The following is a short excerpt from the first chapter of my book Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Education for Preschool to 5^th Grade.

        I say common sense because I think that real education has often been obscured by educationalese jargon and artificial techniques. These may be necessary for a public school classroom in a pluralistic, bureaucratic society, but for educating my own children in my own home, I have found the need to go back and strip away my preconceptions about what education really is! What is effective rather than merely efficient? What are the most natural, uncomplicated, powerful methods of transferring information and inspiration to a young child? It’s really common sense, if we can dig away the layers and get back to the core. Education does not need to be difficult. It does not need to be left to the “experts.” God has supplied you with all the IQ and love you need to be your child’s prime teacher. You just need to tap into it and nurture it! If you are a brand new or prospective home school mom, please don’t stress out about teaching kindergarten. The only possible way you could mess up is to put so much pressure on your child that he starts to dislike learning. If you relax and enjoy your child, and work at things bit by bit, you’ll both learn together just fine. Trust me!

        What about excellence? This means giving our children the very best. Not the most expensive, not the fanciest, not chasing the 99th percentile on standardized tests. Just the BEST. This means an investment of our time and energy, and yes, some of our hard-earned money. This is the balance to my “relax” advice in the previous paragraph. Though we shouldn’t stress out, we shouldn’t veg out or tune out either. We can’t have a laissez-faire (does that sound like lazy?) attitude toward our children’s education, especially as they move into the upper elementary grades. Mediocrity is no testimony to God’s working in us. We are to “study to show ourselves approved” so that we can be salt and light for the generations who need the grace of God. Though I believe home schooling to be the most promising approach to educating children, I have sadly seen many parents who just let their children float aimlessly, and then wonder why home schooling has gotten a bad rap from their family and friends. Education must be intentional and focused. We must pursue excellence.

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Here is another excerpt from Common Sense Excellence about working directly with your child using a technique I call tandem writing.

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        Do you have a really reluctant writer? Maybe this is a child who claims he can’t think of anything “creative” to write, even when you give him ideas. He’s not into silly stories, but maybehe has been reading books about snakes. So you suggest, ever so casually, “Can you tell me a few things about the king cobra so I can write them down?” Have your pencil and paper ready so you can slide into this naturally, without raising too much suspicion. If your child is willing to do this, ask him for three or four things that you can write down for him. “OK, I’m ready for the first thing.” Then write just what he tells you -- some fact or opinion. Rephrase something for him if necessary, and check if that is what he meant. Then, “How about a second thing?” Don’t worry if there is a smooth transition from the last item to this. Now is not the time for major editing! You might, however, suggest a specific thing based on the first, such as, “What does the king cobra eat?” You can keep this up as long as your child is interested. Then put it away until tomorrow. When you come back to it, read it together. Help your child choose a logical order for the items and number them on the paper. Then he can type it into a word processing program, ready for the next step in the writing process: editing and proofreading! You can use this phase of tandem writing as often as necessary until your child has enough confidence in his own “power over words” that he can write by himself.

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        Common Sense Excellence is a 243 page comprehensive guide to teaching all of the school subjects from a Christian perspective. Since writing is one theme of this Hope Chest issue, I will mention that the section on writing includes teaching tips for Handwriting, Spelling and Vocabulary, Grammar, Written Composition, and Making Books. For more information on Common Sense Excellence, please visit www.TheHopeChest.net/resources.html.