Homeschooling Victories ~ a great education!

Over our 15 years of home education I have learned quite a few things. One of the most important is that you really CAN provide your children with a quality education while keeping them at a home. You also quickly learn that you do not have to stay at home while learning to be called a homeschooler.

Our girls have traveled with us through 11 states, countless zoo visits, and more museums than most adults have ever experienced. Our life is a field trip! They've been well-loved, well-spoken, and well educated. Through it all the one place we have visited the most (except church) is our library. 

Our state has very few home education requirements. 180 days of the "opportunity to learn", and that we provide an "equivalent education" to what they might have received in the local public schools. I'm here today to tell you we never tried to provide an equivalent education, but rather, the very best education we could - a great education! Our girls have always had friends or acquaintances who attended the local public or private schools, and we know several local teachers. We do not look down on those who chose a different educational route, but rather, we to stick to this journey that God called us to for our family.

Today, as I type, our girls are on the way to the movies. We have a 19 year old who is finishing her first year of college, and a 17 year old who will graduate later this year. Just a blink ago they were 3 and 5.  It fills me with an unspeakable joy to know that they have grown up as best friends. That our house has been filled with laughter and good books. That for every time we faltered, God was there to brush us off and put us back on the right path.

We have been blessed to find so many great resources to use over the years, the best ones being our Bible and our library cards! 

When our girls were little the homeschooling movement nationwide was still a little hush-hush as many people were mis-informed about whether or not home education was really legal everywhere. The Indiana ruling that upheld the ability of homeschooling to meet the state compulsory attendance law was given in 1904, it stated that a homeschool was a private school. The court defined school as "a place where instruction is imparted to the young..." Today, 114 years later, there are businesses and colleges that actively recruit homeschoolers for their love of learning, dedication, and willingness to think outside the box. 

It matters not to me if our girls choose to pursue higher education, or go along another path to their future. What matters is the quality of their characters, how they treat others, and how they share their passions. We had three goals for our girls when we started: 
1- to teach them about the love of Jesus
2- to teach them to read and enough math to survive adulthood
3- that they would know how to cook well enough and manage a household so they could one day move out on their own

Today, I am happy to report our girls have each met those three goals. They have also received an education far superior to what they might have at our local public schools, because it was tailored to them - their very now gifted and talented program. But most importantly - they are fun to people to be around.

How do they do educationally? Quite well. Emily made the Dean's List first semester, and Arlene received a full scholarship to a textiles convention last summer. We regularly receive complements on how well mannered they are and how much fun they are to be around.

One of my friends who is a retired public school science teacher has told me a few times how much she admired how we have raised our daughters. But what she said a few months ago was a reminder of why we have sacrificed to give them this education. She said,"Carol, I wish more children, really all kids, could have an educational experience like you have given your girls. Where hands-on learning and being a part of the local community were just as important as bookwork. You have done a fabulous job with your daughters, and I now see the great value in choosing to homeschool."

Very soon our homeschool will be empty, but we will continue to be advocates for home education, and hopefully be able to continue mentoring other, younger families as they make the choice to homeschool. The spot on my desk for the attendance sheet may soon be empty - but my heart is oh so very full!

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Homeschooling Victories ~ family ties

Today we are celebrating close family ties. You don't have to homeschool to get them, but it helps!

Let me tell you about one of our favorite aspects of home education: setting our own calendar! Because we are not tied to the local school's calendar year, we have the freedom to take a break whenever needed, or continue on to the end of the school year without as many breaks and have a longer summer.

Being able to set our own schedule has allowed us to build better family ties. We have vacationed in the off-season many times, and we can take a long weekend to go visit the cousins whenever the dads can get their schedules aligned. Our girls have spent a week at "hotel Grandma" more than once.

Not everyone is into homeschooling. That's ok too. What I want to focus on is the ability to choose. You as the parent need to choose the best educational situation for your children. We have chosen homeschooling and for us it has worked really well. It has given us the opportunity to live a learning lifestyle for the past 15 years. We have learned (and travelled) together. We've been to sporting events, art shows, botanical gardens, and Civil War battlefields. We've spent time visiting the cousins, and time in the woods by ourselves. Whatever your family relationship when you start homeschooling, it will be tested, tried, stretched, and refined over the years. It has been the very best difficult choice for us. It is often hard, usually tiring, but oh - so much fun! 

Homeschooling builds strong families - because you're around each other so much. You cannot let issues fester, you are forced to deal with them, forgive each other, and move on.

Over the years I have heard this phrase way too many times, and it makes me sad, "I could never homeschool my kids, I couldn't stand to be around them that much." Oh, how much you have missed by not being around your children as they learn, grow, and explore. How much I have gained by being refined through this home education journey!

Think about the kind of relationship you wish you had with your children - homeschooling can let that happen. It has for us. Having time to pour into your children every day more than makes up for the times when we fall short of being a great parent. It gives us genuine relationship, and a chance to influence our children for their good.

Today I'm celebrating the close family ties we have made through homeschooling. What are you celebrating today?!

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Homeschooling Victories ~ following your interests

The homeschooling victory we are celebrating today is the ability to follow your interests and chase down those rabbit trails with glee!

One of the most fun things about homeschooling is being able to allow our children the time to follow their interests. Their ability to learn about something new is limited only by their imaginations, and our ability to give them school credit for it is vastly different than in a traditional school. We have the freedom to add things together in a way that traditional one-subject classrooms do not have.

We have always followed a Charlotte Mason style of education for our girls, and that continues even today as Arlene is in her senior year of high school. We use short lessons, narration, and living books a much as possible. We have expanded on these ideas over the years and used them for our own benefit. Keeping book work concise and limited, and allowing a lot of time for nature study and outdoor play when our girls were little led to them having a lot of time for field trips. And on those trips we followed their interests as much as possible. 

Basically we field tripped the way through their school years as much as possible. I call this E3 learning: eclectic experiential education. It is hands-on learning at its best because it often immerses them in a new environment while they learn. It allows them to follow their interests and still meet the basic necessary requirements for graduation. A lot of their high school credits were earned away from home. Whether you term it delight-directed learning, unit studies on the go, or E3 learning, it all gives you the flexibility to care more about your child being well-educated than about them being classroom-educated. 

Our girls read a lot, they've always been a regular fixture at our local library. When they were little, if we did not visit each week, the children's librarians would ask what adventures we had been on. When choosing coursework for high school, I often assigned them several smaller, living books, and a lot of hands-on experiments or activities instead of handing them a textbook. One of the hardest lessons for most homeschooling parents to learn is how to relax. How to enjoy the freedom homeschooling offers. Stop stressing yourself and your children out by comparing what they are doing to what someone else is doing. You can meet all of your state's requirements and still have fun!

Both Emily and Arlene have spent several years volunteering at Conner Prairie - a living history museum - where part of their job was to dress  in period appropriate clothing and 'be' a person from Indiana in the 1800's. Arlene's time period is 1863. She is smack-dab in the middle of the Civil War. Her desire to be the best she can at her acting job has spurred her on to study the Civil War beyond anything you might find in a traditional high school textbook. She reads, researches, asks questions of other re-enactors from across the US, and occasionally attends meetings at our local historical society. She took it upon herself to follow that interest in the Civil War and learn more.

Another thing both girls have really enjoyed is the youth spinning program at Conner Prairie. Thanks to their mentor Sue, they've both learned to spin wool and ply yarn well, and Arlene has learned how to be an excellent weaver. They have helped the younger kids learn how to spin and improve their skills. These past two years Arlene has taken a real leadership position in the youth textiles program and devoted extra hours to helping the other youth succeed as well. She even taught me how to use a drop spindle!

Whatever interests your children have, whether it is horses or trucks, photography or zoology, allow them the time to pursue those interests. Follow down those rabbit trails with them - it just might lead to your own Wonderland!

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Homeschooling Victories ~ friendship

Today's homeschooling victory to celebrate is friendship.

Did you have a best friend while growing up? Do you have one now? How do they influence your life for the better? Some people can have a seemingly endless supply of close finds, and others of us only have a handful of those friendships. No matter how big or how small your inner circle of friend is - they are a valuable treasure - hold on to them!

Friendship is a relationship that requires both people to give, but both can receive so much more than they give. Intimate friendships are often hard to cultivate in this busy world, and that is why I'm focusing on friendship as one of our homeschooling victories to celebrate. I'm celebrating because even after all of these years, our daughters are not just sisters, but friends. In a traditional school setting it is often hard to cultivate a friendship with someone not in your grade, because the nature of the age-graded classrooms separate you. In home education, your children can cultivate friendships with other children of a variety of ages, and even with adults.

Our children learn their model of what friendship is from watching us interact with others. When we call someone our friend, they store up the ways that they see us interact with that person as their definition of friendship. More is caught than taught. You can read all the picture books in the world about friendship with your kids, but if they never see you interacting with your own friends, your children may not think true friendship is important. We must choose to take time to invest in our friendships as adults, and we need to include at least some friends that come with families attached so our families can interact and our children see what true friendship entails.

Good friends are often called the "family you choose" and that has been no truer than with my friend Sharra who passed away last year after a battle with cancer. She was the arms and feet of Jesus to so many people, and she shared her love for Jesus with everybody. Our friendship impacted not only myself, but our entire family for the better. She was a big cheerleader for our daughters, and they miss her too. Her memorial service was attended by hundreds of people who she had impacted - most of whom called her a friend. 

Sharra and I -May 2017

I often think of friendship in light of the things God taught me through my friendship with Sharra. Whatever the situation, she always pointed me back to seeking out and following God's path for my life. When I look at the friendships our daughters have been able to cultivate over the years, I am reminded of the joy that having a close friend brings. Today, as young adults, our daughters choose to spend time together because they are not just sisters, but friends. They share a lot of the same group of friends, but they also have individual friendships that do not overlap. 

When I think about how it affects me to spend time with my friends, and how much better I feel about life afterwards, I am encouraged that our daughters have friends who like being zany or serious with them as the moment requires. Our daughters have the gift of friendships outside of their own age ranges too, and that I credit to the many opportunities they have had as homeschoolers. We have had the physical time to make the emotional investment into the lives of other people, and other adults have invested in our children as well. Our daughters have friends that are much older then they are, some even older than Kurt and I are, these friendships have often grown from a mentoring situation, or an interaction of sharing the love of Jesus with others, both inside our church and out. The girls also have younger friends, ones that they are mentoring, or just enjoy spending time with. While I am so very thankful for their friends that are in/ around their own age group, I am thankful they understand the value of cross-generational friendships as well!

Because of the flexibility of home education, our daughters, who would be two years apart in a traditional school, and worlds apart in the social scene at a public school, have experienced life together. Bonds have been forged that tie them together in a way only God could orchestrate. Yes, they do still ague at times, but what holds them together is so much stronger than anything that threatens to tear them apart.

For those of you reading this who are one of those friends of part of or all of our family - thank you! We are so blessed to be able to make time for the important things of life along this home education journey and beyond - and finding you as  our friends has been one of the many highlights, and victories, we have celebrated along the way!







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Homeschooling Victories ~ a love of learning

Today begins the Homeschool Review Crew's annual Spring Blog Hop. This year we decided to let each member of the blog hop team choose their own home education related topic - so you are in for some real treats! Everything from planning your first year of homeschooling to what happens after graduation! For our part, I choose to look back over our 15 years of educating our girls and choose some homeschooling victories to share with you. I hope you enjoy this week's posts. To see what everyone else is sharing, just click the links at the bottom of this post.

Day 1 ~ a love of learning

Our first goal was not to re-create school at home, but rather to offer our girls an education tailored to their needs. One that helped strengthen them in their weaker areas, while allowing them to excel at their strengths. As such, our days were widely varied, and we rarely used a desk, unless it was to hold our art supplies! Our goal was to instill a love of learning, and I truly believe we succeeded! Not only do our daughters love to learn, they also love to help others learn.

Emily is almost 20 and studying to become a librarian. Her goals are to help adults overcome illiteracy and to make libraries more user friendly for those with learning challenges like dyslexia or dysgraphia. Besides sharing her love of books, she enjoys teaching children about spinning wool into yarn, about animals, and about superheroes.

Arlene is almost 18 and in her last year of high school. She excels in textiles, particularly spinning and weaving, and is always wanting to learn more, plus share what she already knows with others. She is a huge cheerleader for the youth spinning teams at Conner Prairie and is always trying to mentor younger spinners and weavers to help them improve their craft. Arlene has been learning about Indiana's Civil War history for several years and shares her passion for it on the grounds at Conner Prairie, both in first and third person interpretation areas.

Where does a love of learning come from? From God. Our children are born with a fascination for exploring new things, and it is our job as parents to not snuff it out! 

But wait...what if my kids are bored with learning?

Fear not! You can rekindle that love of learning in them. It just takes patience and time and room to grow. You need to stop thinking about how your children compare to the kids down the street or how they compare to their cousins and focus on making learning fun again. Our favorite ways to enjoy learning include art supplies and time spent outdoors. 

Have you ever heard of square foot exploration? You take a 4 foot long string and make a one foot square out in the yard. Now give your child a paper and some crayons or colored pencils and let them record what they find. It is not a race, just a fun way to sit outside for 15-30 minutes and learn how to observe. Maybe all they think they see is grass, or dirt, or sand. Give them time and let them find the worm, the ant, or the tip of a blade of grass. Let them look for tiny flowers or aphids on the back of a leaf. It is time to not be rushed. Maybe hand them a magnifying glass and walk back over to your own square. Too often we want our children to hurry up and finish a lesson so we can move on to the next thing.

What if the next thing is really doing nothing?

Sometimes our children's greatest need is to relax. 

To just be. 

To watch with their eyes and listen with their ears and see what God has placed around them. This learning to be at peace in a natural setting is a great lesson to absorb when they are young. It grounds them to the natural world and can be used to make them better stewards of the resources God will someday place in their hands. 

Will your kids get dirty? Oh, I hope so! God made them washable for a reason! Let nature soak into their souls at an early age and God will use it to speak His lessons to them as they grow up.

I still have a love of learning inside of me. My parents cultivated it by letting me explore: the backyard, the art museum, the beach, the woods. Kurt and I have tried our best to create a home environment where everyone is free to explore new things and learn at their own pace. 

Do you have enough down time in your schedule for your children to explore? If not, it is time to re-think your schedule and add in some margin. Some unplanned time each week where a love of learning can flourish. Allow yourself some time to learn something new as well. Our children learn more from what they see us doing than what they hear us saying. 

When did you last learn something new? Just a couple weeks ago Arlene started teaching me how to use a drop spindle to turn wool into yarn. It is not easy, but I am having fun learning! If you want to see how it is going you can check out our Instagram feed.

Stop back by tomorrow to hear about another great homeschooling victory!

Now where is my wool ...

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Blog Hop coming soon: Home Education Victories

The Homeschool Review Crew will be hosting its annual Spring Blog Hop from April 23-27.
This year, everyone is choosing their own topic. It's going to be a fun week of peeking into a lot of different families and finding some encouragement for your journey! I've seen the topics list and there will be something for everyone, wherever you are along your adventure, from just starting to almost finishing. :)

With this being Arlene's senior year of high school, I thought I'd take you back through these past 15 years of our family's homeschooling journey and share some homeschool victories. Some may seem small, but in the big picture they have become integral parts of our two girls' growth towards adulthood.

How crazy it sounds when I think about 2019 and being finished with homeschooling. One thing I have learned recently, is that even after they graduate, they still need their Mama (& Daddy!) This is a new stage of life our young adults enter after high school and some loving encouragement goes a long way.

I hope you'll join us each day from the 23rd-27th and find some fun, some adventure, and a lot of encouragement!