Homeschooling or School-At-Home?

Our homeschooling journey began over 20 years ago.

At that time there were only two publishing companies I knew about. So I chose the curriculum that a family in my church was using. (This is the only family I knew who homeschooled.) 

Through the years I failed many times as I educated my children. I tried to have school-at-home. There were endless math problems to do, workbook pages to complete, textbooks to read, and tests to take. 

Needless to say, many days we struggled. Some days I thought of sending my children to school. But I knew God was calling me to homeschool. So I forged ahead.

Thankfully, more and more families began homeschooling in our area. We made many friends, took field trips, and did “classes” together. Those things added so much to our experience. I began to see my children gain a love for learning. I  also began pulling in different books and activities.

              

                            Sterling and our friend Danae doing a presentation

                             Our tye dye t-shirt project with the Dickersons

Still, at the end of the day, the bulk of our “school time” was school-at-home. However, my mindset was changing. I knew that learning could not be confined to a few hours a day, sitting at the table, filling in the blanks.

Fast forward to many years later. My oldest child was 20 and my youngest child was 12. The Lord decided to bless our family with Hope.

One day, when Hope was a little over a year old, I ran across a Charlotte Mason blog hop. And homeschooling as I knew it changed. Oh, not overnight. But the change began to happen. Then, I read The Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola.

                              

I had seen Karen’s reviews, as well as those of her husband and children, in catalogs. But I really did not have a clue about Charlotte Mason or her philosophy of education. As I began reading this book I knew Hope’s education was going to look very different from that of my older children.

 

                      

Learning is natural. Deep down it was something I had known all along. We make learning unnatural by trying to confine learning to a time of day, certain days of the week, and months of the year.  And in the process we destroy the love of learning, the curiosity that is so natural in a young child, and the eagerness to discover something new.

Recently, in an email to Karen Andreola, I explained how much her book had changed my way of thinking about education and how that will greatly affect how I homeschool Hope. I think she summed it up very well, it will be an education that has been “worked out”.

Over the years I have learned that homeschooling and school-at-home are very different. Each day, as we homeschool, we seek opportunities to learn about the world around us. Who wouldn’t be excited about that? 

In spite of my mistakes, God has been faithful. All of my children are educated and have a love for learning. Are they all scholars who seek advanced degrees in many different subjects? Well, no. But, for the most part, they each have chosen something they love and want to spend their lives doing . They are seeking to learn more about what they are interested in through education and training.

Of course our main goal and purpose in raising our children must be to raise them to know and love the Lord. Regardless of success here on this earth it won’t matter for eternity. Knowing and serving the Lord, that is what truly matters. But I don’t think that can excuse us from properly educating our children. God is a God of knowledge and wisdom. He has given us the ability to learn and be productive and we should seek to help our children become their best for His glory.

 

(My friend Amanda is giving away a copy of The Charlotte Mason Companion. Please jump over to her blog and enter to win.)