Reflecting on the Gifts of Home Schooling

Homeschooling has been a gift that I will always treasure!  I am blessed to have had the opportunity to spend so much time getting to know our two children and learning and growing alongside them for their whole childhood.  I am thankful that even through the hard times that we kept going.  I am seeing them become young adults who have so many wonderful traits and who are a blessing to others.  Our home school has never been perfect, we have had plenty of long, hard days, but it has been a tapestry of learning, challenging, helping, serving, caring, working, diligence, and perseverance.  Our home school days changed over time, but I will never regret all of the hours that I spent reading aloud, teaching lessons, planning lessons, editing papers, and trying to figure out the curriculum and how to make it work better for each of them.  I will remember funny moments, field trips, co-op friends, science experiments that may have gone a little sideways, memorizing all of the Classical Conversations memory work while bouncing on the mini trampoline, taking the dogs on walks, playing in the backyard, 4H meetings and lots of projects, Driver's Ed, strength training classes and football practice, choir, church, youth group, piano and guitar lessons, gymnastics and dance classes, recitals, Nutcrackers, eventually equestrian riding lessons and horse shows, and Indy Car races.  

I will remember singing lots of songs, reading beautiful stories, memorizing Bible verses, and talking about the Bible on most days.  I will not regret any of that.  I am thankful that my husband really considered my idea to home educate our kids back in 2006 for a year of Preschool and Kindergarten!  Here we are, fifteen years later, with our second and final home school graduate.  Other people told me when our children were very young that "the days are long, but the years are short" and that feels especially true right now.  There were plenty of really long days, days of trying to help my kids stay busy and fulfilled when they were with me most of the day.  There were hard days when we did not feel like doing school work, but there were so many wonderful memories.  Now that we are at the end of the journey, it does feel in some ways like it was short, but it really was a long term commitment and a longer view of who we wanted our children to become one day when they were very small.  

Each of our children are individuals who will make their own choices, but I feel proud that I know they have a foundation of substance, character, values, and their faith that will guide them as they venture out into the world more and more on their own.  As their mother and educator, I am also very proud of all of the hard work that it took to get to where they are today.  I will not forget the frustration and tears that we shared, while I was also blessed to experience so many smiles and so much laughter!  Our home school was not perfect, nor is any school, because we are all imperfect people, but I am glad that we were really able to do things in the best way that worked for our family and we had so much time together!  

I may feel sad right now that fifteen years of time has passed and that our journey of home schooling is coming to an end, but I am thankful that I have had so much time with them along the way and that we were able to create so many memories.  They lived life with me and saw me through my own ugly or difficult days and how I handled it.  I did not always handle things well, but we were real with each other and lived our life together.  They are two of my best friends and I hope that we will always stay connected.  They were also able to spend more time with their dad, even though he worked long hours.  They were here when he was at home, even if he had worked all night and then came home in the morning. We were also able to travel and take vacations together when it worked better for his schedule for many years before the kids got more involved in year round sports in high school.  We were able to take ski trips to the mountains and spring trips to the beach together.  More memories to be thankful for!  

I am also thankful that God helped me with so many decisions along the way, how to schedule our days and our weekly activities, to what activities we would be involved in each season or school year, what curriculum to use, when to switch if something was not working, and how to handle difficulties and challenges.  I have learned a ton about teaching, critical thinking, writing, English grammar, how to talk with kids about any topic, books, literature, science, music, history, and art.  I have learned about dyslexia, dysgraphia, other learning disabilities, and how to accommodate and experiment with the student to find out what accommodations work best for them individually.  I have also learned about dealing with anxiety and depression and how to help a student deal with those challenges.  I have learned how to lead and direct a group of parents to form a co-op and keep it organized and going strong.  I am not perfect, but I hope that I am a kinder, gentler, more open minded mom than I was when we started.  I am also glad that I have blogged lots of this for myself, to process my own thoughts and to share my experiences from this incredible journey.

May this post serve as a reminder to our own family of the many amazing moments that we enjoyed together and the hard challenges that we made it through over the years.  May this post also inspire those of you who are still caring for little ones at home or homeschooling young children and teens and help you to see that over the course of time, there are great benefits and fruits of this hard work that you are doing.  When you want to be reminded of why you are doing what you are doing to care for your children, come back and read this post.  When you are ready to throw in the towel and send the kids on the next school bus, read the lists of all of the wonderful treasured memories that we now hold dearly.  Focus on the good stuff, because there really is a lot of good that happens between Day 1 and Day 5,475 or about 15 years of home schooling!  It's worth it and God will bless you for all of the ways that you continue to show kindness, patience, love, and discipline to the children that He has entrusted into your care. 

 

Our son's graduation in 2019

Our daughter's graduation in 2021

Life Skills in College

Learning happens everywhere!  Our college freshman son is learning so many things in his classes this semester, but I've also been thinking about what kinds of life skills he is developing in and out of the classroom.  He is doing a lot of real life learning!  Going to college is not just about learning knowledge and information, but also about becoming more of an independent, emerging, young adult.  It's a way for students to go outside of the walls of their family home and to stretch themselves and to grow.  Below are some of the specific life skills he is developing in this first year of college:

• How to manage his time, including taking time to take care of his personal needs like eating meals, laundry, exercise, and sleep, besides time for studying
• Managing his finances, keeping tabs on his bank account and spending habits 
• Keeping track of how much gas is in his car, so he doesn't run out!
• How to access all of his online class syllabi, assignments, grades, feedback, and how to keep track of all of this information
• How to communicate with many different people including his roommate, suite-mates, students on his hall, his RA, professors, classmates, advisors, university staff, and other friends 
• Learning more about how he learns and figuring out what resources and accommodations are useful and helpful to him at the college level, with dyslexia and dysgraphia
• How he studies best, what environment is quiet enough for him, what time of day works well for him,  and where he can go to study if he needs a quiet place
• Scheduling classes, how to make changes to your schedule, and knowing that you don't have to stay in a class if it is not a good fit and how to take care of those changes before certain deadlines
• He is still learning about himself and his strengths and weaknesses while he is an Exploratory Studies major, trying out different kinds of classes that may lead to a choice of major or a career interest

I am thankful that our son has been able to go to college this year to learn, to be challenged, and to grow.   He is developing skills that he will use in everyday life for many more years to come. 

2019-20 Our Classes and Curriculum

This year will be the first year that our home school will only have one student, instead of two!  We have graduated our oldest and he is heading off to a small, private university about an hour from home in the fall.  It's exciting and scary and a bit sad, but will also be a lot of fun! So many emotions!  I am including his classes for first semester, in case it interests any readers out there.  I think it's a good mix for such a transition for him with interesting classes, general requirements, and some special interests that he can further investigate.

College Freshman

• First Year Seminar: Sports and Culture (English class) (3 hrs)
• Exploratory Studies (2 hrs)
• Strategies for Success (1 hr)
• The Bible (3 hrs)
• Perspective in Creative Arts: Music In Action (3 hrs)

Our 11th grader finished up her Driver's Ed recently and is still busy with her equestrian training schedule.  She is completing more credits to meet college entrance requirements in the future, but is also starting to add in some electives of her choice. 

11th grade, Junior Year

• Bible - Love God Greatly studies, Youth Group studies, community service, and participation in worship services
• American Literature -  Notgrass Exploring America, 7 Sisters Literature Guides, and Brave Writer "Boomerang" Literature Guides
• English Composition - Brave Writer online classes and SAT prep on Khan Academy   
• Math - Algebra 2 Teaching Textbooks
• Science - Friendly Chemistry
• Spanish 3 - Seasons Learning live online class with BJU Press Spanish 3 books
• Intro. to Psychology - 7 Sisters Psychology from a Christian Perspective 
• College & Career Exploration - 7 Sisters Homeschool Career Exploration guide and activities, start looking at universities and visiting in the spring
• Study Skills - SAT prep with Supertutortv.com 
• Fine Arts - piano lessons
• Equestrian Skills 3 - continue developing equestrian hunter jumper riding and jumping skills, participate in regional horse shows, private lessons

Online Class Reviews

This year is the first time we have tried some online classes. We have great experiences, so I want to share them with you!

Brave Writer Online Classes
I have so much to write about Brave Writer, but here I will stick to our online class experience. I signed up my reluctant writer to take an online class that was called "Kidswrite Intermediate" on the Brave Writer website. Don't let the name fool you, this wasn't just for "kids", but is a class designed for high school writers to focus on the rhetorical imagination and thinking behind writing. Our instructor, Angela, was so great at encouraging my student and myself when I needed some extra help with instruction at home. We would check in every day on the website and read through the assignments together. They were exercises that challenged my dyslexic, dysgraphic learner to use his thinking power in his words.

I did have him take the class in the fall, during his busy football season, so it was a little difficult to keep up with the pace, but it was also a great way to kick off writing for this school year. However, our instructor was excellent at working with us and allowing him to make adjustments to have a little extra time to complete some of his work within the overall time frame of the 6 week class. These classes are also asynchronous, which means that you can work on them any time of day or night, not at a set time. This was unusual for online classes that I have researched and helpful to us.

After the online class, we chose to continue with the second half of the Brave Writer curriculum, Help for High School. We are still working through it at our own pace and are learning about open and closed essays, exploratory essays, and expository essays. Another important note is that now, Kidswrite Intermediate has recently split into three separate classes for more in-depth writing instruction in the Essay Prep series. I would love for either of my kids to take a Brave Writer online class again!

Classes By Beth Plus CBB+
I came across CBB+ last spring when I was looking at the endless options for high school curriculum for the coming school year. I wanted some outside accountability for the kids, as well as some help with subjects that I do not feel like I have the time to learn well enough to teach the material. I looked at several options for online home school classes and this one was our first choice! One reason is that I was actually able to call Beth and talk to her on the phone. She was very helpful and kind on the phone. I had lots of questions and she answered them honestly and with as much information as she could give.

I really appreciate that Beth's company started and still focuses on home school students, with real life home educators as instructors. They understand home schooling and have done it themselves. It's helpful that every class is also recorded so if we have to miss a class, my daughter and I can easily catch up right away and not miss a week of instruction. The instructors are super knowledgeable and organized. There is a syllabus for each class and they meet live online once a week. We have been able to contact the instructors through email in a very timely fashion when we have questions and they are very accessible to the students through live classes, office hours, and email.

My daughter has been able to learn not only good solid writing skills, but also has been able to help other students while she learns to edit through peer reviews in her Essay Styles class. She is also enjoying learning Spanish from a teacher who has lived as a missionary in Spain for 30 years! Her Spanish instructor has fun facts and cultural information to share, as well as a love of the language. I plan on continuing with CBB+ classes for my student next year.

Both of these options are classes that I would highly recommend to friends who home educate and are looking for online high school level classes. Go check them out!