With the school year coming quickly toward us I needed to review why I'm doing what I'm doing. I am going through boxes in the garage trying to clean things out (again) and I came across a box full of "early years" homeschooling. Our values really haven't changed after over 25 years of teaching our children at home!
If you question your ability to teach your children there is some really good reads out there. One of my favorites is a man who lost his wife in the middle of their homeschooling. The children have used their mother's work and taught themselves under dad's supervision. His understanding of why we don't want our children in the public educational system is one of the mose concise I've read.
Here's an excerpt:
We Need Higher Hopes
Ten years ago Laurelee and I decided to educate our children in a home school rather than a public school or a private school. The burden of this decision fell most heavily upon Laurelee who took responsibility for the substantial work that we expected this home school to require. Of special concern to us were the following facts: 1. The social and religious environment in most schools in America has deteriorated to a level of evil such that it is a threat to the spiritual, moral, and mental health of each child who is forced to participate in it. 2. The level of political and secular humanist indoctrination in American public schools has risen so high that it is very difficult for any child attending public school to emerge with an understanding of historical and religious truth. 3. Irrationalism has become the norm throughout American schools. It is therefore very difficult for children who attend those schools to learn how to think rather than to simply believe whatever propaganda is being disseminated at the moment. 4. The academic quality of most schools has deteriorated to the point that American students are literally the world's largest group of dunces. In test after test of academic abilities, American students score last in comparison with students from the other twenty or so advanced countries.
It is, of course, possible for a child to emerge from an American public school with good academic training and a good spiritual and moral outlook. With increasingly rare exceptions, however, students who achieve this do so in spite of the school rather than because of the school. The over all performance of American children who attend public schools is very poor.
Even when American public schools of the past are used as a standard, current schools are an embarrassment. Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores have deteriorated so much during recent decades that the tests themselves are now on the verge of being changed. The American educational establishment is determined to change these tests, so that continued comparisons with past performance will not be possible.
Even the SAT tests themselves are being used as tools for social engineering. "Politically Correct" questions are being asked about "socially responsible" reading passages. In some cases the student must give an answer that he knows to be false or misguided in order to please the social engineers who designed the tests.
As a result of these facts, hundreds of thousands of American families have chosen to educate their children at home. Home schooling is rapidly becoming a major force in American society and has become a significant embarrassment to the public school establishment.
Moreover, families who have chosen this path are clearly achieving some of their objectives. In particular, they are succeeding in partially isolating their children from the social and religious decay that is pervasive in American public schools. They are also strengthening their families by keeping children and parents together rather than allowing them to be physically and mentally separated by the State.
See:It is, of course, possible for a child to emerge from an American public school with good academic training and a good spiritual and moral outlook. With increasingly rare exceptions, however, students who achieve this do so in spite of the school rather than because of the school. The over all performance of American children who attend public schools is very poor.
Even when American public schools of the past are used as a standard, current schools are an embarrassment. Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores have deteriorated so much during recent decades that the tests themselves are now on the verge of being changed. The American educational establishment is determined to change these tests, so that continued comparisons with past performance will not be possible.
Even the SAT tests themselves are being used as tools for social engineering. "Politically Correct" questions are being asked about "socially responsible" reading passages. In some cases the student must give an answer that he knows to be false or misguided in order to please the social engineers who designed the tests.
As a result of these facts, hundreds of thousands of American families have chosen to educate their children at home. Home schooling is rapidly becoming a major force in American society and has become a significant embarrassment to the public school establishment.
Moreover, families who have chosen this path are clearly achieving some of their objectives. In particular, they are succeeding in partially isolating their children from the social and religious decay that is pervasive in American public schools. They are also strengthening their families by keeping children and parents together rather than allowing them to be physically and mentally separated by the State.
http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/view/rc/s31p54.htm
I found the lovely thoughts below in a homeschool freebie. I printed them and keep with my daily schedule. They keep me grounded on what I really want for my children. I would add above each one that my first desire is that my child truly knows Christ Jesusas their Saviour, and loves and serves Him. Nothing else matters if that's not taken care of. But with that said, here they are.
What a Little Girl Should Be Taught
• To cook plain wholesome food
• To make her own clothes
• To be neat and orderly
• To care for her own room
• To learn well the art of housekeeping
• To care for her person
• To exercise a quiet reserve in the presence of boys and men
• That all cheap talk is unbecoming
• That loose jokes about “beaux” and “lovers” are improper
• That modesty is a priceless treasure, and will prove her surest
protector
• That her brothers are better escorts than most other young men
• That her mother is her best companion and counselor
• That her dress should be plain and not the chief subject of her
thoughts or conversation
• That she should wear only such styles of clothing as will cover
her person modestly
• That it is better to be useful than ornamental
• That there will be time enough to learn fancy work after she has
learned to darn stockings
• That the old rule, “A place for everything and everything in its
place,” is a good one
• That she should dress for health and comfort as well as for appearance
Home and Health © 1907, Pacific Press Publishing
What a Little Boy Should Be Taught
• To be strong and brave—a little man
• To shun evil companions
• To respect gray hairs
• To be gentle
• To be courteous
• To be prompt
• To be industrious
• To be truthful
• To be honest
• To prefer the companionship of his sisters over other girls
• To honor his father and mother
• To be temperate
• To discard profanity
• To be thoughtful and attentive
• To keep himself pure
• To be his sister’s protector
• To refuse to listen to vulgar jokes or stories
• To use common tools skillfully
• To care for his own room
• To do all kinds of housework
• To earn money and to take care of it
• To be neat and orderly in his habits and appearance
• To be self-reliant
• To be his father’s partner
Home and Health © 1907, Pacific Press PublishingHttp://homeschoolfreebies.s3.amazonaws.com/EHTPreview.pdf
