The Benefits of Homeschooling go far Beyond Academics

Throughout the time that we homeschooled our daughter Katie all the way from first to twelfth grade, I was thankful for the privilege of homeschooling--giving thanks for that was a regular and conscious part of my prayers. Some of the time I was of the opinion that every Christian, given any opportunity to do so, should homeschool; some of the time I was just glad that my life circumstances allowed me to do so and I didn't care so much about where others stood on it. But until recently I have never been so absolutely certain that no matter whether I did a really great job or a quite mediocre job, it still was the best thing for Katie and perhaps for any child.
It wasn't the content of the academics that retrospectively became the most significant part of the advantage that homeschooling provided; it was the character, the values, the family strength, the communication, the intimate knowledge we have of one another that ended up being even more the reason I am so glad we kept her at home.
The schooling itself was not lacking, either. There were years and months and seasons and moments that wavered between being excellent and even dismal; some segments of time I really couldn't say that it would have stood up as a quality education. Still, I think that by the grace of God, and by the time advantages she had with homeschooling, she was able to absorb an incredible amount of learning over that time.
Katie preferred to do her homeschooling as slowly as possible over the day. Sometimes she was so still I wondered whether she was accomplishing anything. But she was reading for hours, writing, processing information, and the end result has been that she has a very thorough understanding of those things she studied. In her first term college classes she is having much success, and in Biology the other students are asking her for help and for answers because they realize she understands the material while many of them do not.
Another benefit has been the social aspect. I know that comment might give many readers pause. During her school years, she was not really a very social creature, in that she wasn't often getting together with friends or going for outings or to parties. Still, now that she is 19 and out of the high school ministry in our church, she's among the adult women in Bible study, choir and church and is connecting with them in a way she never was able with her peers. She relates to adults, and I think that is to her credit and in large part due to her homeschooling and the relative isolation she experienced. She was raised not to be a teen, not to think that the world revolved around her, but to be an adult woman, whose life revolves around Christ and reaches out to others.

My Son's Homeschooling Binder

For the last number of years I have tried to arrange a year's worth of homeschooling in a binder for each of my two kids (now just my son, 8, is still homeschooling since my daughter graduated this year). I put in enough dividers for all of the weeks of the year--each with the number of that week on its tab; behind each divider I have a master sheet for that week. The sheet has the number of the week and all of the assignments, books to check out, and other resources that I intend to use for that week--actually, way more than enough this year for the week so I have more from which to choose. I put all the worksheets for that week in that section.
The assignments are sorted by subject, and each week has its unique set of different themes of study. So if I have worksheets about birds, and art assignments, and books about birds, they all will be listed and/or contained in that section. The library books listed have a noticeable mark by them so I can notice to reserve them in advance. The resources, such as certain anthologies, I have coded so I don't have to type each name out over and over again. I've made a list of the codes for the front of the binder in case I forget what one is.
Until this year, I've tried sorting all these assignments by day, but it got way too cumbersome. This year I left it at sorting by week, and I found it delightfully easier.
I am very thankful for the computer, since I have arranged and rearranged the assignments and the themes to my liking and would have gone mad having to re-write them over and over.
So that is how I prepare for a year of homeschooling. I am almost done, to some satisfaction. If what I've arranged so far is all I'll be able to do, I think we will have done enough; still an overabundance provides for varying circumstances, and for one thing working out better than another. We definitely have a lot of materials on hand and will use up workbooks left over from my daughter 10 years back; I didn't go to any homeschool curriculum fairs this year and it's a good thing. I hope you find my description of my binders helpful if you are homeschooling pretty well from scratch, as I do.

My Favorite Resources for Homeschooling Young Children

We homeschooled Katie from grades 1-12 at very little cost, and with quite a few materials. Some stood out. You'll find that we didn't choose to use a one-brand approach, but gathered many things here and there. Now I get to go through them again with Tim. Here are those that stood out that I have discovered and remembered to the point that I could present them to you:

Bible Verse Memorization:
Wee Sing Bible Songs
Donut Man videos and tapes
Hide 'em in Your Heart tapes
Awana program (available through many churches)
Index cards with short Bible verses handwritten on them; used for writing assignments

Children's Bible Resources:
The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes (older version)
Book of Bible Travels for Kids
Children's Atlas of the Bible
What About Heaven? by Bostrom/Kucharik
Children's Guide to the Bible
You Can Change the World
Who's Who in the Bible
What the Bible is all About for Young Explorers
Remembering God's Awesome Acts

Bible-related stories
(I don't generally like reading non-Scripture Bible stories that have been re-written, or showing Bible stories on video, since all Scripture is God-breathed, and writers' paraphrases seem to usually mess it up.)
Just the Way You Are, by Max Lucado
Mary, Did You Know? by Mark Lowry
You are Special, by Max Lucado
All You Ever Need, by Max Lucado

Bible Videos I found acceptable and worthwhile:
The Miracle Maker
The Jesus film for Children

Discipleship:
Doorposts books by Pam Forster;
especially Plants Grown Up (for boys)
and Polished Cornerstones (for girls)

Discipline:
For Instruction in Righteousness, a Doorposts book

Spelling:
Spelling Power
ACSI Spelling books
Scrabble, Boggle, Word Yahtzee

Reading (see list of "Authors Not to Miss" below):
Billy & Blaze books, by Anderson
Readers Digest Treasury for Young Readers (old)
Book of Virtues (adult version)--only certain stories and poems (some are too heavy for children)
Children's Book of Virtues
Henry Reed, Inc.
Morris & Boris books by Bernard Wiseman
James Herriott's Treasury for Children
Mr. Revere and I

Poetry
Poem Stew, by Wm. Cole

Authors not to miss (This is a list I put together a long time ago. Many names I recognize now, but some I do not. I know by and large it's a great list! And the books represented by these authors' names make for an incredibly longer list!) Take this list with you to the library when looking for children's books; then when they're sorted by author you just go through in alphabetical order and pick them out:
Bonny Becker
William Bennett
V. Gilbert Beers
Carol Ryrie Brink
Margaret Wise Brown
Clyde Robert Bulla
Frances Hodgeson Burnett
Virginia Lee Burton
Butterworth
Lynn Cheney
Beverly Cleary
Alice Dalgliesh
James Daugherty
Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire
Tomie dePaola
Daniel Defoe
Mary Mapes Dodge
Ed Emberley
Eleanor Estes
Marie Hall Ets
Rachel Field
Marjorie Flack
Esther Forbes
Don Freeman
Jean Fritz
Robert Frost
Kate Greenaway
Kenneth Grahame
Donald Hall
Paul and Danielle Harris
Joel Chandler Harris
Marguerite Henry
G.A. Henty
James Herriott
Holling C. Holling
Keats
Kellogg
Rudyard Kipling
Ruth Krauss
Dorothy P. Lathrop
Robert Lawson
Munroe Leaf
Edward Lear
Lois Lenski
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Max Lucado
Edward Marshall
Jean Marzollo
Robert McCloskey
Patricia McLachlan
Cornelia Meigs
A. A. Milne
Alfred Noyes
Francis Parkman
Emmy Payne
Beatrix Potter
Marjorie Priceman
Alice and Martin Provensen
Carol Purdy
Howard Pyle
Carl Sandburg
Sir Walter Scott
Anna Sewell
Esphyr Slobodkina
Donald J. Sobol
Spier
Johanna Spyri
Robert Louis Stevenson
Kenneth Taylor
Joan Gale Thomas
Walter Wick
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Johann Wyss
Ravi Zacharias

Books on Tape:
Treasure Island
Rascal
Misty of Chincoteague
Ben and Me
Cheaper by the Dozen (though there is a small amount of swearing)

Biographies: (I found that missions organizations had a selection of missions biographies that weren't readily available elsewhere. I know there are many more I could list here...their names just don't come to mind. Be careful though that the organization keeps a right view of theology; read their statement of faith. Unfortunately, many missions biographies go off the deep end theologically, and you need to be discerning.)
Granny Han's Breakfast, by Sheila Groves, from OMF
Ian and the Gigantic Leafy Obstacle, by Sheila Miller, from OMF
Any books by Janet & Geoff Benge (these are really five-star!)
Signature Books (old; secular but they include the families' faith)
The Bookshelf for Boys & Girls: 9: Great Events and Famous People (old; secular)
Chariots of Fire, video about Erik Liddell winning a gold medal even while honoring God about running on Sunday (he later became a missionary to China)
A Candle in the Dark, video about William Carey in India
Men of Science, Men of God

Social Studies:
Weekly papers from God's World Publications (like a Christian version of Weekly Reader)
You Can Change the World
Look and Learn, Childcraft #12

History:
The Librarian Who Measured the World (Eratosthenes)
The Light and the Glory for Children
From Sea to Shining Sea for Children
Girls: American Girl books (though women's lib is inconspicuously presented)
Girls: Little House books; Prairie Primer homeschool curriculum for use with them
Boys: Farmer Boy, from Little House books
Oregon Trail software program
Junior Classics Harvest of Holidays (old)
My Bookhouse Books (old)
Stories of the Pilgrims
Phoebe the Spy (aka Phoebe and the General) by Judith Griffin
Stories About America to Read Aloud (old)
You Wouldn't Want to be (an Arctic Explorer; in Alexander the Great's Army; an Egyptian Slave, etc.) (secular)

Geography:
Atlas, globe, large maps of the United States and the World
Missions biographies
National Geographic World Magazine (though secular)
Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego? computer game

Math:
Miquon Math workbooks (also need their Lab Sheet Annotations)
Mathmania Puzzle Books
Push button memorization tools for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
Polyhedra Dice Games for Grades K-6
Principles from Patterns, by David Quine
From Here to There with Cuisenaire Rods: Area, Perimeter and Volume
Tangrams, Cuisenaire Rods, Pattern Blocks, Dominoes, Yahtzee
Mathemagic (Childcraft, #13)

Logic, Creative Thinking, Problem Solving:
Puzzlemania Books
Set, Monopoly, Clue, Scrabble, I Doubt It, Fish, Jenga, Mancala, Sorry, Stack Tack Toe; Cranium brand games (most of them)
Oregon Trail software
The Puzzle Book (Childcraft Annual)

Science
It Couldn't Just Happen (about evolution vs. creation)
My Father's World set of books by Joanne DeJonge
1st Aid/CPR class
Wildlife shows on TV
The Berenstain Bears' Science and Nature Super Treasury (secular)
Field Trip: Marine Science Afloat (in Puget Sound, off of Seattle waterfront; secular). Great!
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
Pacific Science Center
Into the Forest Game (about the food chain)
Kids' Science Book (secular)
175 Science Experiments to Amuse and Amaze Your Friends (old, secular) by Walpole, published by Random House
Science Daybook, by Great Source Education Group, div. of Houghton Mifflin (secular)
Men of Science, Men of God (Christian)
Science and the Bible
How Things Work (Childcraft, #7)

P.E.
Swim lessons (one-on-one rather than class setting)
Awana Games
Walking at Centennial Trail and Everett Marina

Field Trips:
MissionsFest conferences, Vancouver BC
Library
Picnics
Retirement homes, to sing, to visit
Planetarium at OMSI or Pacific Science Center
National parks
Ice skating
Roller skating
Christmas train
Marine Science Afloat
Ferry rides
Snoqualmie Falls
Spokane
Tulip fields
Family Camp
Camping
Movies
Train trip
The Farm, pumpkin time
Ballard Locks

Coloring and Drawing
Dover coloring books--realistic and educational drawings
Draw Write Now (Never had these, but I've looked at them. My son, to my chagrin, doesn't want them. They look absolutely charming!)

Spanish
Jump-Start Spanish software
The Complete Book of Spanish, a secular book of worksheets, probably from Costco

Sign Language
Idiot's Guide to Learning Sign Language
Perigee Visual Dictionary of Signing

Some Publishers I Like:
Doorposts
ACSI (for spelling at least)
School Zone (secular)
Christian Liberty
Instructional Fair (secular but they have a Christian portion)
Step-Up Books (now they have a different name)
WallBuilder
Draw Write Now
Klutz Books, mostly just for fun
American Girl, mostly just for fun

Reading Content makes a Huge Difference!

When we first started homeschooling Katie, I wasn't too particular about the books she read. She was a good reader, and that made homeschooling easy--a tremendous advantage. You could just set something in front of her, and she would do it.
As time went on with her, I realized the benefit of maximizing her reading time. I realized that her favorite books had an element of adventure in them. We started reading some biographies, and I soon realized how much more she was learning this way, how many subjects are covered to one extent or another through these books, and how adventurous and interesting their lives are--fact is stranger than fiction, and real characters are far deeper and more interesting than fake ones. I found that a missions biography covers faith, history, reading, and geography, and sometimes other subjects such as science. Not that you wouldn't have to cover these subjects in another format, but it's a great expansion on it. And perhaps using enough of them, you won't need to use so many of the textbooks that bored you so much during your school years. In addition, Christian biographies show the wondrous works of God; sometimes they show how His work through a believer affects the lives of a whole population.
This last year, since Tim in second grade needs maximum interest to keep him inclined to stay with a story to the end, I chose to cover first the scientific discoveries that determined that the earth was not at the center of the universe, and also how the earth was first measured. Then we read about explorers. I used short stories, mostly from old books, and they were fascinating for me as well as for him. He loved it! Many of the explorers were motivated in some way by faith. They sought to find a way around the world or through a continent, to conquer new lands for their country, and sometimes to spread the gospel in other areas of the world.
When Katie was in about 5th grade, she and I ran a missions reading program at our previous church to encourage others to read these same types of books. We found that there were many great biographies that were only available through missions organizations, so we ordered them and found that they were some of our favorite finds.
In the process, I created a couple of response forms that the participants had to complete after they read a book. The forms asked them some of the same questions they would have to answer in a book report. I asked the readers what they would like to imitate in the life of the subject of the book; also what they would not like to imitate; what they most admired...various questions that made clear whether they truly read the book. I think I only received one form that made me convinced that the girl had not in fact read the book.
One day it struck me that I could use these forms in homeschooling. I made many response forms for the various kinds of books that she'd encounter (along with various others for research projects of various kinds). The response forms were a good way of doing a quick book report or study without having to wrestle with all the report-writing that I remember taking so much time and energy in my school career...she could spend more time reading, researching, learning. She read biographies about great scientists, explorers, presidents, composers and inventors.
If I wanted her to read about a less-savory character in history, I gave her a shorter article rather than a whole book. That way she wouldn't delve into that character and wouldn't read the works of a writer that wrote it sympathizing with an ungodly point of view.
All throughout her twelve years, the most colorful and engaging portion of Katie's schooling had to do with learning about individuals throughout history. Now, I believe that overall, she has a far more comprehensive and vivid awareness of great movers in history than if we'd stuck to textbooks only. I intend to use this method again in teaching my son. The forms I made, however, are more useful for over fifth grade; still, until then, I still intend to teach him using lots and lots of biographies.
Take a look at your library's biographies for children, and then compare with similar-level fictional writings side by side. I think you'll see a huge difference and find the biographies far preferable.

Reasons we homeschooled; retrospective gladness

This year we have a 12th grade daughter, Katie, graduating who has homeschooled ever since first grade. Before that she went to a Christian kindergarten, a Christian preschool, and before that a secular preschool. We also homeschool a 2nd grade son, Tim, who has never been in a preschool or kindergarten or school environment other than Sunday school and Awana. I thought I'd blog here the reasons that started us homeschooling, and some of the reasons I'm glad we did so.
We had Katie in Christian kindergarten, expecting to put her way all the way through Christian school if we could do so. I was mildly exploring the idea of homeschooling, but not very seriously at the beginning. We had a couple of family friends who were just starting to homeschool when Katie was approaching first grade.
Katie hadn't been especially happy in kindergarten, in a class of only ten children. Her teacher was sometimes temperamental, I noticed when I helped in her class. She would be readily irritated at certain students, and inconsistent in her discipline methods. She would give a child a mark for each perceived wrongdoing, and these marks would accumulate the whole year through. Whoever had the least marks at the end of the year got first choice of a set of creations the children had made together, and on down to the last choice going to the one who got the most marks. It seemed unforgiving, inappropriate, discouraging, and at least somewhat unfair.
In addition I found her teacher's choice of reading books to be somewhat poor. There were many books I remembered from childhood that I wanted to share with Katie, classic books that stood the test of time, with more realistic, less silly scenarios and a calmer, more earnest attitude than those the teacher read.
While Katie was in kindergarten, she was bored. She had been reading since she was three and the summer before kindergarten, she had earned the mayor's award for reading 100 books. Most of the other children in her class were still learning the alphabet at the start of the year and when I helped in the classroom at the end, I was surprised to find that they were still having trouble with it. The teacher actually asked her to read the story to the class sometimes when her own throat was sore. We didn't feel that Katie was learning much in the classroom environment, and that was another aspect through which we could accommodate her needs by homeschooling.
Katie found a half school day a long time to be away from home, and only dreaded the full days that she knew were to start in first grade. I loved the idea of having her home and spending more time with her. At the time, also, we had the opportunity to travel with my husband within the state for his work. This was an exciting concept to him. We definitely wanted to give her a Christian education, and homeschooling offered that possibility and the flexibility to choose the curriculum, the place, the time, and every aspect for optimum potential learning and family benefit.
Private education was also an expensive concept for us; we were barely making ends meet most of the time and it was improbable that we could keep her in a private school consistently, considering our financial condition. So that was another consideration in favor of homeschooling, which could be done well at a cost of only a few hundred dollars per year.
I have never been overly confident of my own capabilities, especially being a rather disorganized and random person, also with a tendency not to finish projects that I start. But in those days when I was starting homeschooling, my confidence was definitely not in myself but in the exciting confidence I was gaining in following God's lead. Katie and I had been in Bible Study Fellowship from the time I was a new Christian about 4 years previous to this time; through this and through life circumstances, I was learning a great many things about faith in God and actually seeing these concepts work out in my life. The changes were vast from the bewilderment I had before being a Christian. I never would have dared homeschool before that, and I'm pretty sure that it's a good thing.
I was amazed when I first attended a curriculum fair at the quality and variety of curriculum possibilities that were available. It was an absolute banquet of learning levels, learning styles, teaching methods, resources, advice...it was fantastic. It is a shame that these curriculum fairs aren't visited by those who never would choose to homeschool--there are so many educational and fun things that any child would love to try, and that any parent would love for a child to have but would probably never discover apart from these fairs.
The benefits to homeschooling are phenomenal. You can put God first throughout the day and show how all subjects point to His truth and His work in humanity. Family relationships are close and trust in one another is strengthened. You know almost everything that is being taught to your students. You know what discipline methods are being used. You know their weak points, what subjects and concepts they are grasping and which escape them. You can cater to their strengths and work on their weaknesses. You hopefully care about your students more than any unrelated teacher is ever likely to. You can tailor your students' curriculum to their learning style, level, taste, interests. You can conform to those aspects of classroom education that you like, and avoid those you don't--rising early or late, sitting at a table or desk or on a couch, using different days of the week as suit your family, traveling or having field trips according to your family's interests and opportunities, schooling according to the traditional school year or going through the year with various small breaks throughout.
It's amazing the timing that God gave to present our family with the possibility of homeschooling, and that in spite of the reasons for which we started, the reasons I've been glad we did are now much different. I was not concerned in those days about peer pressure and influence, but now it's easily the top reason I'm aware of in these days to be thankful we were directed toward homeschooling. The focus of Katie's life is spared from being tempted to appeal so much to fellow students' approval at the cost of following God's lead. She also gets most of her input for her life choices and attitudes from family and from faith rather than from peers who have little if any more wisdom than she has. These considerations make a more significant impact for the present than any difference in the quality of learning that she had from that of her peers. At twelfth grade, students are beginning to make decisions and forging habits that may affect them for life. Some of these decisions have to do with what to do after graduating, such as whether to attend college, what college to attend, what major to choose, how to pay for it, what job to seek, whether to attend church and where, and how much to follow the example and advice of their parents. Some decisions and habits they are establishing are lifestyle-oriented, such as developing a quiet time in the daily routine, whether to work on Sunday, whether to date, how focused they are on driving safety, whether to get a My Space blog, whether to see a certain quality of movie, what kind of music to choose, with what friends they spend time...these choices are innumerable and, to one extent or another, each may have great impact for the present and even in the distant future. Following peer influence in these items could turn out well, but it might just as well be unfortunate or disastrous. For just the matter of peer pressure versus the promotion of family relationships, if it were only that, I am extremely thankful for the privilege of homeschooling.