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Honey. Honey. Lion!
Homeschooling Statistics: Should Government Regulate Homeschools?
0Homeschooling is not for the faint hearted, and most homeschool parents take it very seriously. That’s why when the question of government regulation comes up, homeschoolers’ feathers get more than a little ruffled. Depending on the state, government regulation of homeschools can be low, medium or high. But does higher regulation automatically produce better results? Check out the results for yourself:
Homeschooling Statistics: Should Parents Have Teaching Certificates?
1“Do you need any qualifications to homeschool your children?” That’s one of the first questions that homeschoolers hear when someone finds out that they’re educating their children at home. And while individual states have different rules concerning this, the question illuminates a common belief—and possible fear—that correct teaching can only be accomplished by trained professionals. That’s why it’s comforting to know that homeschooling’s success is not dependent on parents’ education levels. Just look at the following statistics:
Encouragement for the Exhausted and Frustrated
0This past weekend I received one of the nicest compliments ever. It occurred during a trip to Mickey D’s. Like most moms, it takes me a few minutes to break out all the necessary accouterments—high chair, hand sanitizer, infant place mat, napkins, straws, etc. After ordering, my husband arrived with the food, and we passed everything out. There was nothing spectacular or unusual about the arrangement.
Toward the end of our visit, a woman approached me. “You have a beautiful smile,” she said. “You look like you are really enjoying your life.”
I laughed, “I have my days, but for the most part, I really am blessed.”
After she left, I thought about what she had said. Yes, I was enjoying that day, but the week before had been a different story. During that week, I had been exhausted and frustrated. One too many sleepless nights with my infant and one too many things to do had left me questioning my life… Why was my house in such disarray? Why was I having to repeat myself so much with my kids? Was I ever going to catch up with my work? And were we ever going to finish this year of homeschool?
All of these things and more were swirling around in my head. In desperation I had cried out to God. “I really need an encounter with You. I need to know You’re there.”
I had prayed that simple prayer before attending church, fully expecting to have a rhema moment with the Lord during the service. It didn’t happen. Instead, He answered my prayer in another, gentler, way. Over the next week, little things began to happen. I was able to get more rest. I was able to catch up on my housework. I had a breakthrough with my children. My husband gave me some words of encouragement that helped me put things in perspective. My daughter, who had seemed to plateau in math, made a jump in her understanding. Things had come back into order.
Not only had I experienced some external triumphs, but I had experienced some internal adjustments too. I was reminded once again of God’s immense love for me, and it showed in my appearance. When I thought back over the previous week, I realized that the Lord had answered my prayer. He had shown up in the midst of my exhaustion and frustration, and I’m so thankful for it.
One of the greatest blessings of being a child of God is the realization that you are not alone, that you don’t have to carry everything alone and that you have a Heavenly Father who loves you and works things together for your good (Rom. 8:28-39). If you are struggling with your own exhaustion and frustration—in your home, your work, you family, your homeschool, whatever—then I encourage you to ask God for an encounter with Him. Ask Him to reveal Himself, in all His love and mercy and grace, to you. He may not do it in a way that you expect, but He will do it. God bless!
Review: The Unschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith
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As personal as homeschooling is, the method of unschooling is even more so. Unschooling families vary widely in their approach. Some use a few select curriculums for a few select subject; others use none. This makes writing on the subject of unschooling difficult. I know. I’ve read several books about it, and most have difficulty putting down on paper exactly how to use the method. The Unschooling Handbook : How to Use the Whole World As Your Child’s Classroom
Author Mary Griffith takes on the subject of unschooling in a very relaxed, open-minded way. She introduces the subjects in chapters like “TV or Not TV,” “How Can You Tell They’re Learning?,” “Reading and Writing,” “Math and Problem Solving,” “Changes As Kids Grow Older,” etc. and then lets each unfold with several examples from unschooling families.
For the person who already leans toward the unschooling method of homeschooling, this will feel natural, but to the person wanting to understand exactly what do to, it comes across as vague. Griffith uses several examples of families to illustrate the unschooling method, but the examples are so different that it’s hard to know which are effective and which aren’t. And some really left me questioning the method all together. For example, one parent said:
“We have no restrictions on television watching… I don’t feel there is any point to restricting their viewing. I want them to learn to self-regulate, not be dependent on me to tell them what they should do. Also, it would be antithetical to my unschooling philosophy to prescribe or proscribe any source of information.”
Another said, “I think the time to step in and help is when we’re asked for help. We [the parents] might suggest that this would be a good time to work on a particular subject that we think they’ll need, but we can only suggest; they are free to refuse (and frequently do!). I think that to have a good, respectful relationship with our teens we need to be sensitive to their right to choose what they are learning and how they want to pursue it.”
That kind of laissez-faire approach made me uncomfortable, but I admit that this may very well be my inexperience with this method showing. I would have liked to see more in the way of statistics and research to support the method’s effectiveness. Instead, the attitude displayed in the book is “trust us, it works.”
Other parts of the book encouraged me. Griffith’s sidebars “An Unschooling Week One, Two and Three” gave the best insight into how unschooling works. They allowed the reader to see what a typical unschooling week looks like for three different students, and they showed how subjects naturally flow together, which is a big part of the unschooling method.
My favorite parts of the book were the resource guides at the end of each chapter. Because unschooling doesn’t often include curriculum, these were mainly real life examples—books, videos, websites and other tools. Those alone make The Unschooling Handbook useful and are great resources that anyone could use to enhance their homeschool.
However, if you want to better understand the philosophy of unschooling, you would do better to go back to the beginning to Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling
Yes, my review of The Unschooling Handbook is mixed. But then like I said, homeschooling is personal. As with any book, it’s useful to take what works for you and discard what doesn’t. That’s what I took away from this book. I’ll use some of the suggested resources and continue to ponder many of the family examples. I’ll incorporate what fits with our family’s personality and ignore the rest.
If you have read The Unschooling Handbook and found it helpful to your homeschool, please leave a comment and let me know what you gleaned and how it affected you. I would love to dialogue about this method and this book. Happy homeschooling!
Homeschooling: A Family Trek
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The other weekend, my husband and I took our children camping. We visited a state park that we had never visited before. It was full of all the things that make camping fun for us—thick woods, twinkling nighttime stars, a crystalline lake and lots and lots of bugs. There was plenty for my children to explore and observe, and there was plenty of time away from modern life to help us disconnect from our everyday duties.
A day into our trip, we decided to explore the park’s trail system. From the road, the trails looked like easy grassy paths that led into the trees. Each was marked with a benign sign that simply read “trail.” We picked one that listed it was for bikes and ATVs. We figured that it would be big enough to maneuver our baby’s jogging stroller. Down the path we went with no idea of what we were about to encounter.
Within minutes, the trail that had been easy and smooth became washed out and rocky, pitted by large potholes and broken asphalt from some road of years gone by. To one side, the woods ascended up a high hill, and on the other side, the woods descended sharply down to the park’s lake.
We traveled on, convinced that the trail would improve or end at one of the main roads. The trail continued to wind down, and we continued after it. By the time we realized that the trail was a bad idea, we were a half-mile into it. Our only choice was to either keep going or turn around and push the stroller back up hill. We kept going.
Onward we traveled, hoping to come to a main road. Our hopes were dashed when we finally arrived at the end of the trail and a locked gate. The only way out was back from where we had come. Just as we turned around, we saw a narrow wooded trail that ascended up. Surely this would be a shortcut, we thought.
We weren’t sure the stroller would make it up the embankment, but if it did, we could exchange the long slow ascent for a steeper, but shorter, one. I stayed at the bottom while my husband, preschooler and young daughter make the trek. Yes, it was hard, but we could make it, my husband promised. Off we went.
Working together, we huffed and puffed our way up the hill. My husband and I worked, at times one pushing and the other pulling the stroller. The children led the way, holding branches out of our way so we could pass and cheering us on with a “Come on, Mommy and Daddy, this way.” There were moments when I carried the baby because we didn’t trust the contortions of the path not to throw him out of the stroller. Onward we pushed—struggling, encouraging, laughing and eventually succeeding together. We finally found our way back to the top of the original trail—out of breath and sure that our legs would feel the effects of the adventure the following day.
It was one of those beautiful family moments, much like homeschooling itself. Was it easy? No. Could we have done it without each other’s encouragement? Probably not. Was it a richer experience with one another there, carrying part of the load? Absolutely.
It takes all of us working together to make our homes and our homeschools work. With each of us carrying part of the load and encouraging one another when times get tough, we can succeed.
Wherever you are in your homeschooling journey—at the beginning of the trail, traveling with ease, maneuvering the potholes, struggling to find a workable path or coming to the end of the journey—I pray that you—as a family—have the satisfaction of traversing this beautiful and difficult trail with the ones that matter most. And despite the bumps, bruises and aches, you will be able to say, “We did it together!”
Photo: Forest Lake in Summer by axel-d.
Review: Homeschooling for Excellence by David and Micki Colfax
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I just finished Homeschooling for Excellence
Homeschool Statistics: How Do Homeschoolers Measure Up?
2As convinced as homeschooling families are that their education choice is the best, it begs the question: How do homeschool students measure up against their public school peers? In 2009, Dr. Brian D. Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) in Salem, Oregon, answered that question.
In 2008 Dr. Ray studied over 11,000 participants from all 50 states as well as Guam and Puerto Rico. The purpose of the study, which was commissioned by the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), was to “develop a current picture of homeschool students and their families.”
Over the next several weeks, I’m going to publish many of Dr. Ray’s findings. As homeschooling parents and interested parties, you’re sure to find these statistics encouraging. Enjoy!
Book Review: Simplify Your Life by Marcia Ramsland
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In an effort to make my homeschool and home run more efficiently, I recently read Simplify Your Life: Get Organized and Stay That Way
Interview with Sonya Shafer of Simply Charlotte Mason
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I recently sat down with Sonya Shafer of Simply Charlotte Mason during the 2010 Texas Home School Book Fair to talk about the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling. Sonya is passionate about this method. Whether you are new to homeschooling, still considering taking the plunge or looking for techniques to fine tune your homeschool, you’ll enjoy hearing Sonya talk about this effective and “gentle” education method.
Sonya and Simply Charlotte Mason have meant a lot to me. I’ve learned so much from the Simply Charlotte Mason website, and I’m so thankful for all the free helps that Sonya and her SCM partner Karen Smith and their families have included on it. If you haven’t yet visited Simply Charlotte Mason, don’t wait. You’re sure to find something to encourage and empower you and your student. Happy homeschooling, everyone!