when I felt inadequate, incompetent, and, generally, ill-prepared to be a homeschooling mother.  One word describes that first year: Chaotic.

Sadly, the first year is pretty much evidence that I was ill-prepared to the task at hand.  Not that I was unintelligent, I just didn’t know where to begin.  I didn’t know what to teach or how to teach it or even where to find it to teach it!  Although the internet is an unparalleled resource there is also such a thing as information overload.  The amount of information was overwhelming.

There were many well meaning individuals who encouraged me toward home-schooling saying how easy it is to do.  But, despite being more prepared than I have been in the short three years that I have spent home-schooling, I still don’t find home-schooling to be “easy.”  I don’t say this to discourage you from home-schooling your child.  In fact, I have been known to tell my husband, “If it’s the hard thing to do, it’s probably the right thing to do, too,” and, “It’s ‘hard’ is not a valid reason for not doing it.”  That is the time you have to delve deep into it and figure out if and how it works for you.

As I chronicle the events of this year week by week I hope to provide you with assistance in figuring out how and where to get started and help give you that forward momentum needed to keep going on!

The first thing I will address and would encourage you to weigh heavily as you decide whether you will home-school your child is:

 WHY is it so important to you to home-school? 

Prep Work

Well, H has fallen in love with "Johnny Tremain."  I'm so glad she is enjoying it so much because it is a book I thoroughly loved when I read it.  She will have a book report to write on it once she is finished, which, at the rate she's reading it, shouldn't be too long.  Then, at the suggestion of a friend, she will read "My brother Sam is dead" and write a comparison report on the two books.  Once we finish that, I will rent the movie "Johnny Tremain" because she has asked to watch it.  Maybe I'll have her to write a comparative report on that, too!

On a side note, I have purchased some workbooks for her to use next year.  But right now, I will be using them to create a more well thought out plan for next years lessons.

A Month!

Wow!  I can't believe it's taken a month for me to make another post.  I have been very busy, though.
Let's see, I quit my job at the hotel so I could be home with my children when they need me.  I have started "working" for my husband.  Also have applied for a position at a farm that will only be a handful of hours for the day, so there will still be some income.  Shoots have increased, too, providing some income; I'm especially excited about that!

But, once again, H has fallen behind on her work.  Some days she has worked very hard to get caught back up but on other days......  We have a friend who owns several horses and does lessons, he has offered to provide lessons to her for free!  This is something she has been wanting for a couple of years now but it still doesn't seem to be enough motivation.  However, we did get her a Johnny Tremain (by: Esther Forbes) to read and do a report on and she hasn't hardly put the book down!  At least she's reading!!!

Also, since quitting my job, I have been more able to look at what needs to be done to make this homeschooling thing work...mostly a plan...and have begun to get a bit more organized about it.  Hopefully, I'll get a good plan together quickly not to mention a schedule (ewwww, I'm not a big fan of schedules.  Unfortunately, they are rather beneficial).  Once that is done, maybe next year will run more smoothly.

Getting Easier?

In my last post I spoke about some of the challenges I have been facing during my first year of homeschooling.  I've learned a lot through this process!  Some of the problem has been my daughter being motivated enough to do the work (which was a problem we faced while she was in the public school system, too).  Finally, yesterday, I told her that if she didn't start doing her work then I would have to quit my job!  She understands that my quitting would mean we would not move from my parents home, something she wants as desperately as my husband and I!  She also knows we've been searching for a car and in order to save money we would forget about that ambition.  But most importantly, to her anyway, is that she would give up any hope of an extracurricular activity with others due to no money or transportation.  

Today, she completed all of the work that has been going mostly undone for the last week and a half!  She did it in less than four hours, too.  That has me thinking that perhaps I need to begin assigning exceptionally more work.....


On a brighter note, we have found a car, possibly.  Keeping our fingers crossed!

Challenges

My husband and I decided to Home School our 11 year old daughter this past school year.  I never expected it to be easy.  I also never expected it to be quite so challenging!

A few things that I have found to be difficult:
1.  Motivating myself - I am also working a part time job out side of the home!  The schedule changes and prevents a consistent schedule that would be more conducive to motivating myself.

2.  Motivating my Student - Since I have an irregular schedule, so does she.  Also, she is old enough to complete workbook material, etc... with minimal assistance.  She loves her DSi, though.  Consequently, it has been taken away  :(  You would think that would be plenty of motivation!  You would apparently be wrong.


3.  Finding a Curriculum - This has perhaps been the most difficult.  It has been nearly an entire school year and I have yet to find and settle on a curriculum that is at her level but slightly challenging, and within my budget!  So far the internet, workbooks, and live experience have been my tools of the trade.


4.  The lack of a Vehicle -  God bless my daughter for being her.  I know she gets frustrated and lonely and my heart breaks for her.  About two months into beginning the school year our car decided it was a good time to let us down!  We have yet to get a new one.  Not having a car has kept us from being able to get her involved in outside activities as much as we'd like, as much as she needs.  Thank God for the Black Lab mix, she has kept our daughter active, at least.


5.  The lack of a Vehicle - has also prevented us from taking full advantage of all the assistance programs available to home schoolers, such as group activities (which would also help to fill in the gap for relationships my daughter is craving).  Thankfully, it is tax returns season.  That means problems #4 and #5 will soon be remedied.....now to find an activity she is agreeable to and that we can afford!


6.  Feelings of inadequacy -  Yes, this has been a big one for me that I did not expect.  I knew I didn't know everything I was going to be teaching her, but I expected to be learning along side of her.  But things just haven't worked out the way I thought they would and it makes me worry if she's learning all she needs to.


7.  Journaling - Most states require you keep a journal or some sort of record of the home school that you are operating.  This has maybe been the most difficult thing for me to do simply because it requires me to sit down and take inventory of what I am and am not doing well/at all.  Right now, I am not happy with the picture.


Over the months leading up to my decision to home school people stressed to me how hard home schooling would be as though that were reason enough to not do it.  Even now, people ask, "Isn't that hard?"  as though to say, 'why would you put yourself through that?'


I don't know about you, but I find that question incredibly annoying!  Any woman who has ever given birth knows the difficulty level of something is only an indication of how great that event/person/decision/etc.'s  value is.  The more difficult, the more valuable!  I plan to home school again despite the difficulty....because I think my daughter is worth it....and it can only get easier with practice!