Ten years later even that percentage has dropped. I read through scores of incoherent, fragmented, unpunctuated papers, written by students who graduated from well-funded high schools with small classrooms and qualified teachers.

What are those students being taught before they get to me?

It is not that they do not write. In fact, in an effort to solve the problem of poor writing skills, schools are giving longer and more complex assignments to younger and younger children. The theory is that the more writing children do, the better they will get at it; as one proponent of this theory recently told me, “Give the children high-interest assignments and have them write, write, write and revise, revise, revise.” First and second graders are told to write journal entries; third and fourth graders are assigned book reports and essays. Fifth and sixth graders are given research papers.

Meanwhile, writing skills continue to decline. For the last ten years, at education conferences all across the country, I have heard the same refrain from the parents of these children: My child hates to write.

There is a central problem with the write-more-and-you-will-get-better method. It treats writing as though it were analogous to speech: the more deeply you are immersed in it, the more competent you will become.

But writing is essentially unlike speaking. Children have an instinctual, inborn desire to speak. Any child who is developing normally will learn to speak if spoken to. The more a child talks, the better her verbal skills become.

Children do not have that same innate drive to write. Some children scribble as soon as they can hold a pencil, but the majority do not. Even children who are taught to read and are surrounded by written language do not necessarily learn how to write—because speech and writing are fundamentally different.

Writing, unlike speech, is not a natural activity. Mankind survived for a very long time without finding it necessary to put anything down on paper. Until the nineteenth century (which is quite late, in the larger scheme of things), even the largest empires chugged along perfectly well with shockingly low literacy rates. Administrators and bureaucrats had to be able to read and write, but the masses functioned quite well without paper and pencil. If they had been unable to talk, on the other hand, their countries would have fallen apart.

Written language is an unnatural, foreign language, an artificially constructed code. Compare written dialogue with any transcript of an actual conversation, and you will see that written language has entirely different conventions, rules, and structures than spoken language. The rules of this foreign language must be learned by the beginning writer—and they have to become second nature before the beginning writer can use written language to express ideas.

This is why so many young writers panic, freeze, weep, or announce that they hate to write. Try to put yourself in the position of the beginning writing student: Imagine that you have had a year or so of conversational French, taught in a traditional way out of a textbook, with practice in speaking twice a week or so. After that first year your teacher asks you to explain the problem of evil in French. You are likely to experience brain freeze: a complete panic, a frantic scramble for words, a halting and incoherent attempt to express complicated ideas in a medium which is unfamiliar. Even another year or two of study will not make this kind of self-expression possible. Rather, the conventions of the French language need to become second nature, automatic—invisible to you—so that you can concentrate on the ideas rather than on the medium used to express them.

The same is true for young writers. Ask a student to express ideas in writing before she is completely fluent in the rules and conventions of written language, and she will freeze. She cannot express her thoughts in writing, because she is still wrestling with the basic means of expression itself.

I have become convinced that most writing instruction is fundamentally flawed because children are never taught the most basic skill of writing, the skill on which everything rests: how to put words down on paper.

Writing is a process that involves two distinct mental steps. First, the writer puts an idea into words; then she puts the words down on paper.

An INARTICULATE IDEA becomes an IDEA IN WORDS.

An IDEA IN WORDS becomes WORDS ON PAPER.

Mature writers are able to do both steps without paying much attention to the fact that their brains are actually carrying out two different operations. For the beginning writer, however, even a simple writing exercise (“Write down what you did this morning”) requires the simultaneous performance of two new and difficult things. As a result, the student struggles—just as a baby who has barely learned to walk will struggle if you ask him to simultaneously perform some other task (such as rubbing his head). All of the baby’s attention needs to go into moving his feet until that action becomes automatic. If you ask him to walk and rub his head, he will probably freeze in one place, swaying back and forth uncertainly—just like many new writers.

Young writers need time to learn the conventions of their new language. They need to become fluent in it before they can use it to express new ideas. In most cases, though, students are simply immersed in this new language of writing. While immersion techniques often work for spoken foreign languages, they do not work nearly as well for writing—which is, after all, an artificial code rather than a natural speech expression.

Occasionally this process produces a perfectly willing and competent writer—one who has a natural affinity for writing and can intuitively grasp those parts of the process which have not been explicitly taught. Other students, however, remain puzzled. They become frustrated and resistant, always struggling with the task of getting words on paper, never competent enough to let their ideas flow out.

Instead, the process of writing needs to be taught in an orderly, step-by-step way. This is when classical methods (narration, copywork and dictation in the earliest grades; outlining and writing by models in the middle grades; and, finally, studying rhetoric in the upper grades) excel—in setting young writers free to use their medium, rather than wrestle with it.

The post When Writing Programs Fail appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

That desire to decorate may seem like an amusement, but it is also a significant expression of our nature as human beings. We were endowed with innate creativity. As soon as our fine motor skills allow us to do so, we decorate. In fact, much of what is known as “the fine arts” grew out of the quest to decorate: to add beauty, interest, and meaning to the spaces around us.

Artistic creativity is unique to human beings. My ranch dogs are given to digging cunningly shaped holes across our property—you might call them indented sculptures. These, however, are practical structures, vessels for their individual bodies (from rat terrier to Anatolian shepherd), scooped out by instinct to solve a variety of problems, including finding cooler dirt in the Texas heat and staking claim to a desirable patch of ground. Instinct, not creativity, is the operational force at work here.

A three-year-old, on the other hand, abounds in artistic creativity, as does that child’s thirteen-year-old sibling and everyone else up the ladder. So, when a family decorates the table covering while waiting for their pizza, the family members are actually engaged in multi-generational artistic expression. They are pursuing the serious developmental and pedagogical business of artistic creativity.

Yes, the arts are a serious means of learning within the pedagogical structure of a one-room schoolhouse or, if you will, the family home school. The arts encompass not only the visual arts (e.g., drawing, painting, sculpture, collage) but all of the arts: music, dance, drama, and poetry, as well as landscape, crafts, fashion, and design.

Let us take an example from music. Any child, no matter how young, can respond to musical sound. If we play a recording of the final movement of Mozart’s Second Flute Concerto, a child of eight can grasp the way the brilliant flute melody forms a contrast with the violin melodies. An older sibling—say age eleven—might see how the flute and violin melodies achieve a mathematical balance by echoing and enclosing one another.

A still older child, whether trained in music or not, can graph and analyze the movement’s form, known as a rondo, or at least verbalize why this pattern of repetition and contrast yields such invigorating music. With a bit of research, that child can explain why the rondo form fits well with Enlightenment aesthetics.

Even small children can usefully look at pictures and paintings of historical sites famous for their musical activities, such as Frederick the Great’s gilded Rococo music room in Sanssouci or the more restrained parlors at Monticello or the Governor’s Palace at Williamsburg—all places where music was long ago wrought for family and guests. Children can see why Mozart’s music “fits” an eighteenth-century space and why a massive composition by Mahler does not.

There are many ways to study the arts. They should not be reserved only for those with special creative gifts. Remember, many sports fans never played the games they love so dearly. While one child might decide the flute makes a pretty sound, and some day wish to learn to play it, another who has no desire to play may become intrigued by the mechanics of the flute:  its complex set of levers, rods, keys, and pads. After all, the flute works only because of the interaction between acoustics and design. Or, the child might use diagrams and pictures to learn how the eighteenth-century flute that Mozart knew changed throughout the nineteenth century in the hands of master flute maker Theobald Boehm. He can investigate what materials were used to make a flute throughout history and discover everything from bone and wood, to silver, gold, and platinum, to ivory, and even amber!

Meanwhile, the three-year-old will dance.

Never diminish the arts as a frill. Kings, generals, and bishops have known better. They were trained to appreciate the arts as a means of establishing ideal values in a society. Our modern tendency to view the arts as “extracurricular” is a damaging misconstruction. Accordingly, we may go down in history as the first society in Western culture to throw out what has always been recognized as an incontestable necessity for human development.

If study across the ages (one-room schoolhouse) is your goal, pedagogically, then reach out to the arts. Let the arts develop your students’ analytical powers and strengthen their historical understanding. Watch the arts trigger the God-given creativity of your children while it builds their cognitive (right-brain) abilities.

While we are at it, remember that adults are ideal candidates for serious encounters with the arts too. Our cognitive maturity allows unlimited exploration of the arts. Connections that were hard to see during our own school years burst forth when the arts are employed to illuminate virtually any given topic. Whatever our interest, we as adults will find parallels and extensions of that interest in the arts.

So, let your three-year-old dance, knowing that it is serious business that will reap bountiful academic rewards!

The post Why the Arts Belong in Your Curriculum appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

With the explosion of brain research in the last ten years, particularly studying the way humans assimilate information and learn, we now know that the percentage of “weirdoes,” the “out-of-touch” people is not 5 to 10%; they are 50% of the general population. That is right–half of our population learns in a right-brained way. If you have four children, statistically, two of them are right-brainers. The potential of this group of right-brain learners is amazing. Research tells us they are the visionaries, inventors, and the people who employ you and me in the workplace. In fact, some of the most successful people in the world have been right-brained! Winston Churchill, the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, “Magic” Johnson, Walt Disney, Theodore Roosevelt, and Benjamin Franklin are examples of right-brain greatness. We must make every effort to help kids like these learn to their fullest potential.

The problem is that traditional schools teach in a left-brained way. They hand students textbooks, and ask them to read the text and answer the questions at the end of the chapter. These textbooks are usually written by people who were left-brained learners themselves. They typically had great success in school and wanted to become teachers because of all those warm, fuzzy, childhood memories about how great and wonderful school was. After graduation they became teachers, and then they were promoted to curriculum writers. The cycle of more left-brained curriculum being written by more left-brained teachers seems to perpetuate itself. Now we are discovering that half of the children do not learn in a left-brained way. I am reminded of the young boy in a regular classroom who said to his mom after school, “I might be sitting still on the outside, but I’m wigglin’ on the inside!”

Since many school kids struggle with left-brained teaching methods, they often fall off the classroom conveyor belt. The teachers stick them back on the belt a few more times, but if they still struggle and continue to fall off the conveyor belt, they are given a left-brained IQ test. Some children are held back a grade while others are shuffled off to special education classes. Many are medicated.

It is now known that much language and memory retention, called taxon memory, is stored in the left part of the brain. The child with a right-dominant brain takes information into his brain into the right side, the more natural side of the brain for him. Until puberty the two halves, or lobes, of the brain are not fused together at the midline, so children have trouble gathering information in the right sides of their brains and accessing the answer in the left sides, where math facts, spelling words, vocabulary lists, and phone numbers are stored.

Think about how this works in learning. For example, a flashcard has “3 x 4” on the front, with the answer “12” on the back. You and I read “3 x 4,” which enters into the visual side of the brain, the right side, and immediately crosses the midline. We pull “12” out of our taxon memory, located in the left brain. Have you ever seen a child who knows “3 x 4 = 12” three days in a row, and on the fourth day, he cannot find the answer? A flashcard that would help the right-brainer is a card with “3 x 4 = 12” on the FRONT of the card. Right-brainers have picture-perfect memories. In fact many right-brained kids can spell long, difficult words frontwards and backwards! According to Dianne Craft from Child Diagnostics, the left-brained mom often says to herself, “I am NOT making flashcards with the answers on the front. That’s cheating.” However, that is the kind of teaching strategy that helps these non-traditional learners soar. The right-brained child will be able to visualize the whole problem with the answer when he needs to, rather than relying on retrieving the information from the left side of his brain. He will still “know” the answer!

As home schoolers, we have a unique opportunity to honor the way God made each of our children, for indeed, the psalmist tells us in Psalm 139, “I will give thanks to Thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” As parents and home educators, we need to be teaching mostly to our children’s strengths, not their weaknesses. In Proverbs 22:6 we read, “Train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” The important word in this well-known verse is “GO.” The word “go” here means, according to his bent, his tendencies, his areas of giftedness. We should be training up our children according to THEIR BENT, the way they learn best, not the way the mothers/teachers learn best!

Jeffrey Freed and Laurie Parsons, in their significant book Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World, tell us, “It’s important that the curriculum for children who are right-brained and/or ADD be not only relevant but stimulating. It may seem a paradox, but children with ADD actually need more stimulation to learn than does the average child.” Freed and Parsons go on to write, “Not all right-brained learners have ADD, but all ADD kids are right-brained learners.

“What [right-brained learners] need isn’t a prescription for pills [Ritalin], but a prescription for a different teaching method,” [my insertions]. The “different teaching method” to which Freed and Parsons are referring is no mystery; it has been around since kindergarten. It is called hands-on learning. Right-brained learners thrive when taught the “big picture” first and then the details. They need the information to be presented with meaning, color, and story in order to have it stick in their memory files. In fact, in his book Teaching with the Brain in Mind, Eric Jensen says, “Brain-compatible learning means that educators should weave math, movement, geography, social skills, role play, science, and physical education together.” Wearing a three-cornered hat, making an Indian headdress, or planting seeds in the garden—doing something with the information makes it memorable.

I cringe when I hear a mother describe her child’s heartbreaking experience in public or private school, only to have her tell of her choice to use more textbooks and workbooks at home to get her child “back on track.” Remember this: if a child has trouble with workbook and textbook learning at public or private school, bringing him home might help a little, but not significantly if that is the only teaching method used. If a child is lactose intolerant at a traditional school, will bringing him home suddenly cure him so he can drink milk as a home schooler? Of course not. The traditional conveyor-belt learning via reading the chapter and answering the questions in the back of the chapter will be as big a source of frustration at home as it was in the classroom setting.
Home schooling is too important a task to rely on an inefficient method that “teaches” information to your children, just to have them forget everything they learned in a couple of weeks. If hands-on learning helps information stick in children’s long-term memories, mothers need to incorporate more hands-on strategies in their day-to-day teaching. Most left-brained moms, however, want to stay step-by-step with the traditional scope and sequence and traditional teaching methods. They often feel uncomfortable with hands-on, non-traditional teaching, yet they know their children are not retaining their textbook studies. Many children are crying out for a new and fun way to learn.

Choosing curricula that use these hands-on teaching methods and still give enough structure for left-brained moms to feel comfortable becomes critical. Matching curriculum and learning style is the best way to give the right-brained learner a real chance to succeed in his academic setting and to prove to himself and the world that he truly has been “fearfully and wonderfully made.” These kids can do more than just succeed; they can soar. Let us make sure they do, with teaching that is hands on and fun!

The post Teaching the Right-Brained Learner appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda. These words cannot be found in any dictionary, for good reason. We must cast aside our visions of perfection—in doing so we will be able to quit struggling with our perceived failures. Rather than tell you what you should be doing to make next year perfect, what follows is a list of questions to help you figure out how to make next year good enough.

1. Find the right curriculum

• What are my children’s strengths and weaknesses? Do they need another year of geometry/spelling/reading comprehension? Did the last book help them learn?
• Are their learning styles visual/verbal, tactile/kinesthetic, visual/nonverbal or auditory/verbal? For which subjects do I need new books—books that fit their learning styles best?
• With how many subjects do they need minimal help? How well do they work alone? Which books will enable them to work and learn independently?
• How much time do I have available if I want to use a more interactive curriculum?
• Do I want curriculum that does all the work for me—lesson plans, tests, study sheets?
• Should I sign them up for tutorials or co-op classes with other kids? Is it a good time to have them take dual-credit classes at the local community college?

Some books work well for all learning styles; others are more exclusive. Most moms do a fair bit of research before buying by reading reviews online and visiting book fairs. Just remember that even though you might want to “unschool” next year, your curriculum must, by law, include math, reading, spelling, grammar and a study in good citizenship.*

Another alternative is to search for a Christian school that has developed a home school program: You buy the books the school is using, and your children can join in whichever classes you would like.

2. Pick electives

• What are their gifts and talents?
• What do they love to spend most of their time doing?
• Could I push them a little outside of their comfort zone?

According to public school development guidelines, students can earn six credits for electives on their high school transcripts.** Some examples are: foreign language, music, art, photography, computer programming, Web design, game design, driver education, speech, debate, or sports.

“I thought everyone else’s teens must have a deep interest in their educations. That’s what I read about in all the home schooling magazines . . . but it’s not true!” ~ S.

Larger families can find it helpful to only do one sport or hobby per year. One family did soccer for years, and then they all agreed to switch to ju-jitsu. It cut hours off the driving schedule and helped the family to stay close.

3. Discuss social activities

• How much of a social life do I want my children to have/how much is okay?
• Will all of their interactions with others be at the home school level—park days, co-ops, home school events?
• Will all of their interactions with others be at the church level? Is the church youth group a good place for them to socialize?
• Will they have enough friends from their sports or arts groups—soccer or choir?
• Are we being overprotective?

“Pray. It’s not all about you. Be flexible.” ~ K.T.

Many parents allow their children one night a week (weekdays) for youth group, and the weekend is filled with their children’s social activities. Others prefer to fill the school week with home school busyness and keep the weekends for time with family. One mom cuts other home school moms’ hair most afternoons, and she invites the family to come so the kids can hang out.

As long as you are not letting fear control your decisions, you probably know each child well enough to understand what he needs in the form of friendships and can act accordingly.

4. Plan out the year

• How much time do I have to spend with my children?
• Do my children need a daily checklist? Do I need a daily checklist? What will I use to create that?
• How often am I willing to drive them to extracurricular activities?
• How many hours of study a day works for us as a family? How early do we start each day?
• For how many weeks of the year will we do school?
• Do I prefer to buy books that already have yearly lesson plans in place?
• How can I make sure our plans do not exclude time for the younger members of the family?

“The longer I homeschooled, the less I planned.” ~ K.T.

Try to involve your teenagers in the planning process. While they may not be thrilled at the prospect of sitting down with you to discuss something they do not want to think about all summer, it helps for them to have some feeling of ownership in it. It can also be a good thing to have them commit to the finalized plans by signing them. Boys tend to be more difficult to engage when it comes to caring about their education, and perhaps nothing has worked to date. All you can do is your best, pray, and hope something sticks.

When it comes to home schooling, there really is no standard; it is all about what works for you and your family. When I started homeschooling, I was always sure to let people know that I was not a denim-jumper-wearing, chicken-rearing-in-the-backyard kind of home schooler because I was so much cooler than that. In reality, we are all cool, in our own eclectic way. God put us here to be ourselves, and if we cannot do that, we have failed God’s reason for making us.

“If all you do is try to be like someone else, you will only ever reach the No. 2 position.” ~ K.V.

Hopefully asking yourself all of these questions will help you figure out exactly what you plan on doing next year. If your mind is still addled, perhaps finishing this sentence will help: Ultimately, my children will leave home with me having done my best to turn them into ______________. Then let that goal guide your decisions.

*In the Leeper vs Arlington class-action suit, the case law which defines home schooling in Texas, the judge ruled that you must have and pursue in a bona fide (i.e., not a sham) manner a curriculum that includes math, reading, spelling, grammar, and a study in good citizenship.

**The TEA recommends that  Texas public school students take two semesters of P.E., two semesters of computer technology, and a semester of health education. Students can take a total of six credits of elective classes.

THSC resources

• THSC Conferences and book fairs
• Homeschooling teenagers
• Planning on purpose
• Dual credit/Early college start

Other resources

• The Homeschool Library, Discussion of Homeschooling bySubject
• The Homeschool Library, Homeschooling Conference Rooms
• Learning style test (for Mom to answer):
• Donna Young’s home school planner guide

The post Back to School Again – The Guilt-Free Guide appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

In response to that article, I received the following e-mail:

Hello, Ms. Preble,

I am a first-year home school educator to my eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter. I worked in the public school system, and my husband works at a community college. Though we have experience in public and higher education, I must admit that home schooling is so much more challenging than I ever anticipated. I was curious as to your early years of home education and the type of curriculum you used with your children.

It has been quite some time since anyone has asked me questions about what type of curriculum I used when my children were younger. Both of my children are now grown. One of my daughters graduated from Texas A&M University in May of 2008, and the other one is currently a sophomore there.

I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed my trip down memory lane as I thought back to those early years of home schooling. I remembered the brightly colored, reading flash cards and the felt cutouts we used in kindergarten. I thought about all the wonderful history lessons, science experiments, and Bible study times and discussions. Then it occurred to me that, when we first started homeschooling, there was not the wide variety of curricular options that exist today. Back then I spent most of my time researching various educational philosophies and asking the Lord how He wanted me to educate my children. My husband and I were clear on our responsibility to instill in our children an understanding and love of God, but I did not know which reading curriculum to use or if the science material I had chosen would ultimately equip them for college-level courses.

Since I believed?and still believe? that God led me to homeschool, I knew that He would lead me in developing an educational philosophy that would help me to instruct the unique children that He had designed and placed in my care. So I began to pray that God would lead me to the material He wanted me to read and to the speakers I needed to hear. The very first speaker I heard who greatly impacted my approach to home schooling was Dr. Raymond Moore, author of Better Late Than Early. I still consider this book a must-read for all home schooling parents. His research and insights explaining the connection between children’s developmental stages and their readiness to learn has eased the mind of many worried home school parents whose children were not reading by age five or even older. (Visit the Moore Foundation Web site.)

After I read most of the books written by Dr. Moore, it was not long before I discovered the writings of Dr. Ruth Beechick and Charlotte Mason. I attended home school conferences and began to learn about various methods of educating children. Soon my husband and I developed our own philosophy of education. We agreed that our primary objective was to teach our children about God. We also decided that we wanted to instill in our children a lifelong love of learning. We wanted them to be curious and to investigate those things that interested them. We also wanted them to develop their God-given natural talents so they would be equipped to use their strengths to serve others.

These are the ideas that formed our educational philosophy. We selected curricula and learning experiences that would help us achieve our educational goals. We also helped our daughters identify extracurricular activities that helped them explore and develop their God-given talents and abilities.

Once we determined what we wanted the outcome of our educational efforts to be, it became much easier to identify which curricula and learning experiences would help us meet our goals. For example, since I believe that encouraging curiosity and investigation are key to helping a child develop a love of learning, I decided to incorporate one of Dr. Beechick’s ideas when it came time to pick my daughter’s science curriculum for her fourth-grade year. We had tried a number of typical science textbooks and found them to be rather dry. They also seemed to cover the same topics over and over again. My daughter was already starting to dread science, and she was only nine years old.

Dr. Beechick believes that teaching science by using a textbook actually works against the scientific process. If children are given a textbook and told that the answers to their questions about science are contained within that textbook, this can actually work against encouraging them to think like scientists. For example, the first step in the scientific method is to ask a question. Scientists are supposed to be curious people. Think about George Washington Carver and where his curiosity about a peanut led him. If your children are given a set curriculum that contains all the science they need to know for the year, when are they given the chance to let their own curiosity drive their investigation?

Therefore, in order to let my daughter investigate and ask her own questions about science, I decided to follow one of Dr. Beechick’s suggestions. I took my daughter to the library and directed her to the science section in the children’s department. I then told her to select three books that focused on a topic about which she was curious. Much to my surprise, my daughter selected three books on electromagnetism. I told her to record the five most fascinating things she learned from each book and communicate her results to me. She could either write a report, draw a picture, or give an oral presentation about what she learned. My daughter is now twenty-three, with a college degree, and still describes her fourth-grade year as the year that she most enjoyed learning about science.

My other daughter hit a snag during her third-grade year when it came to reading. None of the books or readers I selected were enticing her to want to read. I took her to our local home school bookstore and told her to take a look at all the books and readers available and pick something that looked interesting to her. Again, much to my surprise, she chose a set of readers that I never would have picked. She told me that the readers we had been using were not “chapter books,” and she wanted to read “chapter books.” I realized that the readers I had selected contained short stories with a beginning and an end to each story, and my daughter wanted to read an ongoing story, divided into chapters. She did not want to know the end of the story until the end of the book.

These are only two examples of things I did through the years to help my children become actively involved in their own educational process. Both of my daughters learned how to research and investigate to get answers to their questions. They also both developed a love of learning. These are two of the outcomes I had most wanted to see as a result of our home schooling years.

I realize my answer to the question, “Which curriculum did you use when your children were younger?” is not a simple one. I cannot say that we started kindergarten with A Beka and used it all the way through. We did use some elements of the A Beka curriculum, coupled with many different learning techniques and materials along the way. My advice to moms of young home schooling students would be to pray about what the outcome of your children’s education should be and ask the Lord to direct you to the resources you need to accomplish that task.

The post What Type of Curriculum Did You Use With Your Children? appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

Nevertheless, conference season has arrived in many parts of the country. You tucked away the invitations to remind you to register, or you buried them in the pile of papers on your desk.

If you are newer to home schooling, you doubtless are eager to go. You cannot wait to finally see and touch the products you drooled over online or in the winter catalogs. You will hear, in person, the speaker you are convinced can teach you how to get the wash done and the math taught at the same time. You have vowed to do better next year! You and your husband can even enjoy a mini-vacation, if you are able to arrange childcare. In fact, you probably submitted your registration fee when the first invitation arrived.

What about attendance for those who are seasoned home schoolers? Over the years, you have gone to what seems like a zillion of these events—been there, done that, and you’ve earned the tee shirt! Why should you waste your time and money attending again? You have heard the speakers, attended the workshops, have already chosen your school material for next year, and you do not consider the conference a vacation if you must drag your reluctant husband along. Online ordering is so much easier.

Attend or Not

Why should any home educator—beginner or veteran—attend a conference? May we chat together over a cup of tea? You may have overlooked some particular rewards of being part of your local or state event.

Over the past twenty years, I have participated in every size conference imaginable as an attendee, a speaker, a vendor, and a conference planner. In the “old days,” we were fortunate when we could attend any conference anywhere that offered a handful of workshops. We met in churches, private schools, or any location in which we could find enough space to house a reasonable number of vendor tables and a few rooms for speakers.

Now, of course, there are countless material choices, numerous knowledgeable speakers, and in most cases, beautiful, spacious facilities. Home education conferences have arrived! So why do I hear that attendance is down in many states? Do we no longer need traditional home school conferences?

I propose that we do need them, perhaps currently more than previously, especially when we examine the important reasons for attending a conference. Yes, it is a wonderful place to see the particular curriculum you have only read about in a catalog. It is an ideal place to discover materials you might otherwise overlook if you did not attend. Yet, the foundational reasons to attend for all home schoolers are not necessarily utilitarian reasons involving curriculum choices.

Continuing Education

Have you read an article or a book or listened to a recording and wished you could ask the author or speaker a question to advance your understanding or clarify a point made in the material? You have that opportunity when you attend live workshops. Personal contact with veteran home school speakers and those who have expertise in specific areas opens the opportunity for new insights. Many home educators testify to an “aha” moment at a conference that revolutionized their teaching or child training.

The enthusiasm of the onsite speakers is infectious. Interaction with them can provide the boost you need to handle a particular challenge or give you encouragement to persevere. Most conference planners choose speakers carefully, giving you the best options for information and support. Call it continuing education for teachers; it affords the opportunity for you to listen, learn, and receive while you rest from giving continually to your family.

Renewing Perspective

Though you are solely responsible for your children’s education and training, you home educate as a member of a wider community of families who are pursuing similar opportunities for their children. The fellowship shared with others at a conference encourages and lifts you to new heights. As you stroll through the vendor halls, attend workshops, and chat with fellow home schoolers, you see anew why you started home educating in the first place. A conference introduces you to new friends whom the Lord brings into your life, and you connect again with those precious friends you and your family only have the opportunity to see infrequently. Other home schoolers’ lives and stories encourage you as you relate to their challenges and triumphs. The Lord refreshes your spirit and renews your heart for another season. The reminder that you are not alone, but part of a large community that shares this adventure with you, holds you steady through rough times.

If the conference uses teen volunteers, includes a graduation ceremony, or offers opportunities for older students or graduates to speak, you will be encouraged to see the fruit of home education in these exemplary youth. You look to the day, if your children are now young, when you will see that fruit in your parenting and educating efforts, and you are optimistic as you continue toward that goal for your own children.

One mother shared with me that she takes special notes at conferences. More than just recording the thoughts and ideas of the speakers, she writes in her notes’ margins the things that God may reveal to her about a particular student or curriculum choice. At times, she writes a question: “Would this be a good match for Andrew?” “Is this Susan’s need?” Other times it is a prayer: “Lord, help me do this with Melanie.” Additionally, she might record an idea: “Encourage Jeremy about his diligence.” This mom knows she is more open to the Lord’s leading and has a different perspective when she is concentrating and learning in a convention atmosphere away from the distractions and duties at home.

Giving Back

Although you receive multiple advantages when attending a conference, it is not just about receiving. Whether you are new to home education or a veteran of many years, you have something to share with fellow attendees as well. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 tells us, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up” (NKJV). God will give you the opportunity to lift up a fellow parent through your actions and words. You may not even be aware you have helped someone along their path, but the Lord knows and uses your offerings in the hearts of others attending the conference.

Online options for information, workshops, and curriculum purchases are popular, and they are helpful and convenient in multiple ways. Still, it would be a shame for a generation of home schooling parents to lose personal touch with the heart and soul of home education by missing the affirmative atmosphere of a convention. You cannot replicate that on a computer screen.

To attend or not to attend? I would not miss the refreshment, fun, and fellowship for anything! Won’t you join me?

The post Home School Conferences appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

Since the early 1980s, record numbers of Christians have answered the call to be involved in the political process. This participation has been welcomed at times and resented at others. For the past fifteen years, the Republican Party has enjoyed the support of the “Christian Right” in order to win elections, especially on the national level. But when it comes to social policies that are important to Christians, such as parental rights and agenda-free textbooks, the Christians’ agenda is described as too rigid and narrow.

Welcome to the postmodern world, where in politics the principled person is called an extremist, and those unwilling to compromise are “obstructionists.” According to the postmodern view, absolute truth does not exist, so the old order must be rejected to allow man the freedom to seek solutions in any manner he pleases. Thus, the virtuous modern man tolerates any and every idea and lifestyle, seeks understanding, and always respects the alternate perspective. The respectable politician or activist is the one who has learned to get along.

For the Christian, the postmodern view offers new challenges. According to Don Closson, “As a result of postmodernist thinking, anyone who claims to know something that is universally true, true for everyone, everywhere, anytime, is accused of marginalizing those who disagree…. Christianity claims to be true for everyone, everywhere.”[i] Conflict is inevitable.

In his book Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture, Gene Veith summarizes the political consequences of the postmodern view:

Postmodernism minimizes the individual in favor of the group. This can only result in a collectivist mentality in which the claims of the individual are lost in the demands of the group. An ideology that believes that personal liberty is an illusion can hardly be expected to uphold or allow individual freedom. Moreover, excluding transcendent values places societies beyond the constraint of moral limits. Society is not subject to the moral law; it makes the moral law. If there are no absolutes, the society can presumably construct any values that it pleases and is itself subject to none.[ii]

Christians who believe in personal responsibility, personal liberty, and absolute truth find it difficult “selling” a public policy agenda in this new environment.

It is no longer sufficient to attempt to understand the dynamics of the political process by looking at party affiliation alone. For the Christian to be effective, he must recognize that the problem is not a Republican vs. Democrat or conservative vs. liberal dilemma—it is much more fundamental. It is a clash between worldviews; specifically, a clash between the Christian worldview and postmodernism.

Everyone has a worldview.

Although many may not acknowledge it, everyone has a worldview. A worldview is a person’s framework for understanding reality; that is, it is the glasses through which one views the world. When the same set of facts is presented to different people, they each can arrive at different conclusions. For example: a man wearing the wrong prescription, when confronted with a tree, might conclude that he is touching a giraffe. Another man, confronted with the same tree, might have the proper prescription and thus see reality clearly.

This fact explains why something like the adoption of public school textbooks is so controversial. While one book seems entirely appropriate from one point of view, that same book can be offensive to people with a different worldview.

Francis Schaeffer, in his classic book A Christian Manifesto, reminds us that problems in society can be traced to a change in the way people view the world:

The basic problem of the Christians in this country in the last eighty years or so, in regard to government, is that they have seen things in bits and pieces instead of totals. They have gradually become disturbed over permissiveness, pornography, the public schools, the breakdown of the family, and finally abortion. But they have not seen this as a totality—each thing being a part, a symptom, of a much larger problem. They have failed to see that all of this has come about due to a shift in world view—that is, through a fundamental change in the overall way people think and view the world and life as a whole.[iii]

Schaeffer explains that when the worldview of a society changes from one influenced by Christianity to something non-Christian, the result will be seen in politics, law, and society in general.

The Christian worldview is based on the belief that God is sovereign (supreme and self governing) and man is sinful (we violate God’s standards). God’s sovereignty implies that God can rightfully rule over His creation. In His sovereignty, God has prescribed roles for three specific institutions: the family, the church, and civil government. The idea of right and wrong are defined by God, and to properly understand the world around us, a person must look through the corrective lenses of God’s Word, the Bible. The notion of a sovereign God influences the Christian’s perspective on public policy.

Biblical government understands and adheres to God’s prescribed roles and functions for the family, church, and civil government. The family is the central economic and spiritual unit in society (Gen. 1:26-28). The family has the duty to nurture and train children (Deut. 6). In the home, children learn spiritual things and godly character. The church is the “foundation of truth” (I Timothy 3:15) and has the redemptive function in the society. The church preaches the gospel—reconciliation between God and man.The civil government has the duty to maintain order in society by punishing law-breakers (Romans 13:4).

The Christian worldview expects that each of these three institutions is separately responsible to God. The institutions are separate functionally and one does not rule over another—each institution has a different jurisdiction. In today’s environment, it is radical to believe that the civil government does not have jurisdiction over the family and the church. This is called the principle of limited government.

This concept of jurisdiction provides the framework when Christians examine public policy issues. It explains why Christians are opposed to civil government redefining the family to include two men or two women. The right to define the family does not fall within the jurisdiction of the civil government. Using this same reasoning, the Christian worldview opposes policy initiatives such as regulation of private or home schools, special rights based on race or sexual preferences, and taxation of the church. Each of these violates the biblical principle of jurisdiction.

While the church has jurisdiction over sins, the civil government has authority over crimes. This is an important distinction. Crimes always involve actions. As a society we do not want the civil government to have jurisdiction over matters of the heart or thoughts. In many states, a person can be charged with a hate crime if the offense was against a homosexual or some other protected group. We should oppose legislation that allows for stiffer penalties based on the attitude of someone’s heart.

What can I do?

Is it possible to stay true to the Christian worldview in the political process when so many others adhere to postmodernism? Absolutely! Just keep a few simple principles in mind.

• Be obedient. It is the duty of the Christian to work for righteous government on the local, state, and national levels. Even though we are each called to different levels of involvement, we do have responsibilities. Be faithful to what God has called you to do.
• Do not run from conflict. Recognize that influencing public policy will never be easy. There is never room at the top for competing worldviews; hence, conflict in the political process is inevitable.
• Develop coalitions to win. Find like-minded groups and individuals who agree with your stand on an issue and band together to accomplish your policy goals. Sometimes a particular policy can bring together diverse groups. For example, some years back social conservatives (the American Family Association, churches, etc.) worked with fiscal conservatives (Republicans and Democrats) to pass Proposition 22 in Austin, a proposition that eliminated partner benefits for unmarried pairs. While some opposed partner benefits for moral reasons, others simply thought it was too expensive.
• Be principled, not pragmatic. Some public policy must be opposed because it is wrong, not because it will not work. Christians must not only be concerned with good vs. bad policy, but also the rightness or wrongness of policy. In the eyes of China’s communist government, forced abortion policy may be good policy in that it achieves its aim of reducing population growth, but it is morally wrong and must be opposed. In the same way, trying to reduce the number of teenage mothers by allowing abortions is wrong.
• Work for change from the bottom up. Developing and educating politically active Christians on the local level should be the primary focus of your efforts. Lasting change will only occur from the bottom up. Christ teaches His followers not to lead by garnering power but, instead, to lead by serving. The White House may be more glamorous, but everybody wants to do that. Try serving by doing the things no one wants to do—like yawning your way through zoning disputes at your city council meeting.

Endnotes

1. Don Closson, “How Do You Spell Truth?” Probe Ministries, 1996.
2. Gene Veith, Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1994), p. 159.
3. Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1981), pp. 17-18.

[i] Don Closson, “How Do You Spell Truth?” Probe Ministries, 1996.

[ii] Gene Veith, Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1994), p. 159.

[iii] Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1981), pp. 17-18.

The post Why Can’t We All Get Along? appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

Our daughter, Jenni, was like an olive plant that was wilting and then blown to shreds by harsh winds of peer pressure. She had always been a quiet, sweet-natured girl, who was small for her age. Even though she was in a wonderful, Christian private school, other children would make fun of her and elbow her out of their way because they knew she would never protest.

When Jenni was 14, we decided to begin homeschooling her and our 9-year-old daughter, Melinda, in the middle of the year. As soon as we took them out of school, it was if we had brought shriveled, beleaguered olive plants into the house and given them a chance to thrive once again. The years that we homeschooled were some of the happiest years for our family. It was a delight to know what our children were learning and to be involved with them as they grew and made their own discoveries. We met some wonderful home school families, and our daughters developed new friendships with children who treated them with kindness.

As I was making plans to order curriculum for our fourth year of home schooling, I was contacted by a couple who were planning to start a new private Christian school. They asked me to apply for a position as teacher, and the opportunity to earn some much-needed income blinded me to what my heart really knew to be the right path. I accepted the position and gave up the joy and blessings of home schooling.

I taught at that school, and then at another private Christian school, for a total of ten years. Our daughters are grown now, with families of their own, and as I look back, my greatest regret is that I did not continue with home schooling.

It is so easy to be tempted away from your home and away from your commitment to home schooling, especially if you are facing financial need. But if you know that God has called you to homeschool your children, listen to Him carefully. I know that every family lives in different circumstances, but if you know that God has turned your heart toward home schooling, pursue that course with all your might. If you are pressed by difficulties, whether they are financial or personal, go to the Lord in much prayer and allow Him to meet those needs.

If you are feeling discouraged or your vision of home schooling is beginning to fade, there are four books that I recommend: Educating the Whole-Hearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson, For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer MacAulay, Hearth and Home by Karey Swan, and So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling by Lisa Whelchel (even if you are already homeschooling, you will be inspired by the stories in this book).

I had turned away from my own little garden and began working in another garden. I was teaching in one of the best Christian schools in the country, and I was working with teachers who became the most wonderful group of friends I have ever had. It was so fulfilling to make a difference in the lives of children and to hear the kind words of appreciation from their parents.

As I was basking in the affirmation and enjoying the new financial freedom that my job afforded, I did not realize that the garden for which I was really responsible was beginning to suffer. The winds blew, the storms came, and I was unable to undo the damage.

After long years of prayer, I saw God prove Himself faithful. My children’s roots went deep, and God raised them up again, strong and true. He blessed and multiplied back the time that I had spent at home with them. Both of them married God’s chosen men—husbands who are committed to the Lord and are devoted to their wives and children. As of 2009, Jenni and Eric are the parents of Joshua, 10; Caleb, 8; and Hannah, 4. Melinda and Bruce are the parents of Lauren, 5, Braden, 2, and one on the way. We are indeed seeing our children’s children, and what an incredible blessing that is! No one really understands what it is like to be a grandparent until actually experiencing it. “Children’s children are the crown of old men” (and women!) (Proverbs 17:6).

From the moment that we had our first child, I firmly believed that a mother belonged at home, caring for her husband, her children, and her house. I allowed my conviction to be stolen away from me by a perceived financial need. Now that I have been around that mountain and seen what is really there, I am convinced that I always belonged at home—and not just while the children were young. I know now that children continue to need their mother at home, even as they grow into adulthood. And now I am discovering that our loving Father, the God of second chances, has given me another chance to homeschool. He has made it possible for me to “homeschool” my adult children by giving me the opportunity to advise and encourage them as they labor in their own gardens. Except for my husband, our daughters are my dearest friends now, and we share laughter and troubles, encouraging each other as we go about our daily tasks.

Giving advice only when we are asked (usually!) and checking with our daughters before we make purchases for them, my husband and I contribute what we can to making their home school experience more effective. I locate learning resources, provide guidance and mentoring, and become part of the “teaching team” when requested. Whenever possible, we purchase books, toys, and games for our daughters that will be part of a rich home-learning environment. I share my hard-earned wisdom about child-raising and teaching (Again, I try to do this only when asked!).

I have made frontiersman costumes and “coonskin caps” for the boys, which they have worn constantly, and I am sure I have many more costumes in my future that will provide hours of pretend play. I enjoy doing art projects with the children and going for “discovery” walks with them. I have been known to crawl around on the floor pretending to be a bear, join tea parties under the table, and gallop through the house on an imaginary horse.

Grandpa, with his incredible ability to spin a great cowboy yarn, has become a tremendous source of delight for the boys. Soon he will have to start dipping into his creative abilities to make up stories for the girls.

We often keep the children and allow our daughters to have a much-needed break. We have also made our home a “grandchildren’s house.” There are toys and games in the living room, art and cooking in the kitchen, puzzles and baby toys in the den, Lincoln Logs in the dining room, and books in every nook-and-cranny. The grandchildren love to run, jump, play, and read to their hearts’ content. Our house sits on several acres that provide plenty of running-around space. In fact, our greatest summer pleasure is sitting in the front porch swing, watching the children play.

If your grandchildren are being homeschooled, they would be richly blessed by the special threads that only you can weave into the tapestry of their little lives. Your children, too, would be blessed by your encouragement and your help. If you do not live near your children, you can still be a part of their lives by purchasing books, art supplies, and learning tools.

If you are a home schooler and your parents are not able to help you, consider seeking out some “first generation” home schoolers who are willing to mentor you and come alongside to inspire and support you.

When you grow weary of tending your little garden, remember that the Lord Himself gave you these precious plants to care for. You will find Him walking in the garden and laboring with you.

Titus 2:3-5 says, “Older women should be reverent and devout, as those engaged in sacred service … give good counsel and be teachers of what is right and noble, so that they will wisely train the young women to love their husbands and their children; to be sensible, pure, homemakers, kindhearted, subject to their own husbands that the word of God may not be dishonored.”

It truly is a sacred service to be available to counsel and encourage our grown daughters who are building their homes on the foundation of the Lord and raising precious olive plants in their own gardens.

The post Olive Plants Round the Table appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

“I hate math!” I often hear this statement from people. Often the implication is that the person should not have to learn mathematics or cannot learn mathematics. Sometimes it is that the person sees no value because “I’m never going to use it.” Let me give a short response to these issues.

Should people learn mathematics?
Obviously, as a mathematician, I think the answer is “Yes.” But the reason may surprise you. It is not solely because of the usefulness of the subject. Let us be honest. Many of the skills one learns in algebra will never be used in real life. It is unlikely that most people will ever have the need to factor a quadratic. The most important reason for learning mathematics is that it helps develop the ability to think.
Being able to think logically is vitally important in life. If I cannot think logically then I cannot make intelligent decisions on many issues that will be of importance in my personal life. I will not be able to vote wisely. I will not be able to make good financial decisions. Parenting decisions can be hindered in many ways by poor logical-thinking skills.
I know of nothing that aids in logical thinking better than mathematics. Mathematics involves problem-solving techniques, such as breaking a large problem down into smaller parts that are more easily solved. That will help in problems with which we deal in areas that have nothing to do with mathematics.
The key ingredient in developing logical thinking is avoiding the temptation of looking at mathematics as a collection of algorithms. Yes, there are many algorithms in mathematics, and they are important; but in addition to knowing how to use them, I need to understand when to use them and why. I need to understand why they work.

What about attitude?
A lot of people are greatly hindered in mathematics because of attitude. The attitude problem can be that of teacher or student. Parents need to be careful that they do not poison their children’s attitudes toward mathematics. Otherwise they will spend much time fighting through an attitude they helped create.
“But what do I do if I don’t like it?” The short answer is, “Get over it.” There are many things in life that we do not like but have to do anyway. Going to the dentist is not fun, but I do it. Paying my taxes is not fun, but I do it. We need to realize the benefits we get from these activities. As mentioned above, learning how to do mathematics can help us learn how to think.
I am not so naïve as to think that a simple decision will make everyone love mathematics. We can, however, decide that we will have a good attitude about doing things we do not want to do. We can start looking at the value of the activity to help us get past the attitude.

“But I’m not good at it!”
Such a statement is an assessment of past experience. It should not be allowed to become a predictor of future achievement. When a child is struggling with mathematical concepts, it is easy to assume that the concepts under consideration are the problem. I would guess that in at least 90% of the cases that is not the problem. Normally, if a child begins struggling with 6th grade mathematics, the problem is probably with an incomplete understanding of 4th grade mathematics. Go back to the previous material and test for understanding—not just for correct answers, but for why things are done. Not understanding that is often the problem with later struggles.

“Will I ever use it?”
Some mathematical concepts are not likely to be used by people who do not get involved in technical fields. Some will not even likely be used by those folks. Nevertheless, there are many places where algebra, geometry, trigonometry and other mathematics can be used. However, there is one important thing to remember here. You cannot use what you do not know. If I never learn something, then I certainly cannot ever apply it.
There are some obvious areas of mathematics that will indeed be used.

Suppose a recipe calls for 2-3/4 cups of jalapeños, and the recipe is designed to feed 4 people. What do you do if you want to make it for 7 people?

One of the requirements for the athlete pin in Cub Scouts is running 600 yards in 2 minutes and 45 seconds. We have an oval track that is a quarter mile, which is 440 yards. How do I choose where to have the Scouts end if I want them to run 600 yards? Suppose I make it easier by making them run one and a half laps, which would be easier to mark off. What would be an appropriate time to give them in which to run the longer distance?

Other uses for mathematics in daily life include the following:

Prices per unit at the grocery store
Discounts on merchandise
Figuring a tip at a restaurant
Figuring how much paint is needed to buy to paint my living room

These are things that all of us are reasonably likely to encounter in life. There are many others. Mathematics is important for far more than just providing me with an income, although that is obviously VERY important, at least to me and my family.
I do not use calculus very often in my daily life outside of my teaching. Trigonometry I use occasionally; geometry often, especially when I am building something; algebra quite a lot, although it is not always obvious. A lot of times, people would use those things if they knew how to do them. If they do not, they just make a guess or skip it. Often the guess is good enough. Other times they have to go out to the garage and cut another piece of wood for that project.
Can one conclude that these ideas will make everyone a mathematical genius who likes nothing better than to solve mathematical problems? Obviously not; however, I hope it will help people appreciate the usefulness of mathematics a little bit more.

The post I Hate Math, So Why Do I Need to Learn It? appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

The previous school year in our home was the nightmare of all nightmares. If it could go wrong, it did go wrong. I had carefully budgeted for my school expenses and bought the well-thought-out purchases at a book fair. My curriculum purchases were complete for the year, which was a good thing, because I had spent my entire budget! It was not long into the semester that I realized the curriculum I bought and my son’s learning style were on a cataclysmic collision course with disaster! I felt I only had one option – to make the best of a bad situation and continue with what we had purchased. That is some advice I would never offer to another living soul again! Some lessons you just learn the hard way!

We paid a huge price for that decision. It brought much conflict and pain into my relationship with my son. The light that used to shine so brightly in his eyes about learning was now quickly fading. I was beginning to think I had destroyed his love of learning – and that was heavy on my heart. We finished the school year feeling battered, broken, and weary. I even daydreamed of “the little, yellow school bus.” I was heartbroken over the whole experience, as was my son.

I agonized about what we could do to change our whole approach to doing school. I knew I needed a miracle to reclaim the ground we had lost the year before. I was lamenting to a friend over my discouragement at unfulfilled expectations for the year – my experience was not what I had expected when I signed up to homeschool. I was asking her, “Where are all the activities I dreamed of doing with the kids?” and “Where are all the projects and science fairs and family togetherness I longed for??” This had not been my experience for that year. To be honest, I had yet to reach those goals in all my five years. With much wisdom, my friend just challenged me, “Dawn, why don’t you do the unit studies you have always dreamed about?” I knew what she was talking about! I had always longed to dive into the unit study approach, but the thought simply terrified me. Would I be able to accomplish that task well? I took one good look over the unit-study-based curriculum I had sitting on my shelf, and the flood of dreams came back like a wave. My husband and I discussed the option of switching to the unit study approach for the next year, and it was a unanimous decision!

We did a test run of a two-week unit on loyalty to see how the kids would respond to the curriculum. I cannot tell you how dramatic the change was. I saw the light in my son’s eyes return! His eagerness and inquisitiveness have come alive again!

I guess the old adage is true: “With age comes wisdom.” It took me five years to make that leap of faith, cross the “great divide,” and jump with reckless abandon into the very teaching approach I have wanted to do from the beginning yet was afraid to tackle! From the beginning I was convinced that my kids needed a textbook/workbook approach, because that is all I ever knew – but my heart longed for something more.

I now know that there is freedom that comes with following the leading of the Lord for your family and diving in wholeheartedly! Therein lies the fulfillment of dreams – that for which I had longed and wanted to experience with my children and our family as a whole. Having experienced this with my family, I do not know how we would ever go back to the old way of doing things.

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