When You Approach the {Homeschool} Finish Line

Hi moms! We just returned from a college visit with our oldest (who is 16 and an 11th grader - how can this be?). I may or may not have felt fearful, excited, tearful, and relieved all in the span of a four hour period.

Mostly, the feelings of deep thankfulness and joy (and ok - maybe a teensy weensy bit of sadness) pervaded throughout the day.

Many of you have been with me on this journey since we began, so it's only fair I share my heart with you in this final year of homeschooling my oldest.

Truths of the Homeschool Journey

You will make more memories and create more connections with your children than you could ever imagine. Time spent reading aloud, rowing beautiful books, and taking field trips will stick with your children for the rest of their lives. My heart swells when my oldest tells me she feels she is so good at writing because I read good literature TO her.

Refinement will be beautiful - and painful. My dear friend, Denise, told me early on in my homeschool days that children are "holy sandpaper". She was right. I have been refined in a myriad of ways. My patience has been tested (and hopefully grown!), my tongue has been tamed, and my selfish ways have been challenged. All of the reasons I said I never wanted to homeschool have turned out to be the exact reasons why I am GLAD we homeschool.

You will learn how to think outside the box in MANY areas. Once you abandon the ideal of public school, you will begin to abandon other ideals that have been accepted "just because". As you gain the confidence to take control of your children's education, you learn the truth that you don't need experts for everything. Your love and advocacy for your family are enough. NEVER forget that.

Reclaiming our own educations is a precious gift. I never dreamed of the knowledge I would gain through teaching my own children. A love of learning weaves its way through all of my days. I am reading voraciously. A culture of truth, goodness, and beauty has found its way into my home. Praise be to God for this!

You will make precious friendships in the homeschool community. I cannot imagine our lives without our community of homeschool friends. Tonight, as a dear friend dropped my youngest off after a day of fun, I shed tears thinking about the blessing this particular family has been in our lives. Iron sharpens iron - this is most certainly true.

As I looked at my precious daughter today I was flooded with all of these thoughts and emotions. I imagine I'll be writing to you a lot in the coming year.

Please forgive me now for my nostalgia and sentimentality.

I'm just so thankful we chose this path, and I hope you are, too!

(Stay tuned for more posts about approaching that homeschool finish line. They're coming. I just know it.)

Why can't we just let children be CHILDREN?

Why can't we just let them be little?

There are many ways in which our public schools fail to educate children. We are failing to cultivate wonder in children.

My heart sank this week as I read about a kindergarten gun control walkout in Connecticut.

What has the world come to when we use five and six-year-old children as political pawns?

Have we become so SELFISH that we are willing to sacrifice our precious children on the altar of "making a point"?

It appears so.

Let Them Be Little: The Crime of Vanishing Childhood

The irony in this is that the more we remove "childhood" from our children's lives, the less capable adults they will become. When we force our children to bypass childhood we fail to realize the detrimental effects this will have on them in later life.

Parents are fooling themselves if they believe schools are going to preserve and nurture childhood.

I was once among a large number of trusting parents who believed the public schools had my children's best interest at heart - or maybe I should simply say the interests of the public schools are misguided. As I watched my kindergarten student participate in "Just Say No" week (the anti-drug campaign) - when she had no idea of what drugs even were, I wondered why political agendas were part of her school day.

I was so conditioned to just ACCEPT these things as part of the public school's duty to children. I didn't question what the public schools did. They were the AUTHORITY on education. We just sent our children to school - the teachers had their job and I had mine.

Then one day I started getting an uneasy feeling about all of this. A friend loaned me some homeschooling books. The principal at my child's school didn't appreciate me asking so many questions about the WHYS of what they did. The idea of homeschooling began to take a foothold in my mind.

Finally, we abandoned the ideal of public school and decided to just let our children be LITTLE.

Three Ways Homeschooling Lets Our Children Be LITTLE

Homeschooling gives children time to discover the world.

Children learn best through DISCOVERY.

Plopping them in a sterile environment with worksheets and prescribed activities leaves no time for a child to explore and wonder.

If we are trying to teach our children about birds - and most of all, how to APPRECIATE THE BEAUTY of birds - setting up a bird feeder and observing beautiful birds is of much more value than reading about birds in a textbook. As small children are going about their daily work of PLAYING, they may stop at intervals to admire the birds at the feeder. They will ask their mother, "What bird is this?", which can lead to discovery, which makes a memory, which then cements that knowledge.

“Of the evils of modern education few are worse than this - that the perpetual cackle of his elders leaves the poor child not a moment of time, nor an inch of space, wherin to wonder - and grow.”

— Charlotte Mason, Volume 1, p. 18

A no-twaddle bird study put together by the parent is of infinite value and allows our children to learn in an unrestricted environment. It challenges them to learn more, builds an appreciation of all things beautiful, and serves as a building block in a lifetime of knowledge of the natural world around them.

Giving our children permission to indulge in these things is a gift.

Homeschooling gives children time with their parents and siblings.

How very old-fashioned and un-evolved of me to suggest children should be home with their mother (or father) all day!

It certainly isn't in vogue to suggest the family be the primary unit of socialization and support, is it?

I have seen first-hand how happy and healthy children are when they have the security and being with family all day. Time with family builds security, self-confidence, and happiness.

This time at home with parents and siblings allows our children the space they need to PLAY, EXPLORE, and LEARN.

How much more valuable is a walk in the neighborhood with the family than sitting through a "Just Say No to Drugs" presentation?

We love to use the buzz words "quality time", but I would argue that TIME with our children is important - not just set aside time we deem as "quality", but giving all of our time to our children in their youngest years.

I cannot measure the learning that took place on our walks (especially in the fall) when my children were young. I look back on this now and am so thankful we just LET THEM BE LITTLE!

Jump in leaf piles. Get muddy. Collect bugs. Play make-believe baseball games by yourself in the backyard. Snuggle with mom.

Homeschooling Preserve A Child's Innocence

But they will have to function in the "real" world one day, so why are you sheltering them now?

Isn't this the most tired argument you have heard? I grow weary of hearing people say this.

I am, however, long past caring what others think about the way we educate our children.

Am I going to protect and shelter my children? YOU BET!

Elementary age children have no business:

worrying during active shooter drills
taking part in sex education
participating in political agendas
and a myriad of other things!

Childhood is virtually passed over when a child takes on so many things they aren't emotionally or physically capable of handling.

I vividly recall a day when my child was in third grade (our last year in the public schools) - there was an escaped convict on the loose in our area. They were searching cars on the main road near our home. The elementary school was locked down. I remember being so concerned about my daughter that day - I knew she would worry.

Wouldn't it have been so much easier to have had her at home - safely in my care with our doors locked and her being none the wiser - than subjecting her to worry?

I will fight tooth and nail to preserve my children's childhood and to LET THEM BE LITTLE.

“The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.”

— Patrick Rothfuss

If you are interested in more homeschool encouragement, please visit the page I have dedicated to that subject.

It is important to let our children be LITTLE. We owe it to them, and ultimately our society will benefit if we give our children everything they need and deserve in their younger years.

My greatest desire is to equip and encourage you in the homeschool journey. Please leave me a comment if I can help you in any way!

When You Approach The {Homeschool} Finish Line