Oct. 6, 2009 - Maintenance Pt. 4
Maintaining Our Homeschool Program
Now that we’re back on track with our relationships, let’s look at our homeschool program. Are we maintaining it as we should? How do we maintain it? Where do we begin? A wise veteran homeschool mom once told me that we begin at the end. The first thing we must do is decide what is the end goal in homeschooling. Why are we doing this? How do we want our students to look in the end? If you have never asked this question, now is a good time to start.
The following categories are not mutually exclusive, nor is it exhaustive. It will, however, give you a good idea where to begin with maintaining your homeschool program.
The Academic Program:
If your goals for your students are academic, the next step in maintaining you homeschool program is to make sure you have the current graduation requirements for your state. Because you are the one who will bestow the diploma upon your student this is just for reference. What knowledge is possessed by the college bound graduates in your state? If your student is going to be competing with them for seats in universities and scholarship dollars, they need to know at least as much as they do.
Contact some of the colleges you think your student may one day wish to attend and ask them what they are looking for in their future students. Sometimes they actually provide guidelines for homeschool students to become qualified for admission. When my son talked about going to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, we went to their website and found that they provided a list of academic requirements as well as a list of suggested extra-curricular activities to make a homeschool student competitive in the admissions process.
If you know already while your students are in elementary school that they will be pursuing an academically rigorous education, you can help them develop good study habits. You must teach them to research, in a dictionary, in a thesaurus, in a library and on the internet. Look at your homeschool resources, books and curriculum. Do they offer ample guidance in research for your student’s level? If they don’t you must add that in. A simple place to start is to have your student look up spelling words in the dictionary and use the pronunciation guides to tell you exactly how the word is pronounced.
Everybody must write well. We’ve all heard it, “publish or perish.” This is a mantra among the scholarly. It doesn’t matter what your specialty is, you must write well. It’s obvious that reporters, authors, and English teachers must write well. The fact is even scientists, mathematicians and artists must write well if they want to do well in the higher levels of academics. Does your homeschool program build strong writing skills? Do your students know how to craft vivid sentences? Your homeschool program needs to include weekly writing assignments as well as regular re-writing assignments. Get those students used to the idea of rewriting everything at least twice. No matter how good their rough draft may be, it can always be better. It always amazes me the way my children can ace year after year of spelling tests and grammar quizzes, then hand me a paragraph without a single capital letter or punctuation mark. Every time it happens I am reminded why we teach writing as well as using those workbooks. Keep them writing. Keep them using those dictionaries. Keep that thesaurus handy. Never stop rewriting!!
Everybody must have strong math skills. Is your math program strong? Does your student understand the concepts? Is your student ready for each successive math lesson as they come up? The answer to all these questions needs to be, “Yes!” Math and Science oriented students are not the only ones who need a strong foundation in mathematics. All students do. Math is logical. Higher math is abstract. Advancing in math will help your student to develop many areas of the brain. If your younger students master the steps involved in long division, it actually will help them with the steps involved in writing a research paper and many other skills.
Everybody must read well. Look at the reading opportunities you have given your student. Are they reading? Are they reading a lot? Are they being challenged by their reading? Do they ever read for enjoyment? Again the answer to these questions should be, “Yes!” The best way to teach a student to be a good writer is to have them read good writing. The best way to teach a student about history is to have them read about history, in historical fiction, in textbooks, and in documents written back in history. The first step in learning about science is to read about it, then read about the people who did the experimenting before today. Only after all the reading do you want to try to do the experiments. Even math can be made more interesting and real to a student by reading about how mathematicians in history have helped us to get to where we are today.
Reading challenging material will help their vocabulary. Keep a dictionary nearby when reading to look up new words. Encourage them to press through books which seem too hard. When they have finished the book, they will have a big boost to their confidence. It will also train them to read “above their skill level” so they have the confidence to research even in materials which seem “too difficult.”
The Trade Program:
If your student has no interest is higher academics and you see an aptitude for a trade then your homeschool program will afford many opportunities for them to grow in this skill. This doesn’t mean that you should exclude academic studies altogether. A love of learning is a gift from God. If your students haven’t taken possession of this gift yet, don’t give up on them. I didn’t acquire a love of reading until after I turned 30. Reading the classics at that point made a huge difference in the homeschooling I did with my own children. I don’t educate my children so that they can get a job. I don’t educate them to fulfill some sort of government regulation. I choose to educate my children so that they are educated. In ancient times it was the nobility who were allowed an education. My children are the children of the King of kings and therefore they deserve the education of a Prince. Even if my son is going to become a carpenter and my daughter a soccer playing actress and singer, they will do it with a well rounded education.
If you skipped over the section about an academic program because you already know your student isn’t going to college, please go back and read the sections on writing, mathematics, and reading. If your child is to run a shop or his own business one day, he/she must be a confident writer, comfortable with basic mathematics and able to read all about his/her field. Once they are in high school you can select as electives woodworking class with Grandpa, or faceting class at the local jewelry maker’s shop.
Apprenticeships still work today as well as they did 200 years ago. Students can learn the family business by making a class of helping Mom or Dad in the shop. Most communities have an amateur theater company where aspiring actors or stage crew members can hone their craft. In today’s economy small business owners can use all the help they can get. Talk to some in your area about volunteering in their business in return for an opportunity to learn about the business. Check at local recreation departments about clubs and activities that can teach a trade.
The Godly Character Program:
I believe that this portion of your homeschool program is essential to ANY course of study. Whether your students will go on to college, a trade school or drop right into the work force after graduation, their character is the most important factor in determining their future success. Does your homeschool program reflect this important fact? Does it teach manners? Does your homeschool program teach ethics? Does it teach the love of God’s Word?
Good manners never go out of style: I have heard young people claim, “Manners are dated. There from another time and don’t apply anymore.” The people who make these claims are failing to grasp the basic concept of good manners. Good manners show other people that they are more important to you than yourself and your image. In Philippians 2:3-4 Paul said, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
By learning the difference between good manners and bad manners our students and children can learn how to not offend guests and friends and how to honor those deserving it. When our children wait to eat until the preparer of the meal is seated and ready to begin, they are saying that she is worthy of the first bite because she is worthy of honor. When our students take off their baseball hats at church they are saying that God is more important than a hairstyle. When our young people give up their seats in a crowded meeting to the adults they are saying that age has earned the adult the privilege of a comfortable seat. The list of examples is endless. The best way to gauge how to behave is to always ask, “I know how valuable I am, now how may I show you how valuable you are?”
Good ethics are not only valuable in courtrooms and boardrooms: Some would argue that it’s hard to find good ethics in the courtroom and the boardroom. Never-the-less college students continue to study Business Ethics and Legal Ethics across the Earth. Ethics are the moral standards by which people guide behavior. The best legal systems and monetary systems are based on a very simple set of ethics. It contains just two rules: 1. Do everything you say you will do. 2. Do not encroach on another’s property.
Simply explained rule #1 just means keep your word. If your son says he’ll do math at 9:00am. He should do it at 9:00am. Then when the math is finished you both can move on to the next thing. When you tell your daughter that dinner will be ready at 6:00pm, you serve dinner at 6:00pm and she has time to do what she needs to do and get well fed before the evening. If you cannot fulfill an obligation, do not say you will. Many disputes and disagreements can be avoided if people would commit to what they will do and do what they commit to.
Rule #2 is a little more difficult to explain. Encroaching on another’s property can be defined in many different ways. Property is anything you own or legally possess. If I have a lease and rent my home, it’s my property to the extent that the owner has granted me. It’s mine to live in. It’s mine to secure my belongings in. It is not mine to significantly altar with the permission of the true owner. Because my children are not legally responsible yet, whatever they think they own, I own. But relation to their siblings, what is theirs is theirs. For example, I can take phone privileges away from my son and it would not be stealing but if my daughter tried to take the phone it would be stealing. I am going into a great deal of explanation about the rights and duties of parents here because as we are raising our children, it is our responsibility to teach them to take care of the things the Lord has blessed them with. Because everything they “own” legally belongs to me, I have every right to demand that they care for their belongings in a manner which I find appropriate. By requiring a certain level of care for their belongings, I can teach them the concept of stewardship of God’s gifts.
When our homeschool students grow up viewing things as belonging to God first, then entrusted to us, they can easily move into respecting other’s property. This respect keeps the sin of covetousness at a distance. Coveting is on the top ten no-no’s list. Coveting leads to all kinds of unethical behavior. People are constantly trying to redefine good ethics. Open the Word of God and teach your children good ethics according the Jesus’ standards.
We have literally come full circle now. Your personal maintenance began with getting into the Word of God. Now your homeschool program must end with the same. You and your students need to be in the Word of God daily. You classes must compliment what the Bible says. The subjects you teach must reflect God’s priorities. Your students must read the Word of God everyday because it’s powerful and life changing. They must study the Word of God to fully understand it and take hold of what God offers them.
The Word of God is the Beginning and the End:
Find an age appropriate Bible based study program and use it every school day. Kay Arthur has a fantastic series, The Discover 4 Yourself Series for elementary age students. Meredith Curtis has some great Bible study guides, The God’s Girls Series and The Homeschooling High School to the Glory of God Series. This year I’m taking my 7th grader through The Family Discipleship Manual by Susan Gaddis, and my high schoolers have started Meredith Curtis’ two year Old Testament Survey Class. There are so many out there, just look around your local Christian book store and dive right in.
I hope this series has pointed you in the right direction. Anything worthwhile takes work. You, God, your husband, and your children are all worth the work you will be putting into maintaining relationships!
