I was so inspired by this week's Homeschool Minute on "better late than early."   I remember when Amanda (our oldest child) was a toddler, I began to research with much gusto, the topic of homeschooling.  I had read a couple of Mary Pride's books and remember her saying in one that "if you can potty-train a child, you can teach him or her to read.  Potty training is much harder."  She also said somewhere that people get too uptight about their children not being potty-trained soon enough.  She said "Have you ever seen a normal 16 year old that couldn't use the bathroom?"  This I keep remembering as my precious 4 year old son seems to be taking "longer than the others" to get the hang of consistent potty use.  Some how Mary Pride's words encouraged me that childraising and educating did not have to be complicated, and many times simplifying, cutting too much drudgery and just living life together made all the difference in both parent's and children's attitudes.

I still love to read about and research new curriculum, and try new things when it suits us.  But what I learned early on, is that each child is different, born with different gifts and learning styles, and many times a different calling from God.  Honestly, a one-size fits all curriculum has never suited us, and a structured, stiff schedule at home has never worked for us, nor has a 9 month school year.  Early in our homeschooling adventure, I began to be inspired to collect good literature, good reference books, good tools of learning and good art materials.  We bought things when we could, and I considered that an investment in our education.   If we had lots of good books that were fun to look at and had good stories, if the children saw me enjoying books, and if we had good read aloud times, perhaps they would be inspired to read even on their own and learn to do research on their own.Now we have an extrememly print-rich environment, and we have some beautiful built-in bookcases in our downstairs family room/school room that holds books that we have had for years, and that have become some of our children's favorite reads.  Early on, I began reading aloud to our children - during the "school" day, before bedtime, over the holdiays, during summer time as well as during the "school year."  I began to notice that the children really did listen well, and really did learn things seemingly effortlessly, as Charlotte Mason attested to, when they were paying attention.  Talk about an easy way to "do school." 

And the easiest way to get a child to start writing is to give them a notebook and encourage them to keep a journal.  Actually, I started giving our children a Christian Daily Planner each Christmas that had a calendar and a lined space for daily entries.  Now they write a little in it each night before bed and have found that it is fun to go back an read through years later.  We all then remember things we never would have otherwise because the children are keeping journals.  The other easy way is to let them e-mail their friends and extended family members.  They can courtesy copy you or get your approval first before sending, if they need any correction.  I had one reluctant writer that has become quite a good writer starting out this way.  If I had beat this child over the head doing the traditional drudgery creative writing techniqes, it would have been unnecessarily painful for both of us and perhaps would have completely put out any fire of creativity that was there.  I thank God for real-life alternatives with homeschooling!

Not long ago, my husband noted that several of our children were gathered at the big table in our dining area, working on their seatwork.  He just smiled and walked away and said, "They seem to not realize it was Saturday, so I just figured I wouldn't say anything and just let them work away at their schoolwork."  Later on, he had everyone outside in the fields burning brush we had cut down.  There is definitely a good place for work, and working together in a homeschool lifestyle of learning.  Call it a lifestyle of living, learning and working.  Dr. Raymond Moore has it so right that when you give a child some meaningful work, it brings a reluctant child out of his or her shell, it gives them some responsibility and teaches decision-making, and not to mention perseverence and tenacity to see a job through.  These are real-life skills that you generally don't find in the traditional school setting.

I have to close by mentioning something I read that John Taylor Gatto wrote in Dumbing Us Down.  He writes that most everything a child needs to know for basic education - reading, writing and arithmetic, can be taught in about 100 hours, especially when the child is ready and able and wanting to learn.  And once a child learns these basics, he can then teach himself anything or go on then to higher education.  So think of all that wasted time that a school system has to fill up with busy work and programs and recess -  to fill up and waste 12 years of a child's life.  And when you think that our primary job as christian parents is to teach and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with our children - to teach them to pray and pray with them, to teach them the Bible and learn with them, and to teach them to live by faith - and to live by faith with them, and to teach them to love and forgive and do this with them - then who has the time to waste sending them off to others who will teach them to do exactly the opposite of what we have been called by God to do?