I AM, I CAN, I OUGHT, I WILL

I have been thinking of curriculum many times since joining TheCrew.  When we first stared thinking of homeschooling, I wasn’t sure how it worked or if I could even do it.  I was raised in the 80’s and went to a small town public school; yet, I decided the best way to know more was to view local homeschool groups and talk to families in the area.  The nearest home school group was 30-45 minutes away from our rural home.  Consequently, with the advice of others and after research we decided that homeschooling was the best for our family. 

I look at homeschooling as a path in which to best teach young children the narrow path, within age and maturity appropriate levels.  Our family chooses to school at home but take advantage of extracurricular activities such as 4-H and YMCA to enhance the life learning experiences with our hands-on approach. 

Dave and I volunteer in the above organizations, not only to be part of our children’s lives

while they enjoy outside activities, in addition, we can give back to our community. 

We believe that we cannot and should not shelter our children forever; but that life is to be

experienced at a level that we feel, as parents is appropriate.

Sooner or later our children will have to make their own decisions in this world.  We have to

give them the tools to choose to follow what Christ would do, try to be more like him

every day, and make progress. I myself strive to do this as an adult.  We cannot live a good
life for them and MAKE them be a "good" kid; we can only be good examples. We 
cannot keep them from all danger and strife; just as we cannot force them to love

God and Christ. We must lead them into wanting to do what is right and want to follow what

Christ left as an example. In my opinion, young children cannot be “the light” in a dark world

as they have to be first trained. 

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Some people think that children should be placed in school so that they can be socialized. I do not this this is optimal training for our children. Wikipedia’s definition: 

so·cial·ize

verb

past tense: socialized; past participle: socialized

1.    1.

mix socially with others.

"he didn't mind socializing with his staff"

synonyms:

interact, converse, be sociable, mix, mingle, get together, meet,fraternize, consort; More

2.    2.

make (someone) behave in a way that is acceptable to their society.

"newcomers are socialized into orthodox ways"

It does not mean to mix within ONLY your own age group extensively. They need to know how to look at an adult in the eye and shake their hand firmly. They need to "mix" with all ages. Our children are “socialized.”  They can speak with adults respectfully and yet play games with children half their age.  They can interact with those of all socioeconomic backgrounds without judging them.  They can converse with all ages of people from 9 to 99. The monstrosity called the Department of Education is not how early generations visioned education.  Education without local or parental controls benefits only the state.

Therefore, in our homeschool I choose to use Sonlight. I supplement the curriculum but appreciate Sonlight’s book choices.  I have learned, the hard way, that I am not a slave to the Instructor’s Guide but I use it as a guide.  We do not HAVE to read every book listed but I use that as a goal.  Consequently, I have found there would be a book or two over the years, that did not line up with our beliefs.  We would either skip or wait for another time, in which I felt it was appropriate to discuss as they were older. 

Jacob’s first year schooling at age 5 was a year that I did not use Sonlight.  I chose an expensive yet through curriculum of Calvert.  I chose it as it was complete and I didn’t feel as if I had to learn much just “follow the directions.”  Although we learned some most of the learning was via notebooks and text books.  Luckily, Jacob liked this and did fine but my preschooler was not impressed and wanted more action.  Hannah did enjoy the crafts associated with Calvert but looking back, she was too young at the time for some activities.   

We survived that first year but I kept searching and I found Sonlight.  Today, we mix Sonlight, Ambleside Online, Kahn Academy, Teaching Textbooks, Singapore Math, and EasyGrammar together to make our own homeschool work. 

I think that is what is so great about homeschooling here in Missouri.  You can pick your own curriculum and style.  We work at a pace that works for each of my children.  If we need more time in math we slow down until we master that concept. Then we continue at a faster pace if we have it down. I don’t feel we need to “beat a dead horse, do we?” 

If you are just starting out or just thinking of homeschooling and do not know where to start, just ask.  Follow this blog and message me at any time.  I would love to help a family, looking to start homeschooling.  Although I only have a 5^th and a 7^th grader, I can help you start your research. Homeschooling isn't for everyone, yet I feel anyone can do this if you want to make it work. We all have good days and bad days but when my kids tell me at 12 and 10, “Thank you Mom for homeschooling us, taking time and helping us,” the effort is worth every sacrifice we have and are making.