Homeschooling Jr. High

Vintage Levi (11, or 12 here) Playing Bass for Tried and True

When Steve and I were first married he was working as a youth pastor in Santa Barbara. At that time we came to the conclusion that working with Jr. High kids is a controlled riot. I love this age, the energy, the silliness, and the endless questioning. It’s a transitional period of life, that gap between childhood and teen. Some children breeze through adolescence, and for others it’s a difficult period of self doubt. Academically Jr. High presents a unique opportunity for you and your student.

In elementary school we are giving our children the basic building blocks of education; reading, writing, and arithmetic. We also expose them to basic science concepts and vocabulary, and begin to build an understanding of the flow of history. If we make this framework strong and solid our children have a good base upon which to build advanced knowledge and wisdom.

In high school our children’s studies become more focused and intense. If they have that solid foundation they will be able to move, rather painlessly, into these more focused studies. Students at this age are expected to be able to work independently through material, to read, absorb, and analyze new information. By high school we should be past the ‘hand-feeding’ stage where a teacher is needed at every step. New concepts may well need explanations, but students have come to ‘own’ their education.

So, what about Jr. High? Jr. High is a great opportunity to evaluate our child’s progress up to this point and to take 7th and 8th grade to fill in any gaps and to drill those skills that are going to be necessary in High School. Probably most of you know your child’s weak areas, but here are some thoughts on where you child should be.

Trudenwilk, the early years.

1. Reading. By Jr. High your child should be reading fluently and comprehending most of what they read. In elementary school it’s important to give your child adequate practice at ‘easy’ reading so that they develop fluency, but in Jr. High it’s time to challenge them. Think of the reading they will be doing in high school…Shakespeare, Steinbeck, and Fitzgerald…you don’t want them to have to jump from easy reading straight into these authors. In Jr. High they should be easing their way into the classics, reading challenging works that cause them to think critically and learn new vocabulary. I don’t mean you should overwhelm them, but a little struggle now will pay off later. If your child is still having trouble with the basics of reading, it’s time to have them assessed and maybe do an intensive phonics review.

2. Spelling. By Jr. High your child should be spelling most words correctly, if they are not it is time for some review. Many times I find that students this age, who are consistently making spelling errors, are just being lazy. You will have to determine if this is the case with your child. If they are just being lazy you need to crack down. My suggestion would be if a paper or paragraph they have written for you has multiple spelling errors (and you know

We should be less concerned with the answers they know, and more concerned about the questions they ask.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Phillipians 4:8

My greatest fear when we began this homeschooling journey was not that the boys wouldn’t get into college, or even that I would miss some crucial bit of information, (that was inevitable); it was that when they finished high school, they would breathe a sigh of relief and say, “I’m done.”

Over the years I’d met many frustrated and discontented 20 somethings who felt that completing high school meant they knew all they needed to know. Post high school, many of these kids never read another book, and what passed as intellectual stimulation came in the form of reality TV and video games. In talking with these young adults, it became evident that their world was very small and self centered. Frequently they were struggling with issues of identity and worth, but didn’t know why.  The lessons they had internalized were that school is a waste, reading is a chore,  teachers are uncaring, and history is irrelevant…the school system had failed them and it was not just their education that suffered.

When our minds and spirits are starved of good healthy ‘food’ we don’t function as we were meant to, our growth is stunted and every area of our life suffers. This is not what any of us want, we want our children to live the full life that God created them for. We want them to enjoy life, to excel in what they do, to find satisfaction in relationships, and to contribute to their communities. When we make homeschooling and parenting decisions we need to keep these goals in mind. Proficiency at math and reading are a start, but we also want children who are prepared to take on all the challenges of the next stage of life.

What do you want for your children? How can you help them get there? Philippians 4:8 gives us a beginning point. This verse points out that whatever is true, right, beautiful is about God, and it would benefit us to dwell on these things. As I consider this verse I am struck by how inclusive it is…all that is beautiful is worth studying, not just that which makes a profit. All that is just, true and right should be our focus…not only that which is expedient or has an immediate application.  By providing a ‘diet’ for their minds and spirits of the beautiful, the just, the excellent, we give our children a strong foundation, a good beginning…and instill the desire to continue learning and experiencing all that God has for them.

Caleb during his semester abroad studying literature in the UK

For me, I wanted my children to love art, and to play music. I wanted them to be in awe of the beauty in nature. I wanted them to be curious about past civilizations and engaged with current events. I wanted them to experience other cultures and to appreciate that diversity. I wanted them to have an education that was rich and full, an education that encouraged curiosity and critical thinking. I was less concerned about the answers they knew and more concerned about the questions they asked.

Approaching education this way is both exciting and uncomfortable. It’s exciting because it’s alive; changing us and challenging us. It’s uncomfortable because very little of it is going to come through on some standardized test. It’s hard to measure the ‘educational’ benefits of art, or where enjoyment of a nature walk fits into a science scope and sequence. How does reading a great work of fiction that brings us to both tears and laughter, translate into a grade?

As homeschoolers we have been freed. We are not enslaved to the almighty ‘standardized test’ we do not have to view education in a dry, compartmentalized way. We can focus on the whole child: mind, body, and spirit…and feed them all. What a wonderful opportunity, be sure you don’t waste it.

Life is Hard and then….

“Life is hard, and then you die.”

Many of you will recognize the above quote as one I use frequently.  It’s really not that I’m a pessimist, it’s more that I’ve come to the conclusion that the sooner you embrace that thought, really take it to heart, the easier life is.  Life is hard…( wonderful, exciting, challenging)…but hard.  If you live for any length of time… people you know will die, jobs will be lost, illnesses will occur, hearts will be broken and dreams damaged. People are messy (both emotionally and in the kitchen).

Denying this reality, to ourselves or to our children, doesn’t create happiness and contentment.  In fact, it frequently creates the opposite.  When we teach our children to expect life to be easy they can feel extremely disappointed and put upon when it is not.  If we lead them to expect that they should always be entertained, happy, and healthy we are setting them up to become demanding little monsters (lovable monsters but…) I certainly don’t mean to imply that we should teach our children negativity, but that we should teach them that life is full of hard parts…and while we can’t control that, we can control our attitudes.

It would benefit each of us to remember that life is not meant to be a smooth road.  It is the detours and bumps that stretch and grow us up.  It is the persevering and doing what is difficult, day in and day out, that builds character.  It is modeling all of this with a cheerful heart that gives our children an example to follow.

We have all seen our children struggle with a subject and start down their own self-defeating path.  “It’s too hard.”  “Other kids don’t struggle with this.”  “I’ll do it tomorrow.”  “I’ll never understand it.”   They can get themselves so worked up that they waste an hour doing nothing but feeling sorry for themselves. In that time they could have finished the assignment four times over.  The fact that the lesson was hard, made them feel they should be allowed to just give up.  It’s at these times I would look over at  my sons and say.”Life is hard, then you die.”  They would laugh, they knew I didn’t mean all of life is hard, but that hard is part of life, and the more challenges we take on, the more we accomplish, the more we are going to bump up against hard parts.

Are Parents Really Qualified to Teach their Children?

As we start off the year I thought it worth going over some of the most recent test results on homeschooling as well as answering some of the ‘most asked’ questions. So to start us off….

Are parents really qualified to teach their children?

Yes, although I understand if you have your doubts. We have been taught to think that we need a special credential to teach our children and that if we teach something in the wrong order our children will be permanently damaged. As you will see in a minute, the research suggests that not only are parents qualified, but that they do a much better job than the majority of schools.

The reasons should be obvious…who is more concerned and tuned in to a child than his parents? Who knows his/her strengths and weaknesses better? Who is more interested in seeing that child succeed? What school can offer the individualized help that a parent can offer? Just the one on one tutoring nature of homeschooling gives it many advantages over a classroom situation.

Added to the fact that parents have far smaller ‘classes’ to teach, curriculum writers have realized that homeschoolers are a big market and have written curriculums with the parent/educator in mind. You don’t need a credential to use these materials, most come with step by step instructions. Understanding that parents will be doing the teaching, curriculum writers have taken that into account and made their products usable for families.

In addition, many homeschool parents, frustrated with what is out there in terms of curriculum, have written and marketed their own, and it is excellent. Unlike your local school, where one curriculum fits all, parents are free to choose from the hundreds of quality programs that are out there, the one that will fit their child the best.

For a multitude of reasons, homeschooling has proven itself successful…but don’t just take my word for it. Let’s look at some of the research that has been done.

Studies have been conducted by Universities, State boards of education, and various Education Research organizations. There have been studies done on both academic achievement, and the all important socialization issue.

Here are the results from the most recently published research project. The following is taken from the HSLDA website. You can go to the site to view even more details.

“Drawing from 15 independent testing services, the Progress Report 2009: Homeschool Academic Achievement and Demographics included 11,739 homeschooled students from all 50 states who took three well-known tests—California Achievement Test, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, and Stanford Achievement Test for the 2007–08 academic year. The Progress Report is the most comprehensive homeschool academic study ever completed.

The Results

Overall the study showed significant advances in homeschool academic achievement as well as revealing that issues such as student gender, parents’ education level, and family income had little bearing on the results of homeschooled students.

National Average Percentile Scores
Subtest	Homeschool	Public School
Reading	89	50
Language	84	50
Math	84	50
Science	86	50
Social Studies	84	50
Corea	88	50
Compositeb	86	50
a. Core is a combination of Reading, Language, and Math. b. Composite is a combination of all subtests that the student took on the test.

There was little difference between the results of homeschooled boys and girls on core scores.

Boys—87th percentile
Girls—88th percentile

Household income had little impact on the results of homeschooled students.

$34,999 or less—85th percentile
$35,000–$49,999—86th percentile
$50,000–$69,999—86th percentile
$70,000 or more—89th percentile

The education level of the parents made a noticeable difference, but the homeschooled children of non-college educated parents still scored in the 83rd percentile, which is well above the national average.

Neither parent has a college degree—83rd percentile
One parent has a college degree—86th percentile
Both parents have a college degree—90th percentile

Whether either parent was a certified teacher did not matter.

Certified (i.e., either parent ever certified)—87th percentile
Not certified (i.e., neither parent ever certified)—88th percentile

Parental spending on home education made little difference.

Spent $600 or more on the student—89th percentile
Spent under $600 on the student—86th percentile

The extent of government regulation on homeschoolers did not affect the results.

Low state regulation—87th percentile
Medium state regulation—88th percentile
High state regulation—87th percentile

In short, the results found in the new study are consistent with 25 years of research, which show that as a group homeschoolers consistently perform above average academically. The Progress Report also shows that, even as the numbers and diversity of homeschoolers have grown tremendously over the past 10 years, homeschoolers have actually increased the already sizeable gap in academic achievement between themselves and their public school counterparts-moving from about 30 percentile points higher in the Rudner study (1998) to 37 percentile points higher in the Progress Report (2009).

As mentioned earlier, the achievement gaps that are well-documented in public school between boys and girls, parents with lower incomes, and parents with lower levels of education are not found among homeschoolers. While it is not possible to draw a definitive conclusion, it does appear from all the existing research that homeschooling equalizes every student upwards. Homeschoolers are actually achieving every day what the public schools claim are their goals—to narrow achievement gaps and to educate each child to a high level. (Emphasis – mine)

Of course, an education movement which consistently shows that children can be educated to a standard significantly above the average public school student at a fraction of the cost—the average spent by participants in the Progress Report was about $500 per child per year as opposed to the public school average of nearly $10,000 per child per year—will inevitably draw attention from the K-12 public education industry. “

Teaching Children About God, Part 2

I started this post awhile ago to answer questions I’d received about how we taught our children about God. Some questions specifically centered on curriculum choices, others were about books and movies we allowed, others were more specific to their child’s current struggles and situation. All, however, shared the common concern of how to raise wise and Godly children in a culture so often opposed to our beliefs. There is no magic formula (unfortunately) and every child is created by God unique with their own story. However, I strongly believe there are some things we can do to give our kids a firm foundation. Since this is part 2 of my thoughts you may want to go back and take a look at Part 1,.

So, Question Number One: Did we use Christian textbooks/curriculum in our homeschool?

We used both Christian and secular books. The reasoning for this is simple. All truth is God’s truth.

Levi being baptized by his Dad.

Because facts are printed in a Christian book as opposed to a secular book does not make them more or less true, or more or less Godly. Whether we are studying addition, science, or history when we discover truths about the world we live in we are finding out about our Creator. In that sense, all of our education is a Christian endeavor, even an act of worship. God has placed within us a desire to learn, to grow, to create. Education should give us the tools we need to do those things.

I tried to find the best curriculum I could in each subject. Sometimes they were from Christian publishers, sometimes they weren’t. (Sometimes I made up my own.) My concern was that each would lead my student to a greater understanding of the topic, and hence a greater understanding of God and the world and people he created. Studying science is studying God and his creation…studying history is studying His story….studying Math is studying the unchanging laws God has established. Don’t compartmentalize your homeschool day into Bible…and everything else. Our faith permeated everything we taught even though we used a variety of books to accomplish that goal. Obviously this requires a higher degree of vigilance on the part of parents to correct and discuss any ideas presented that might be contrary to a Christian worldview, but those discussions are also useful teaching moments.

What Bible Curriculum did you use?

Before I answer this, let me just say that what we did at home was in addition to what they were receiving at church in their Sunday School class and mid week meetings. I think it’s vital for children to be a part of the life of the church and be involved, but I also think parent need to be careful not to neglect discussions and instruction at home to be sure children are getting a thorough grounding. Nothing can be more important than this.

Let me just emphatically say, “Don ‘t buy into the ‘twaddle’.” If any of you have had the opportunity to buy curriculum for your church’s Sunday School you may have encountered some of the same frustrations that I have. Charlotte Mason called it ‘twaddle’. She was particularly critical of much of the writing done for children’s books because she had a great respect for the minds of children. She felt parents and teachers should be encouraged to read to their children ‘living’ books and eliminate the twaddle from their lives. Let’s be honest, much of what is written for children in Christian bookstores would fall into this category.

Children have sharp, interested minds and those minds need to be respected. When I read our children

Christmas morning at church

the story of Adam and Eve’s fall straight from the book of Genesis many interesting discussions followed. Children ask many of the same questions adults ask and find many aspects of the story relevant. They discuss the way each character tried to blame another, the way the serpent tried to appeal to Eve, the silliness of trying to hide from God. In contrast, when we pick up the typical Bible curriculum we read a paraphrase of the story then ask questions designed to lead to one correct answer and a lesson summed up in a simple sentence for the children to walk away with. I find this unnecessary and limiting. So, when it comes to Bible Curriculum I would strongly encourage you to use the Bible.

Here is the approach we took. When the kids were really young, toddlers and preschool we had a Bible Story book with pictures that we read through. By the time they were in kindergarten they could recite back most of the stories by looking at the corresponding picture, and had a solid grounding in the stories of the Old and New Testament.

As they got older we read together a story directly from the Scriptures and had a brief discussion. As they moved into Jr. High and High school we encouraged them to read on their own. In our house and extended family, discussions of a religious nature are a common occurrence. If that is not the case in your family you will have to make a more concentrated effort to introduce those conversations. I have found these open ended discussions far more beneficial than most curriculum.

That said, there are a couple of programs I have come across and used that we found very beneficial. The first is Memlok, which is a Bible Memory program. I think it’s crucial for children and adults to ‘hide God’s word in their hearts. When my kid’s were young they did some of this through church programs and some with Memlok. Memlok has scriptures divided up into 48 different categories and printed onto small memory cards. So let’s say your child is struggling with anger. You can pull out verses that have to do with anger and help your child to memorize them. The back of each card has a visual clue to the first few words of the verse to help you get started and to aid in ‘locking’ the verse in your mind. This adds a visual element for those kids who have trouble memorizing. If you work consistently through the book you will memorize verses from every book in the Bible and have 700 verses memorized. There is a built in review system that only takes 5 minutes per day. You can get the program for your computer and print out a separate set of cards for every family member.

The other thing we participated in was the Community Bible Study Homeschool program. Community Bible Study (CBS) is a non-denominational study conducted all across the United States (and abroad). It is an inductive approach to study. Students work their way through a selection of scripture, making observations and answering questions on a worksheet. Unlike many programs these worksheets are specifically designed to get you digging, each answer you give must have a verse referenced, so no falling back on ‘what you’ve heard.’ CBS is an adult study, but in some areas they have a corresponding homeschool program, so while mom is working on her study, the child is doing a variation of the same and then coming each week to their own discussion group to go over what they have learned. And, for those of with preschoolers, the preschool program is great, my kids couldn’t wait to be there.

Well, I think that’s enough for now. Possibly we will continue this topic next month.

Parental Authority

Tim and his cousin, Melissa

While cleaning out some old files I came across this newsletter article I wrote some years ago. (Hence, it may sound familiar to some.) As the school year is kicking off it seemed a good time to revisit this idea.

When Timothy was about 7 years old I was in line in a store with him and the man in line behind us asked Tim what school he went to. Timothy said, “I don’t. I’m homeschooled.” The man sent me a scathing look and snapped at Timothy, “What’s 7 plus 8?” Timothy picked up on the animosity and looked over at me. I told the man, not very politely, that I was sorry he didn’t approve, but I didn’t want him quizzing my son.

Unfortunately that kind of encounter was not all that unusual when I first started homeschooling. I was amazed at the amount of animosity I encountered because Tim wasn’t in traditional school. It seems much better these days. I’m sure many of you have had similar encounters with relatives and friends over homeschooling.

I’ve also had friends and family question other decisions I’ve made over the years as a parent. I was too strict, not strict enough, too protective, to lenient, etc. For the most part none of this has been problematic, but occasionally there would be an instance when someone did an end run around me, like the man in line, and went directly to my kids.

When my kids were little we made an effort to avoid the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing. Our goal was to keep our kids from looking for those kind of relationships in Jr. High and High School so why start the conversations at 5,6,7. When comments by other adults were made to me kids like, “Do you have a girlfriend? or “like someone?” I would politely intervene to tell them we choose not to encourage that, they would often ignore me and directly ask the kids, “Come on, you can tell me, who do you like?”

On the surface I suppose it’s not that big a deal, but it negates my rights as a parent to decide what I want for my children. It undermines my authority with them. That is a big deal. Sometimes the situation is one where I’ve allowed the boys to do something like read a book, listen to rock music, or grow their hair out to a horrific length This has caused people to question not just my rights as a parent, but whether or not I’m really a Christian.

Over the years I’ve learned several valuable lessons from these encounters. First, and foremost, I am responsible for my children to God. He is the one I answer to. I’ve learned it’s impossible to live up to everyone else’s constantly changing and shifting standards without making my kids neurotic in the process. Trying to maintain the image of the perfect family is exhausting, and in the end, destructive. Instead of trying to figure out what other people expect, I need to figure out what God expects. I need to look at the heart, see what is truly important, pray, seek wise counsel, and take responsibility for my choices.

Second, I’ve had to learn to stand up to people who want to try to make an end run around me, to take away my authority with my children. With the stranger in line behind me it was easy. I’ll never see him again. With close friends it’s harder. A family member who quizzes your children every time you see them because they don’t like homeschooling needs to be spoken to, perhaps firmly. A friend who knows you only let your children see G movies and thinks it’s silly, and allows them to watch other movies at their house needs to b e confronted. As difficult as these confrontations can be, they need to happen.

Third, I’ve learned to be very careful that I don’t undermine anoher parent’s authority. It’s easy to think the way we do things is right and plow on ahead, without thinking about our words and actions. Because I disagree with the decisions another parent has made doesn’t give me the right to interfere with their children. I’ve known homeschoolers who bristle at having their children quizzed by relatives, yet, they turn around and do the same things to a public school child because they don’t believe the child should be in school. The golden rule about ‘doing unto others’ certainly applies here.