By Anne Gebhart

Have a fun history class while teaching your children about some modern day history that directly impacts their lives!  There’s nothing like a little role-playing to help our students understand what the home schooling pioneers went through and what a special privilege it is to home school in Texas.

? Pretend you are a home school pioneer living in Texas during the 1980′s.  Stay in your house during school hours.  There are no co-ops, no support groups, and no extra-curricular activities for homeschoolers at this time.  School hours are typically from 8:15 until 3:30.  That’s a little over 7 hours. Discuss what you will do with all that time while you’re at home.  How many pages can you read in that amount of time?  How much school work do you think you can accomplish at home in seven hours?   What do you think the impact of staying at home all day had on family relationships?

? During school hours, home schoolers had to be discreet.  Today, every time someone knocks on the front door today, be very quiet.   Only your parent can answer the door.  Pretend you’re a home schooling mom (or dad).  With your sibling or parent, dramatize a scenario where a truant officer comes to the door, questions you, informs you that you are breaking the law, and then tries to arrest you for homeschooling your child illegally.  There is no THSC to call for assistance at this time in history, so you will be at the mercy of the truant officer.  What could you say that could convince him not to arrest you?

? Before home schooling became legalized in Texas, curriculum publishers didn’t view homeschooling families as legitimate schools and, therefore, would not sell their curriculum to them.  Your assignment is to write your own curriculum lessons for the year (remember, there are 36 weeks in a school year) in each of the following subjects:  math, language arts, writing, spelling, history, science, Bible/Christian worldview, music, and PE.  Oh, and there’s no internet to draw resources from, so you’ll have to do it the “old fashioned way” using library books and encyclopedias for information.  Older kids teach the younger kids.  Which subjects were harder to teach? Which ones were easier?

? Attend a home school bookfair.  Research curriculum publishers and find out which curricula were written by home schoolers to teach to their own children.  Find the ratio of family publishers to corporate publishers, by surveying the vendors at the fair you attend.

? The Austin TEA Party was an historic event in home schooling history.  Where is Austin?  Get out a road map and decide on the best route to get there.  Make signage, get your stroller, pack your bags, and drive to Austin.  Visit the Capitol building and have a peaceful demonstration outside.  When you get home, look up the Boston Tea Party.  Compare and contrast both events and write a report explaining how each event was significant.

? Find out the date of the Austin TEA Party.  Plan a special celebration on that date.  Make up invitations and plan a special TEA party for your home school friends.    Or, scrap the TEA and have coffee or punch instead.

? Study the Leeper vs. Arlington case.  What year did the case begin?  What year did it end?  Who is Shelby Sharpe?  Find a picture of him and add him to your timeline.  View the video “Miracle in Texas.”  Name at least five home school families who were involved in the case, and write a short biography of each of them.  Include pictures of each family.  Who was Helen Jackson and how do we know that her decision to home school was important to her?  Would you do the same thing if you were in her shoes?  Why or why not?  Discuss the sacrifices that parents make to homeschool their children.  Is it an easy decision?  Are the sacrifices worth it?

? Have a mock court trial dramatizing the events of the Leeper vs. Arlington case.  Why did the case go all the way to the Texas Supreme Court?  What is an appeal?  What was the state Supreme Court’s final decision?  What impact did that decision have on Texas home schoolers?  What impact did that decision have on school districts in Texas?  What impact does that decision have on you and your family today?

? Are home schooling freedoms in Texas guaranteed, now that the highest court in Texas has ruled in favor of parents who wish to teach their children at home?  If not, what things could happen which could cause those freedoms to be taken away?  How important is it that home schoolers actively participate in the political process?  Write a letter to Tim Lambert, president of the Texas Home School Coalition Association, asking him why he feels home schoolers should be politically active.

? Participate in a Capitol day sponsored by THSC.

? Find out which state representatives are home school-friendly.  Does your local state representative support home schoolers?

? Compare Texas home school laws with other states.  Which states have the most freedom?  Which states do you feel are the best states to homeschool in, and why?

The post A Unit Study: A Texas Home Schooling History appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

After homeschooling and graduating two sons, I can look back to a tale of two sons: “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”

Our firstborn learned the fundamentals of reading in a Christian school before we moved from Lubbock and ended up feeling forced to homeschool. Everything I learned about home schooling was discovered through speaking to a friend at the Christian school in Lubbock and reading everything I could find. The authors who influenced me the most were the late Dr. Raymond Moore and his wife Dorothy. I then met Ruth Beechick in the book You CAN Teach Your Children Successfully. She endeared herself to me when she stated that curriculum should be the servant and not the master.

I started our adventure using everything Dr. Moore’s foundation, The Hewitt-Moore Foundation, recommended. By the time the first year was over, I had discovered that some of the recommended curricula/tools did not seem to be effective for us. Our son started reading real books instead of textbooks. He has been an avid reader ever since and has experienced success in the world of marketing and blogging. For several years, when we traveled he would keep a notepad on hand and would write what he called “random thoughts” for possible future publication.

I am sorry to say that like his mother, numbers were not his friends. We had an excellent aid for the basics of math, but when we hit higher math, I was thrilled with the algebra book we found; I finally began to understand algebra! But we could not work together. One day, after leaving my son in his room with a graded paper, I heard the algebra book hit the floor as he threw it in frustration. That caused me to ask my husband if our son could take off a year from algebra for a consumer math course. That is what we did. What a relief! The next year our son was ready for algebra. We rejoiced! (I still struggle with it.)

Our second-born fit the typical pattern of reading for boys (and the one mentioned in Moore’s Better Late Than Early—that boys generally start reading later than girls). My husband started wondering when “the boy was going to read.” I quoted Raymond Moore, and then I prayed, “Lord, please let the boy read!” At age eight, the light came on. (Our son loved pigs at that stage of his life, so I was pleased to find a book in the children’s section of the library: The Great Pig War.) Success at last! We rejoiced!

For years, although he could read, he did not love reading. When he took a history class with our friends the Lamberts, he did lots of reading of historical-period books and fell in love with Braveheart. In fact, he asked for the book for Christmas. He also chose to take the second semester of the class, even after his home school graduation. He later tackled “Beowulf.” When we gave him a new Bible one year for Christmas, we asked if he wanted an NIV, but he preferred and still uses the KJV. Still rejoicing!

During the years in between and since, he started writing quite a bit. He kept family and friends in stitches as he waxed creative in his emails as The Helpful Email Guy (THEG). (His brother even made business cards for him and his partners.) He welcomed complaint emails covering subjects such as the email virtual cow drops and boxing matches during the 1990s. He has been working on a book for quite some time. I look forward to reading it!

I insisted that our sons show their work on all their math problems. Second-born would blurt out the answer while Mom was still working the problem and explaining that he must show his work. He always seemed to get the right answer in his head. He is now working in law enforcement and has realized that he has an analytic mind.

Both of our sons had their moments of feeling defeated in the areas of their academic challenges. I appreciated my husband for giving us grace on the algebra and for giving us space on the reading. We do rejoice with our sons in their accomplishments!

I encourage parents not to compare their children with those in their own or in other families. Rejoice with those children (your own or those of friends) who earn scholarships, but understand that they are exceptional among many who apply for these scholarships. Rejoice, also, and encourage your children in whatever successes they achieve.

The post Strengths and Challenges appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

When our school year draws to a close, I will be planning summer school . . . for myself.

The school year keeps me so busy making lesson plans, grading and shuttling my students to various lessons and extracurricular activities that I scarcely have time to read anything more substantial than a magazine or incorporate any enriching activities for myself. All work and no play make me feel dull and uninteresting.

Quite a few years ago a dozen or so home schooling mothers met in south Austin as a study group that shared various facets of the Charlotte Mason method of education. We discussed music, art, foreign languages, reading and handicrafts and learned how necessary such pursuits are to developing into a well-rounded, whole person. I miss that wonderful group of ladies who met with such dedication over several school years. As our children grew, their school activities demanded more time, and our little group disbanded.

Thus, I have decided to use the summer months to refresh and invigorate myself. Charlotte Mason called such activities “Mother Culture.” I believe that, in order to interest my students in their education, I should be a person of culture and interests.

I will take the time over the summer to reread classic novels I have not read in a long time or delve into some that I have never read. I may decide to join a book club over the summer to enhance my reading activities. I plan to utilize How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren to assist me in my summer school reading plan.

Another area in which I wish to further develop myself is the area of classical music. I will take the time to listen to the various CDs I have purchased over the years for my students and will finally be able to identify Beethoven from Bach! Many cities and towns have free music concerts on summer evenings that feature the local orchestra playing the works of various composers. I am thankful that I have several choices in the Central Texas area from which to experience live performances of these composers’ timeless offerings.

I am interested in understanding the works of Shakespeare better. I am fortunate that there are opportunities to see his plays each summer in various locations for free or for a nominal admission fee. I am planning to attend as many plays as possible so that “Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him well” will be more than just a quote I remember from my high school days. I plan to read each play prior to attending a performance and to use study materials, such as Brightest Invention of Heaven by Peter Leithart and Cliff’s Notes to assist me in furthering my understanding of Shakespeare’s plays.

Two other areas I would like to add to my summer school plan are art appreciation/art history and foreign language (French). At the beginning of this school year I was fortunate to purchase a copy of Sister Wendy Beckett’s The Story of Painting, which is a very comprehensive guide to the history of Western art. I am quite fond of the Impressionists, but that is pretty much where my art knowledge begins and ends. I would like to develop my knowledge of artists and art movements by systematically working my way through this book. It may take me a few summers to complete this task since I will be covering 800 years of the developments and movements in painting from the ancient world to the present.

I was extremely fortunate to study French from the fourth grade through college. I fell in love with this beautiful language just about the first time I heard it. Having lived in Texas since 1983, I have not had many opportunities to speak French and have gotten quite rusty. I have a collection of French books that have been gathering dust on my shelves that I will put to good use. I also plan to set the language to “French” on DVDs I watch so that I can regain my ear for the French language. If you have experience with a foreign language that you have not used in a while, think about regaining and sustaining fluency in it this summer.

There are many enrichment opportunities for home educators to pursue their educations each summer: museums often have teacher nights or training sessions that are open to all educators, colleges often have free or reduced-price lectures, bookstores have author readings and movie rental companies have documentaries available in varied subject areas. Of course, the Internet is also a useful tool in an adult summer school plan. Without leaving your home you can watch a Shakespeare play, listen to an orchestra somewhere in the world perform a concerto, view art masterpieces, listen to and practice speaking a foreign language and even read books online.

Parents, I encourage you to think of making this summer a fruitful one for yourself and even inviting your home schooling friends to summer school along with you. A school break spent in worthy pursuits will equip you with fresh enthusiasm and energy for yourself and your students.

Author’s note: As a home educator with only two students of high school age, I find myself with time for self-development. Parents with many young students or those just beginning their home education journey may want to try just one or two of these ideas or wait to implement them until they are under less stress in their home schools.

The post Summer School for Parents appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

Ouch! I overheard this conversation at a church function a few years ago, and it broke my heart. After all, we are supposed to be the Body of Christ, walking in unity with one another and fulfilling the commission that Jesus gave us, right? How could there possibly be such harsh feelings toward those of us who feel called to teach our children at home and raise them up? How could these feelings be coming from fellow Christians? I have come to believe that at least some of it is our own fault. Let me explain.

I spent several days praying about that unbelievable comment I had overheard. I asked the Lord to show me what was happening. I began to think over things that I had heard home schoolers say and was saddened by the realization that some of the words that were spoken were terribly dishonoring to others. Thankfully, those instances were very few, but even one act of dishonor can cause terrible damage. For some people, one negative experience has the power to dismantle the many positive aspects of home schooling, giving us a bad reputation. When this happens, how can we have the kind of impact on our society that would please God? I believe that we are being called to a higher standard, and that is to homeschool with honor.

What do I mean to homeschool with honor? It means to walk in the love of Christ, displaying His very heart to those around us. It means that we listen carefully to hear God’s voice. Walking in honor means to truly lay down our own agendas and ask Him, “What can I do for You, Lord? How can our family bless someone today?” We must have a revelation of God’s love for not only His people but also for the world around us. The scriptures tell us that it is His desire that none should perish. It is His desire that people know Him. Are we honoring God? Are we helping to give God His desires through our home schooling?

It may sound strange to hear that we should live to give God His desires. After all, we are used to praying for our own desires to be met. What about His? We have a part to play in history, and we have the position in which He has placed us. That position does not mean that we are to live for ourselves, making an ideal family to please our own needs. The position He has given us is one of changing entire nations, and that requires raising up godly, loving individuals who are well equipped to go out and do the will of the Father. We were meant to be a powerful force upon the earth. The key to accomplishing His will is love, and when we love, we walk in honor toward one another.

I am part of a congregation that is very mixed as far as educational choices are concerned. We have a group of children whose education is fairly balanced between home, private and public school. Personally, my husband and I are strong believers in home schooling, and we always will be. Since there are some in our congregation who choose different routes for their children, it is a great blessing that our church has been taught to walk in honor toward one another. We recognize that we may not all agree with one other’s philosophy of education, yet we also recognize that we are united as the Body of Christ and that we all have the responsibility to support each other in raising our families. We are not called to ridicule, look down upon, or be judgmental toward those who are not walking the way that we are. We are called to see and identify the “gold” within every person and to call forth the good things that God has placed within them. We get the glorious job of encouraging and exhorting others to become all that God desires for them.

Home schoolers have blessed the world in many ways, but we have not yet arrived. There is more for us to do, and there is more for us to be. We will accomplish all that God has set before us when we walk in honor and love. If we desire for others to be Christians, then we must be known by our love, even as Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” It was His great love for the world (John 3:16) that drove Jesus to the cross. He never came to curse us but to set us free. Luke 5:32 says, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” I mention these things because, as home schoolers, this is our commission from the Lord. One reason that we teach our children at home is so that they can learn to be a representation of Christ’s love to a lost world.

May we use our freedom to homeschool as a tool to love and draw others into relationship with the Lord. If we truly walk in love, then people will also be drawn to home schooling, which will strengthen our cause. Learning to speak and to exhort those in authority honorably, even when we disagree, will enhance and fortify the home schooling movement. Praying for and offering love to those who do differently than we do will draw them into a place in which they will encounter the Lord and be changed.

1 Peter 2:17 tells us to honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God and honor the king. Notice that this verse does not instruct us to honor only fellow believers or only those in agreement with us, but it says to honor all people, including the king. At the time this scripture was written, believers were being persecuted. Why would God’s Word instruct us to honor those in authority when they are not honoring God? What an amazing command. There is a key here to which we must pay attention. Imagine with me, home school families being the most honoring families in our society. What a change we could bring!

Whether we are dealing with people who are in places of authority or people who seem like your “average Joe” and whether we are dealing with home educators or public educators, we must make sure that their encounter with us is one of love and honor. I have a strong belief in home schooling, but I can choose to respect those who are doing otherwise. In fact, some of my closest Christian acquaintances are public school teachers, and they desperately need our prayers, love, and support to make a difference where they are. Never forget to pray for those who are walking into the dark places, giving of themselves to make a difference. Those teachers have the ability to bring love and truth to children whom we may never meet. Empower these teachers by honoring them! I pray that down the road those who are working in government education will be able to say, “Thank God for home schoolers. They are vital to our success.”

I leave you with this scripture regarding the tongue. You may have read it many times, but I pray that you would take several minutes to truly meditate on God’s instruction. Remember that your tongue contains the power of life and death. “With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.” (James 3:9-13 [(NKJV])

Let mercy and love lead.

The post Home Schooling With Honor appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

There are days when I am relieved that is all I am required to teach!

Over the seventeen years of teaching my five children, participating in several co-ops, and leading or assisting in youth organizations such as Boy Scouts and 4-H, I have become convinced that extracurricular subjects and activities are just as essential as core subjects. I believe that extracurricular subjects actually provide more real-life skills to students than core curriculum does.

In the world outside of school, people compete, set goals, and plan projects that have actual applications and receive rewards for the successful completion of their projects. Conversely when people do not meet goals, the consequences of failure also teach important skills. Many times we learn more from our failures than from our successes.

One advantage of extracurricular subjects and activities is that often the choice is student-driven. When a student has an interest in an area, he or she is more likely to be more invested in obtaining and utilizing the information presented. It is a joy for both student and teacher when there is enthusiasm for a subject, activity, or event.

When my daughters participated in 4-H, they read the monthly newsletter avidly, telling me about the various workshops, competitions, and community service projects in which they wished to participate. Through their participation in the food show, fashion show, livestock show, and Round Up, they learned how to prepare balanced meals, to ensure food safety, to comparison shop for food and clothing, to write and present a speech, to care for and train animals, and to identify and serve the needs of their community. They earned credits in family and consumer sciences, speech, health, citizenship, and community service in a fun, challenging, encouraging atmosphere.

Another asset of extracurricular subjects and activities is the way they strengthen skills in core curriculum areas. Whether my students were preparing for an upcoming 4-H competition, earning badges in Scouts, or participating in a co-op class, they used and improved the math, reading, writing, and spelling skills they had learned in their regular coursework.

Opportunities to pursue extracurricular activities are everywhere and can be as expensive or as inexpensive as your budget allows. We have utilized home school co-ops, private lessons, youth organizations, volunteerism, and the Internet as ways to incorporate extracurricular subjects into our school days.

Some home educators may feel that the school day is already so full with math, English, science, grammar, foreign language, literature, history, and other “required” coursework that they could not possibly add anything else. I would encourage home schooling parents to make time for extracurricular subjects and activities—especially in the high school years, when these subjects offer a way to “try on” careers and interests.

Extracurricular studies also pave the way for lifelong hobbies and skills, which develop the student into a well-rounded individual. If college is in your student’s future, a transcript that has a variety of courses and activities detailed on it sets your student apart from the rest of the pack. Scholarships are often offered in extracurricular areas or through community-service organizations such as 4-H. My youngest daughter received a 4-H scholarship, which made all the time she had invested extremely worthwhile.

Make room in your school schedule for extracurricular subjects and activities. These activities breathe life and excitement into your school day and into your students. You and your students will reap many continuing rewards as a result of the time you invest.

The post Extracurricular or Essential? 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.

By Debbie Salter

Home School Parent Impacts City Council Decision

The League City Council voted 4-2 on April 27, 2010, to modify the Curfew for Minors ordinance to eliminate the daytime curfew in League City for one year to see if it has an impact on the juvenile daytime crime statistics. This change required a second reading which occurred on May 25, 2010, after the city-wide elections. The results of the second reading vote were 5-2 to modify the ordinance for one year.

My daughter and I, with three other home schooling mothers, addressed council on April 27 to voice our concerns about this ordinance and its implications for all families in League City whether they are public, private or homeschooled. League City has three, if not four, independent school districts within its city limits. Each school district’s schedule is different from the others. There are numerous private schools within League City as well as surrounding cities which also have differing schedules. I actually started this process a year ago prior to the city-wide elections in 2009 by talking with candidates and asking them what they thought about the curfew. I then helped two of them get elected. One council member was already on our side.

I spoke before the council on the day school started in 2009 and gave each member a copy of THSC’s talking points and a highlighted copy of the Texas Family code that had been modified by the Texas legislature in 2007.I then had face-to-face meetings with five of the council members, the mayor, and the police chief. The meeting with the police chief was interesting, to say the least. His response to me at the beginning of the meeting when I thanked him for meeting with me was “I was told I had to.”That comment set the tone of the meeting. Two of the council members chose not to respond to my requests for meetings. One of them I had actually helped get re-elected, so I was disappointed in that candidate. I also had trouble getting any families interested during that year, so I was pretty much on my own. I kept being told by council members that they couldn’t discuss this issue with other council members outside of chambers because of the Texas Open Meetings Act, but we all know they talk.

As it turned out, I required my thirteen-year-old daughter to speak for “school credit,” and three other mothers turned out to speak once I told them the outcome of my
meetings. Going into the April 27 meeting, I believed I had three votes but knew I needed
four. The one council member I hoped was on our side is the one who proposed seeing how not having the daytime curfew for a year would affect the juvenile crime statistics. The information I had received in an open records request showed that the juvenile crime rate in League City over the past three years the daytime curfew had been in place was 0.45%!The “wild card” council member had already done some research and had basically told council that the juvenile crime rate was a drop in the bucket and that there were some families who believed police were profiling. He had also spoken with a previous council member who homeschools and a county commissioner who also homeschools about their experiences. Both of these council member’s children had been stopped by League City police while out during daytime curfew hours. Neither family had been issued a citation, but had been warned not to do it again.

After the April 27 meeting, the three other mothers and I sent e-mails and letters to each of the four council members, thanking them for their vote and reminding them that this ordinance is only for truancy, not crime, since it is only in effect during school days/hours. We also sent e-mails with loads of information to the remaining council members. After the 2010 elections, we also sent the winning council member e-mails with information. The result of our work is that the daytime curfew portion of the Curfew for Minors ordinance has been removed for the next year with a second vote of 5-2!

I write all this to let THSC and others know that we can make a difference in the political arena when we get involved. It does take a lot of work and time, but now League City will be daytime curfew-free for a year. Of course, the work is not
done. We must now stay in touch with council and get statistics through open records and make sure they are reported accurately to council. The city also changed its way of government to a city manager-run government, so I don’t really know how that could impact this issue in a year.

I thank THSC for its Web site, which I used to create the talking points against the daytime curfew, and for Capitol Days, which helped me and my family see how we can make a difference and get involved. This past year has been an eye-opener for me and great training for my children!

The post You Can Make a Difference! appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

By Kristi Kronz

Gardening can be a solitary venture. Some of my most difficult life circumstances have been prayed through while alone on my hands and knees in my walled, kitchen garden, fingernails filled with soil and the fragrance of sweet peas and cilantro mingling with the taste of tears. Most families have only a small plot from which to garden, and the reality is that often only one person at a time can be effectively digging and planting without needing also to avoid stepping on the other while squeezing through narrow pathways of corn rows and Swiss chard. Often I crave the solitude I find in my gardens. Alone with my thoughts, life, with its seemingly urgent circumstances, suddenly seems quieted. My thoughts turn from making wise choices within the realm of parenting to whether or not to split and transplant the overgrown hosta looming in the corner. The ease and fruitfulness of these decisions are a welcome reprieve from the difficult choices that often come my way as a home schooling mother. In my garden, with birds and insects as my companions, it is possible for me to abide with God in utter abandon.

While appealing sometimes to the point of seclusion, this solitude has its drawbacks. I’m often left learning by doing it wrong the first time (I, by the way, am very good at this part). Rather than taking the time to read, study, and find outside resources to help me with my seasonal choices and problems, I’m sometimes a lone ranger when it comes to knowing what to plant and when. Questions are constantly looming in my head. Will adding straw improve the soil? Will that same straw break down eventually, or will I be staring at yellow particles for years to come? Would heirloom seeds be the best choice for my pumpkin patch, or would hybrids fare better in our climate of extremes? Which seed catalogue has the highest quality with the lowest price? … and what about seed potatoes being over-wintered? How can I best preserve my massive harvest of winter squash? And why in the world do I never have good-tasting cantaloupes?

In the end I am so much better off when I surround myself with fellow gardeners on a regular basis. We share our learning experiences, share cuttings, lament late frosts, and never, ever notice the dirty fingernails. We offer advice to each other on natural methods of pest control while simultaneously weeding alongside each other. I actively seek out learning opportunities to improve my gardening skills. I haven’t had enough free time in the last fifteen years, but I hope to eventually take a master gardener’s class. I thrive on the latest gardening magazine–and seek out both new and respected books on companion gardening, my backyard orchard, growing and using herbs, decorating the garden room, and any other manner of “subduing the earth.” This fellowship with other gardeners, both beginners and experienced, face-to-face or through printed sources, brings companionship and support–in both the summers and the winters of my life.

Home schooling is like tending a garden. Within this realm, we nurture the soil of our children’s hearts and wholeheartedly seek out daily fruit in their lives. The amazing thing is that we are changed in the process and unwittingly bear fruit of our own. I’ve often shared with people, particularly those curious about home schooling and yet not choosing this option themselves, that God has shaped my life just as much through this choice as He has the lives and hearts of my children. While God allows for the growth in my heart by keeping me on my knees and trusting in His guidance, I am confident that He did not intend for me to walk this path alone. He provides fellowship with others as a source of both joy and learning. I have lived out and learned that our entire family suffers when we fall into the trap of isolationism. Although tempting at times, seclusion rarely reaps the rewards that we had hoped.

Without the fellowship of others, whether in church, in a class, in a co-op, with extended family, or just in our own neighborhood backyards, we lack vital support to continue in a way which fosters a healthy outlook on the life God has called us to as a fellowship of believers. Just like I do in my daily gardening, I benefit tremendously when I foster companionship along the way. Like gardening, home schooling can be a lonely calling. Yes, we are gifted with the presence and companionship of our precious children throughout the day, but often we lack the nurturing and support we need from godly examples to continue steadfastly upon our journey. Although this solitude serves a valuable purpose in helping us to more fully rely on God and lean into Him when we struggle with loneliness, I believe He grants fellowship for a purpose and allows us to grow in unique ways when we take opportunities to walk alongside and learn from each other.

I strongly believe that as home schooling moms in constant need of focus and refocus, we must remain informed. Just as I invest my time and energy to keep learning in regard to my agrarian lifestyle, I also avidly seek out opportunities to learn and glean about home education. Professionals in the work place are required to participate in continuing education classes. My husband cannot keep his credentials without attending meetings, reading books, and interacting in situations, both formal and informal, where others within his profession can learn from each other and the experts in their field. In the same way, as home schoolers we are strengthened and undergirded when we actively seek to grow in knowledge from others who have gone before us.

I have found that in learning from others’ experiences, I am better able to choose wisely for myself and my children. I have found a wealth of information and great hands-on help from the home schoolers who have walked this path years longer than I have. Most are eager to share their wisdom and experience. I have personally found that there is a huge fellowship of experienced home schoolers out there. Watching and gleaning from their experience is priceless.

If you aren’t already feeding yourself regularly with information surrounding the topic of home schooling, I encourage you to begin today. If you have a computer with Internet access, do a topic search on “home schooling.” You can then narrow your search by looking under specific titles, such as “Home Schooling Science,” “Home Schooling through High School,” or “Avoiding Home School Burnout.” The computer, when used wisely, can be an invaluable tool. Visit your library, and head to the education section. There you will likely find some “oldies but goodies,” as well as some refreshing new titles on the subject of home schooling. Even though you may have read many of these books years ago, you may find that rereading them now renews a sense of purpose as you continue. Be purposeful to sit under the wisdom and tutelage of those “older and wisers” with whom God has gifted you, and don’t hesitate to offer wisdom and share your experiences with those whom God brings into your life to befriend and potentially minister to. Make plans to attend your state home school conference. Don’t avoid such opportunities simply because you might not agree with the mindset of every speaker. There is always something more to be learned.

Utilize daily, weekly, and yearly opportunities for growth. Nurture yourself in order to better nurture those you love and serve daily. Like the daily feeding of our souls with the Word of God, so also do we benefit from regular fellowship with others whose lives and paths parallel our own. The joy it brings to our lives refreshes our spirits and affords us opportunities to refocus as we continue in confidence with the task God has set before us.

The post Learning Outside the Garden Walls appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

The children went suddenly silent. This was new. However, they had been taught not to complain, so they dutifully ate what was put before them. Yet, each secretly looked forward to lunch. At noon the children eagerly waited to see what tasty treat Mom would produce. Once again there appeared another plate of refried beans and molasses. Lunch was a rather quiet affair, except for Mom, who burbled quite happily about giving only the best to her family. Dinner—same story. Three days and nine meals of beans and molasses later, Dad finally spoke up.

“Hey, hon, what’s up with the beans and molasses diet we seem to have gone on?”

“Well,” she replied excitedly, “I read this great book, Better Nutrition by Selective Feeding. I answered all the survey questions about our family, you know, and found things like how I always need something sweet around 4 p.m., and you need more fiber every three or four days, and Joey needs protein in the morning or he can’t concentrate, and how Julie feels woozy after one whiff of broccoli—and when you put them all together, the book says we’re in the Sweet-n-Bean Cuisine group.”

Stunned silence met her wide-eyed enthusiasm.

Can you imagine a sillier idea? Who would feed their family a steady diet of one thing, even if it were proven to be complete and efficient? The idea might look good on paper, but this formulaic approach would certainly be a loss for their palates. Yet, some advice on learning styles would have you doing the same thing. Typically you go through a series of questions, narrowing down your child’s learning style until you have the tightest, cleanest, most efficient vehicle for delivering new information to this exacting young mind. Even more, you get to give him a really cool name too!

“My son’s a PLOD—you know, a Pre-abstract, Localizing, Oblivious Diagonal.”

“Wow, you must be so proud. My daughter’s a Bilateral, Retrieving, Anti-linear Timid. You know—a BRAT!”

“Oh, how wonderful! BRATS are so easy to teach.”

The problem with much of the available material is that it seems to devote most of its pages to delighting us with new and clever things we may call our students. Then far less time is spent telling us what to do next. In other words, how do we teach to this clever new title? What should we do when our son has reviewed long division for months and the process just does not stick? What should we do when our little girl can produce four completely different ways of spelling “bovine,” and they all look perfectly fine to her? Just how are we supposed to teach anything to the child who simply cannot sit still?

Many books seem to stall out after helping us come up with the really cool name. The advice that often follows is sometimes a bit vague. I read things like, “Keep your child focused on the lesson.” “Get them more physically involved.” These were great ideas, to be sure, but what I did not know was how. I did not know different ways to teach the math so that it would stick, different ways to teach the spelling so that the correct way would be learned.

Therefore I put the books down and decided I had a new mission. I was now in an earnest search for teaching methods. I collected them much like others collect matchbook covers or salt and pepper shakers. I took methods that were fun, or odd, or unlikely—methods that would never work on me or were even out of my comfort zone to teach. I searched for and grabbed any ideas I could find. I passed no judgment on anything until I had given it a whirl. That is when I began to discover a wonderful thing about my own previously struggling child: He could learn. He could learn well, and fast, and with enthusiasm, once I found ways in which he did learn. Along the way there were many surprises that most learning style programs would never have predicted.

I learned that my child, who most definitely is not a visual learner, was nonetheless able to work through material better when it was color-coded. Go figure. We have learned to emphasize visual input in several ways:

I found that information about people in history was more easily learned if first I provided a face or image of the person.

Another child struggled to remember the “gh” in right or fight, so as he practiced it, he boxed in the “gh” with a bright green marker. This additional step, plus the bold reminder in green, made it easier to remember the otherwise forgotten silent letters.

Another child, in his haste to finish math, often added when he should have subtracted. I had him start by boxing in all plus signs with a bright blue color and circling all subtraction signs with a yellow marker. This extra step helped him pause long enough to catch the symbol’s required action before he plunged ahead.

We also learned the value in “becoming the lesson.” In other words, ask: if you could magically go anywhere or do anything that would enhance today’s study, where would you go? Then just recreate the trip, using stuff around the house. We have traveled the planets. We built the tower of Babel (till God came, scattered us through the house, and left us speaking different languages; mine was Pig Latin). We even created and traveled through a crawl-through digestive tract. That was a memorable day.

Another unexpected teaching method emerged when I one day discovered my son repeating his spelling words over and over until a natural rhythm developed. This one really surprised me, as I had been absolutely certain, at least up to that moment, that he was completely without musical ability. Thus, I had totally ignored rhythm as a learning vehicle. Yet there he was—bopping away to his own spelling words. I tested this idea and set several things to either rhyme or to a beat. Wow! It burst open a new avenue for learning. The result was that we now have a simple daily recitations section in our schooling. (We call this Ditty Time.) During our home schooling years, my son (and all my children) has learned the names of the presidents in order, many different rules of math, the books of the Bible, the elements of the periodic table, parts of speech, Bible verses, state capitals, the planets in order from the sun, and a gazillion dates and events from history. Quick! Finish this sentence: “In fourteen hundred and ninety-two …” See? Ditties are powerful things.

We will not be having refried beans and molasses for dinner tonight. We should all give our families a wide variety of foods in our meals, not only for the value in nutrition, but also for the sheer pleasure of diverse flavors and culinary experiences. In the same way, we should teach with methods that bring a rich, layered, and fun experience to the student. We just need to open our minds to all the different ways there are in which material could be presented. Find the oddest, strangest, most unlikely of possible methods of teaching, and then—give it a whirl. It is in such whirls that learning takes flight.

The post A Lifetime of Refried Beans and Molasses appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

In the process of building an audience for my stories, I did thousands of author visits to public schools and for home school groups. After years of doing programs that gave kids an incentive to read, I began to realize that the educators who invited me into their schools were always Christians—and that they viewed my work as more than mere “literacy.”

Instinct might have told them that there is something deeply Christian about the act of reading. We were always intended to be People of the Book, and our fourth gospel even begins with the statement, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

When God chose to give us His law, He did not draw pictures. God’s law was written so that it could be read. When Paul and the apostles wanted to record the events they had witnessed, they wrote them down so that they could be read by future generations.

Gene Edward Veith, one of my favorite authors, points to the difference between our language-centeredness and the “electronic graven images” of mass culture.

The centrality of the Bible means that the very act of reading can have spiritual significance. Whereas other religions may stress visions, experiences, or even the silence of meditation as the way to achieve contact with the divine, Christianity insists on the role of language….

The priority of language for Christians must be absolute. As the rest of society abandons language-centeredness for image-centeredness, we can expect to feel the pressures and temptations to conform, but we must resist. One way to do this is simply to read. [Reading Between the Lines: A Christian Guide to Literature, pp. 17 and 25]

The point here is that the medium itself (words vs. images) might be more important than the content. Images appeal directly to the emotions and bypass the rational mind. Words engage the mind and help us develop such skills as logical reasoning and the postponement of gratification.

That is a very interesting concept, and it has sweeping implications for any discussion about “What is Christian entertainment?” Veith is saying that it is more Christian to read a book than to play a video game or watch a program on TV. Words are more Christian than images.

That is why Christians must read. The very act of reading binds us to a tradition that goes back to Mosaic law, three thousand years of rabbinic scholars, the written Gospels, the Pauline epistles, the church councils, Augustine, the King James Bible, Luther, Calvin, and the Reformation.

Hence, when a nine-year-old, non-reading boy falls in love with a Hank book and devours the whole series, he is being tutored in the Judeo-Christian tradition and does not even know it. When a family reads a book aloud at bedtime, they are recreating the forgotten memory of early Christians reading the Scriptures aloud in the sewers of Rome.

We hope that, after reading a good novel, they will want to read and study the Bible, but whether they do or not, reading in itself is a form of worship. We are exercising a discipline that God chose for communicating with His people—the absolutely stunning process through which scribbles on a page acquire meaning and become something more than scribbles on a page.

C.S. Lewis said that the best kind Christian message is one that contains the beauty and truth of our faith, without announcing it to the blare of trumpets and the roll of drums. A written story that seeks beauty and discovers justice contains a powerful Christian message, without ever quoting Scripture or revealing from where it came.

If reading is a form of worship, then it is hard to escape the conclusion that writing is a form of ministry, or should be. I never dreamed that writing funny stories about a ranch dog in Texas would acquire a spiritual dimension, but it has turned out that way.

It took me about thirty years to absorb this truth. Teachers and home school parents figured it out long before I did.

The post Why Christians Must Read appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.