New to Homeschooling??

Homeschooling is a journey like none other. In this journey, we bring in our own experiences and knowledge (or lack of) to share with our children through 12 years of formal education. We bring our formed paradigms of what education is. We start with dreams of setting up a little school room and play little school house for a day, buying pre-boxed curriculum to teach our children and make it fun in the process. We deeply sigh realizing we have the responsibility of raising adults who will enter college or start a business, raise a family and impact the world through coming generations. It is no small thing we are trying to do!

            Despite the challenge, hundreds of thousands of families around the world are choosing to homeschool their children. Many are still being persecuted for it, while here in the United States we enjoy the freedom from mainstream educational systems which places a teacher as the main responsible adult in charge of a child’s education.

What we know of education is not sufficient to allow us to teach our children.

Many of us have also declared ourselves free by learning what education really is and embracing the learning that is still taking place in our lives.

Modern education has taught us to forget what is natural to us.

As Louis L’Amour wrote in THE EDUCATION OF A WANDERING MAN, “no one can ‘get’ an education, for of necessity education is a continuing process. If it does nothing else, it should provide students with the tools for learning, acquaint them with methods of study and research, methods of pursuing an idea.” To help our children have a better education we must untie ourselves from the concept of schools, universities and structured approaches which we have known until now. WHEN YOU RISE UP by R.C. Sproul Jr. and UPGRADE by Kevin Swanson are a must read to help redefine your idea of education and help you have a greater vision for this journey!

“Talk about these things when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” Deuteronomy 6:

Many homeschooling parents have realized that learning may take place while setting the table (math), during bed time reading (phonics and literature), while climbing trees (nature and physical education), when grandparents are visiting (history J), even while you stay in a hotel and your son fills out a survey about your stay there!

Place your trust in Christ for the decision to homeschool your children.

We have learned to enjoy this journey, though not always fun, certainly joyous, though not easy, certainly life changing! We have learned to walk outside and breath fresh air and call it science- God’s Creation! We have learned to write and read and call it Language Arts- God’s Word! We have learned to look at the past and call it HIS-tory! We have relied and trusted God to teach our children. We place our faith in Him and know if he allowed our babies to learn to crawl, walk and speak by Design, then He will allow them to learn all He needs them to know so that our children can do His will.

SIMPLICITY OF HOMESCHOOLING, written by Vicki Goodchild, a veteran homeschooling mother, gives an overview of the different educational philosophies and their histories, addresses of people to contact for catalogs and information, reproducible forms, but best of all, a feel for how truly simple a learning lifestyle can be. EDUCATING THE WHOLEHEARTED CHILD, an extremely practical handbook of philosophy and how-to's. Authors Sally and Clay Clarkson believe in a home-centered learning approach and incorporate many of their experiences into this inspiring book. In it, they answer the most common questions we are asked at book fairs. My favorite parts are the "In Our Home" sections where they give real life examples of the Clarkson family. It should be required reading!

These families, like us, have discarded the idea of sitting our children in a desk and have embraced and enjoyed much more the nurturing of their little bodies and hearts while reading out-loud a fun book…a LIVING BOOK!  

So What is a Living Book?

LIVING BOOK is a term started by pioneer educator Charlotte Mason in the 19th Century. This British educator saw children as valued persons with great capacity for
learning using real books. Charlotte Mason lived in Great Britain at the turn-of-the-century. Among her achievements and greatest inheritances to the world today are her writings THE ORIGINAL HOME SCHOOLING SERIES, a six volume series. It has been said she is the founder of the modern homeschooling movement. A CHARLOTTE MASON COMPANION by Karen Andreola is one of the best books written which summarizes the methods taught by Charlotte Mason. An abundance of stories portray how Charlotte's ideas work in every day life within the home and family. If you want to be inspired, challenged, convicted, and encouraged by a dear and living friend, curl up with this book, a pen and a cup of tea. Highly recommended!

A living book is written by an author who has a passion for his subject! It is often written in story form and "lives" because it is able to touch the heart and the emotions of the reader, connecting in a way that a book of mere facts or a textbook can not. A living book feeds the soul and can be read and enjoyed by readers of all ages over and over again.

"All of the great literary classics are whole, living books. They contain stories that feed your child's moral imagination, touch the heart, and challenge the intellect . . . they are enduring stories with a life of their own."                                                                             Sally Clarkson

Many of today's best sellers are whole books, but they are certainly not living books! One way to test a book for signs of life is the One Page Test. Read a page or two aloud to your children and watch their reactions. If they want to hear more, you'll know you've found a living book!

"Real books have life. They release something creative in the minds of those who absorb them... something is aroused in the heart of the reader that endures. A good book has a profound kind of morality. . . not a cheap or sentimental sort . . . but the sort of force which inspires the reader's inner life and draws out all that is noble."                          Gladys Hunt

The Importance of Using Living Books

So How Do We Find Living Books?


We must follow the Holy Spirit's leading to search out the best books for our children. Fortunately, several wonderful authors have been led to compile lists of living books for us. Here are a few of my favorites.

Gladys Hunt's read-aloud handbook for Christians, HONEY FOR THE HEART: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life, was my first introduction to the importance of books and reading aloud to my children. I loved having a "reading list" of great living books. She believes it is every parent's privilege to introduce his or her children "to the wonder of words put together in such a way that they spin out pure joy."

Gladys says that "parents who read widely together with their children are going to be those who most influence their children...Good literature teaches more than we know. Example always speaks louder than precept and books can do more to inspire honor and tenacity of purpose than all the scoldings and exhortations in the world."

By the way, her newest book, READ FOR YOUR LIFE: Turning Teens into Readers, is focused on encouraging teens to read and includes some excellent guidelines for evaluating books. The second section is a large, annotated list of books of all types that are very worthwhile reading.

A short time later I read FOR THE CHILDREN'S SAKE by Susan Schaeffer Macauley. Susan opened our eyes to the truth that education should be a joyous adventure and a celebration of real life. She was the first to revive the philosophy of Charlotte Mason.

BOOKS CHILDREN LOVE: A Guide to the Best Children's Literature by Elizabeth Wilson is the third book about great books I read. It is divided by subject area and level of difficulty and includes a paragraph about each book. In the introduction, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay writes, "You can even safely 'stop school' for a few years and feast on good books and right living! You could give childhood a lot more zest and vigor! Your child wouldn't lose out, by the way."Amen!
 
One of my favorite books about books is WHO SHOULD WE THEN READ? Authors: Their Lives, Their Books, Their Legacy by Jan Bloom. Jan has written short biographies on all the best-loved children's authors of those wonderful out of print treasures for which we all search! This little gold mine is the perfect size to tuck into your purse or keep in your glove compartment so you'll be prepared for those unexpected garage sales or used bookstores! It includes lists of all the series books: Landmark, Childhood of Famous Americans, We Were There, Signature, and many more. If you like to collect the old treasures you're going to love this book!

 
My other favorite new book about books is ALL THROUGH THE AGES: History through Literature Guide by homeschooling mom Christine Miller. Christine took all the suggested book titles from many of the great books about books and put them into an incredible list of 150+ pages! It is divided into two parts: chronological order and geography /culture. Then it is subdivided by general reading levels. This gives the reader the ability to choose a book that is too difficult for the child to read to himself, but that can be read aloud to him. And would you believe, every book is also indexed by title and author! This extensive bibliography is even spiral bound so that it will lay flat! Christine has thought of everything!

Where Do We Find These Great Treasures?


Lifetime Books and Gifts is one of your main resources to help you find great Living Books! But you will realize they are hiding everywhere! Become a sleuth and
soon you'll thrill at the delight of discovering out-of-print treasures in used book stores, at library sales, on Internet auctions, at garage sales, in your mother's and grandmother's attics, or even on their bookshelves! A bigger problem than where to find them is where
to put them when you bring them home!

 
 
What Next?

With so many new resources available, it's easy for new homeschool moms to become overwhelmed from all the choices and for weary veterans who are burned out from trying to use a packaged curriculum to want to quit. If you are ready for a change of direction, let me introduce you to some concepts and to some friends who can transform your home into a natural learning environment.

The easiest way to implement a lifestyle of learning is to focus on real reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead of using "readers," read real science and history. I'd like to introduce you to a few of the many authors who explain in very practical terms how to do copywork, narration, dictation, and keep journals for Bible study, art, nature, and history. Most families who seek to "live school" study science and history as a family, with the older students doing more than the younger students.

Ruth Beechick's books are THE BEST for showing beginners how to teach without textbooks and are extremely practical and hands-on. They are great for folks who don't want to wade through a lot of philosophy. She says, "When you find yourself struggling to mold your child to a book, try reversing priorities. It's the child you are teaching, not the book. Bend the book, or find another; make the studies fit the child."

Catherine Levison's books are the best "how-to" books for anyone trying to make the transition from textbooks to living books. She knows that some of us are more structured than others so she suggests we aim for the middle. Levison is quite organized and gives sample schedules. She encourages you to keep a planning book and believes it will help you stay accountable to your own ideas. Her book MORE CHARLOTTE MASON EDUCATION is the BEST for those who are trying to implement a lifestyle of learning for high school, and it has a GREAT book list! Catherine reminds you to pray daily about your home schooling choices, your book selections and your children's futures.

Raymond and Dorothy Moore have many books that will give you confidence in many areas and are especially helpful if you have boys. Raymond Moore is a leading researcher and expert on early childhood learning. Here is what he has learned about learning readiness:

(1) Many children suffer needless physical, emotional, and mental stress because they are placed in academic settings before their vision, hearing, nervous system, reasoning abilities, and muscular coordination are developed enough to complete conventional schooling tasks;

(2) Children are often taught academic skills before they have enough life experiences and background knowledge to comprehend what they are learning or to grasp the concepts involved.

The Moores say: "Virtually all successful homeschoolers we know have been taught by a three-point learning formula:

(1) They have warm, responsive parents who minimize structure,
(2) They spend much more time with their parents than peers,
(3) They have been given generous freedom, under parental
guidance, to work out their own ideas and explore for themselves."

Their book SUCCESSFUL HOME SCHOOLING FAMILY HANDBOOK: A Creative and Stress Free Approach to Home Schooling is full of wisdom. It tells you how to stay inspired with down home practical advice on every aspect of home education and includes inspiring stories from real home schooling families.

Their book HOME GROWN KIDS clearly explains how damaging education can be to a child who is not ready to learn, and how nurturing, attentive parents can give their children an education that is in harmony with the child's level of maturity. Unfortunately, this one is out of print. Check your local library for a copy.
 
If you'd like to read a biography of a family who enjoyed great success just living life, read HOMESCHOOLING FOR EXCELLENCE by the Colfax family. This family left life as we know it and moved to 47 acres on a mountain in California. They knew nothing about living off the land and building a farm but learned as they went. The daily working journal each boy kept was the only formal schooling they did. The mom taught all four boys to read the same year. Two are natural sons, two are adopted (one Black, one Oriental). The book tells about the three oldest who earned full scholarships to Harvard. The first test they ever took was the college entrance examination, which they almost aced. Their success will give you hope.

Lastly, we encourage you to find a support group that shares the philosophy we have described here. For immediate support, please join our Forum, read previous posts and feel free to ask questions.

We Wish You the Best in this Wonderful Journey!!!