Is Homeschooling Radical?

Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 12:40 pm

Are we homeschoolers radical in our approach to our children's education? No. No. No.

How long has homeschooling been around?

Home education has been the primary means of learning for the majority of recorded history. Even before history was written down, we are certain that children learned mostly through the teaching in their own families.

Through participation in life's daily activities, children acquired knowledge of everything from farming, building, caring for livestock, tool making, sewing, making soap, and everything else they needed to be able to do. Lessons necessary to teach them to read, write, and cipher enough to be responsible citizens and to handle their homes and businesses took a small fraction of the time that they take today, and the lessons stopped when the season called for their help in the field or elsewhere. The lessons were provided by parents, grandparents, siblings, or perhaps a hired teacher paid for by the community's families to teach the basics. There were no laws that compelled attendance. The highly educated founders of our country were for the most part educated through their own parents or tutors. There was nothing like our modern institutionalized schools back then, yet they were far better educated.

In contrast, institutionalized schools are a recent invention. It seems to be taken for granted today that these schools have been around for ages and are the best means of education. That is just not so. The last compulsory education laws were not passed in the United States until 1918. The current homeschooling movement is considered new only because it has occurred after the compulsory attendance laws have taken root and been accepted.

The modern homeschooling movement began building in the 1960's One of its early advocates was John Holt who in 1977 began publishing Growing Without Schooling, a magazine advocating no school for children. He was a former teacher who gave up on school reform. His magazine offered a look at natural curiosity as a basis of learning, and gave a fresh view of education that is often lost in the drudgery and boredom of the usual traditional school. Also, in the 70's and 80's Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore began publishing books that focused on the harm that can be caused by pushing children too early into school.

As a young mother in the 80's, I subscribed to Growing Without Schooling to read about this curious "new homeschooling". I was amazed as I read story after story of children thriving by spending time with their parents learning throughout the day, more from activity, reading aloud and conversation than from textbooks. Then in 1985 I found a book that really gave me a heart for homeschooling. The book was Home Grown Kids: A Practical Handbook for Teaching Your Children at Home by Dorothy and Raymond Moore (more on that in another post).

So, the history of Homeschooling takes us back through the ages to see that education through families and small communities works. Homeschooling (as it is termed today) or home education is actually a return to family-based education which has been the norm throughout history.

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Home Grown Kids

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 at 5:54 pm

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My friend Debbie Bailey gave me a book to read about homeschooling. The book was Homegrown Kids: A Practical Handbook for Teaching Your Children at Home by Dorothy and Raymond Moore. I was interested in homeschooling but I knew nothing about it. Debbie had given me a book that was to change my life!

As I sat down to begin reading this book, Lane was an active 4 year old and Nathan, toddling around in diapers, was only 2. I opened the book and read,

"To mothers and fathers who are more concerned about principle than social pressures, who cherish their children more than their own freedoms, who are willing to study to provide them sound values, academic excellence, and a sense of self-worth."

I was hooked from there on. I found time to read chapters as I watched my little boys play outside, or while they were sleeping or even as they built a camp with the sofa cushions. My heart was engaged. God was drawing me to an untraveled path that would give Tim and me the opportunity to be with our children, to teach them the Truth, to create a family togetherness that would bless us for years to come.

The Moores showed me (through this book) how I could teach my children using everyday experiences and resources that were available in my home, how I could really enjoy my children, how I could give them a first class, wholesome education that encourages character development and promotes creativity. Today, there are so many books, articles, and websites that can give you this precious information that I first read in this book, but at that time, there was little available. Our culture with its accepted belief that you need a school to teach your children was so prevalent that mothers like me felt uneasy just considering homeschooling.

When it comes to faith or when it comes to my children, God grants me His special strength. I may give up if I am pursuing something for myself, but if it is something for the Lord or for my children, perseverance is my friend through God's grace. That is only the reason we have been able to homeschool our children all these years (from 1985 until today).