Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
—PHILIPPIANS 4:4–7
I (Mona Lisa) am a list maker. I feel that if I write it down, it will get done—well . . . eventually. Many times priorities change and things get crossed off the list or just moved over to another list. Having this helpful map of the day and directions for what needs to happen allows me to check off the important details. And there are certainly lots of them!
People always comment, “So you must have a strict schedule to get it all done.” I am usually very tongue-tied trying to explain that we really don’t have a schedule. It is more like a to-do list for each child. We get up as early as we can (depending on what we were doing as a family the night before) and then work to reach some simple goals:
1. Clean rooms, get dressed.
2. Eat breakfast.
3. Comb hair, brush teeth.
4. Chores (dishes, trash, pick up stuff around house, feed and water dog, clean table, etc.). Each kid does the same chores every day. Changes are made as they get older.
5. Start school with Bible reading, because we know that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We are teaching our kids that their character development is the most important part of their education.
6. Mathematics. We do this second every day because it is incremental and shouldn’t be skipped if the day gets crazy.
7. They need to write every day—a letter, an essay, a journal entry, a page of dictation, etc. . . .
8. Lots of reading—biographies, historical fiction, science books. Then they can read fiction for fun. (I.e., quality literature like The Chronicles of Narnia or The Boxcar Children during the early years. See some suggestions at the end of this book.)
9. PE, which over the years has included: jumping on the trampoline, family walks, hikes, Victory sports league (our local Christian homeschool sports organization), soccer, playing Ultimate Frisbee with a local group, or just riding bikes on our property.
“Good morning, sunshine!” This is how my little ones are greeted in the morning one by one. There is no morning rush to get dressed, eat breakfast, pack the lunches, finish last-minute homework, load up the car, and fight traffic to drop off kids at school. Homeschoolers can have peace in the morning instead of the mad rat race to get everyone to school on time.
It feels so much more natural for the younger children to wake up when their bodies are ready. Lorennah, our five-year-old, sleeps in the longest. She is a petite little thing and the kids decided that we should let her sleep in so she will grow to her fullest potential. Thunder is three and is the first one to wake up most mornings, asking for cereal. My college kids set their own alarms. They know what their study schedules should be. I don’t need to keep track of them. I just need to know who needs a ride.
I get to enjoy the quiet of the morning as the children wake up one by one. If the kids are not feeling well, they can stay in bed. Once they get bored, they can start reading in bed or watching some educational videos. So we don’t have a problem with sick days. I remember when my older girls were in a private school during flu season and how I always felt pressured to send them back to school even though they weren’t fully recovered. This wasn’t good for them or the poor kids they were infecting. We don’t have this pressure anymore. As a matter of fact, when my kids came down with the chicken pox at our house, it was just another day. Once we got the itching under control, they could read, rest, and play educational games. There were no worries about how many days they were “missing” from school.
When you fill out a home-school affidavit in California, you must list your school name. A good friend of mine joked about how she was going to call hers the Nanny Nanny Boo Boo School. She explained that on those freezing-cold mornings when her kids curl up on the couch, under the blankets, drinking their hot cocoa, waiting to start their family devotions, they see the poor kids walking to the bus stop, and they say “nanny nanny boo boo” through the window because they get to stay home. Although this may sound a little mean-spirited, many homeschoolers pray for their peers at public schools. We are now losing successive generations of people in America to minds and lives without the beneficial knowledge and foundation of Christ.
Have you ever seen the bumper sticker “A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work”? This is how we feel about keeping your kids at home with you. I (Mona Lisa) have had those days where I think that it did not go well and there were so many interruptions that things did not go as planned.
For example, one day we were driving the boys to class and then on the way home our van broke down and we “wasted” a couple of hours on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck. During that time, some of the kids were reading in the van while the rest of us just talked. We gave thanks to God that we broke down in a nice shady spot and that we were safe. The time spent waiting for the tow truck turned out to be nice bonding time. Yes, they could have been in a classroom somewhere learning random facts that they would soon forget. Thankfully, they were with me and with each other. So, even when things do not go exactly as planned, my kids are better off being with me.
So, my dear new homeschoolers, trust in Deuteronomy 6, where we are told to teach our children the truth as we walk down the path of life (or sit on the side of the road). Your children’s being instructed by you, the one who loves and knows your children the most, is far better than being in a crowded classroom and taught by an overworked teacher who cannot give them the individual attention that they need.
Believing that you are called to homeschool is half the battle. Figuring out what curriculum to use can be the fun part if you let your kids help you. We do not believe that there is a magic curriculum. It is more important that your kids enjoy it and are challenged. Skip through the easy parts and spend more time where it is needed. Talk to your kids about their interests and browse with them online and/ or at the library. If your child wants to be president of the United States, design his or her curriculum around what you (the parents) believe is important for a good president to know. Believe that your child really can become the president someday. Your confidence will give your child confidence.
To follow that example, if my child wanted to be president and could not read yet, I would read them biographies of some good presidents. If the child could read, I would allow them to read independently about our past presidents. As the child got older, I would start introducing political science, history, law, and government books. Most important, I would want my child to know the book of Proverbs well so that they could be as wise as the wisest leader in history: King Solomon. The child could write every day about what they are reading. Add in math, science, and any electives that interest your child and you have a full curriculum. It doesn’t matter if your child is little Prince George of England or a pauper (as in Disney’s The Prince and the Pauper); we all share interests and need opportunities to explore them. Children have desires that can only be fulfilled if they are allowed the opportunity. The course work could look a little different if you have a musician or an artist in your family. The beauty of homeschooling is that you have the freedom to give your child exactly what they need—no more and no less.