We are going to take a brief pause in our current series on The Five Stages of Grief, and I want to share a little about our homeschooling journey. Homeschooling is definitely not for the faint of heart, especially as a widow, but I am so glad God allowed me to home school my kids. It wasn’t always easy, and there were sometimes tears over math or reading, but the rewards far outweigh the hard times.
Here are ten things I love about our homeschooling experience:- Being able to teach my kids the truth of the Gospel through school subjects. Keeping our schooling centered around Biblical truth was important to me, and I specifically looked for Bible-centered materials. Along with Bible-focused curriculum, we also memorized scripture together, and my kids still remember many of the verses. We also sang some of the Gospel-centered hymns that I learned at a young age.
- Knowing what they were learning and being part of that. I didn’t have to wonder if there was anything questionable that they were being taught at school. I learned right along with them - things that I’m sure I had learned in school but had forgotten, and as an adult I have a better appreciation for it than when I was a kid.
- Seeing the ah-ha moments. There is nothing like seeing your child’s face light up when reading finally clicks, or watching your teenager grasp a difficult math concept.
- Learning what they liked and what they were good at. It’s so fun to watch your child develop into their own person and figure out what makes them tick.
- Being able to do school on our timetable. There were many times we took school on the road to go visit the grandparents or the cousins.
- Taking school outside, doing nature walks and field trips. It was so fun and eye opening to see what my kids observed in nature and what stood out to them. Often they saw things that I never would have noticed. We also experienced a wide variety of field trips from apple picking to an alpaca farm, to fairs, to the Creation Museum in Indiana.
- Lapbooks and other creative projects. Lapbooks were such a fun way to learn. If you’re not familiar with them, it’s kind of like a small scrapbook about a specific topic. We did lapbooks on nature, music, math and for book reports.
- Watching them grow into independent learners as they matured. As my kids got to junior high and high school, I became more of a facilitator and less of a teacher. They would come to me with questions or clarification, and we often had discussions about a book we were all reading or a topic in history, but overall, they were teaching themselves.
- Choosing curriculum - I loved researching and choosing our home school materials. There were times we had to pivot mid-year to something different, but that’s the beauty of homeschooling. You’re not locked in to a particular book and can support your child’s learning the way you feel is most beneficial.
- Having a supportive homeschooling community through home school co-ops. We were able to participate in three different home school co-ops. One in Maine that started after Jon passed, a small one in New Hampshire that we went to for one school year, and a larger one in New Hampshire that we participated in for 7 years.Through all of these various co-ops, my kids got exposed to different teachers, subjects that I wouldn’t have been able to teach them, they made lots of wonderful friends, and I felt supported as a home school Mom.
I am so thankful for the way God orchestrated our home school journey. It was such a privilege to be able to teach my kids all through school, and to be a big part of their education. I will be sharing more of our homeschooling journey in the future, but in the meantime, if you have questions about homeschooling, please reach out to me. I would be happy to share more of my experience with you.
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