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. “

The Charlotte Mason Method

The Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling is another popular option. This method has a solid educational philosophy behind it’s implementation and taking the time to research and understand it’s underpinnings will be time well spent. See the book list at the end of this article.

Charlotte Mason was an English educator who lived in the late 1800′s and early 1900′s. She was able to put her educational theories into practice in her own schools. Her approach was three-pronged…atmosphere, discipline, and life. She also believed parents were one of the crucial elements in a child’s success. As I explain her understanding of these three-prongs you will see why she thought parents were primary and the schools secondary in the educational development of children.

First, atmosphere. She observed that children absorb what is around them. For instance, if parents read good books to their children on a regular basis children will absorb correct grammar, vocabulary, and speech patterns without any effort on their part. By using this simple fact parents have a powerful tool at their disposal. If the atmosphere of the home is calm and loving…children will absorb that. If parents are critical and there is always stress in the air…children will absorb that. As parents and educators we need to be intentional about the atmosphere we raise and educate our children in.

Second, discipline. By discipline Charlotte Mason was largely referring to the need to develop good habits within the child. Our children will develop habits…good or bad. How much simpler will their lives be if they have developed good ones that require no thought and are just a part of their person. She would have children acquire the habit of paying full attention to whatever task they are at, to being observant of the natural world, and of caring for themselves and their belongings. Much of her teaching on habits is about the moral character of a child. How easy is it for our children to fall into the habit of being quarrelsome or critical. Would it be just as easy to train your child to a habit of cheerfulness and generosity. “The mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secures for herself smooth and easy days.” Mason

Third, life. Whenever possible Charlotte Mason wanted real life experiences to overlap with a child’s learning. Because of this, at her schools, formal instruction only lasted for the morning. The afternoons were reserved for nature walks, art projects, and other real life learning.

One of the cornerstones of Charlotte Masons approach is the use of ‘living books’. Believing that most children’s literature is ‘twaddle’ Charlotte Mason implored parents and educators to give more thought to children’s books. If you have been in a bookstore recently you will see what she meant. Many children’s books talk down to the child as if they are not intelligent beings capable of thought. Textbooks are summaries and predigested thoughts for the child to memorize…they do not engage their minds in any meaningful way. Instead she encourages parents to choose books that inspire children to think, to aspire to be better, and to fill their minds with new ideas. In other words, to search for books that ‘live’. Believing that when we spread before children a rich feast of ideas they will blossom she sought out ways to introduce them to the best and the brightest. She believed that children who were continually fed ‘twaddle’ would come to despise books and education seeing that it has nothing of interest to say to them.

Instead of quizzes and tests this approach makes use of narration. Narration is simply, telling back. For an early elementary school student it would look like this. Carly listens to her mother read to her the story of Adam and Eve from Genesis. When she is done Carly tells her back all she remembers. This will include her impressions questions etc. That’s it. From this interchange her mother knows that she has ‘comprehended’ and that she has taken from the story what is appropriate for her. In this sense Carly leads the lesson. Her mom doesn’t have a summary point that Carly needs to take away from the lesson. She lets the story speak directly to Carly without interference. A few years later Carly’s narration might be in the form of a drawing with a written summary, and a few years after that a well-thought out essay.

Spelling, grammar, and vocabulary are not taught with lists to be memorized and exercises to be copied. Instead dictation is used. Depending on the age of the student a selection a literature is chosen to be studied. After a period of study the child has the selection dictated to them…then they compare to the original. Were there words they had trouble spelling, they will work on those to do better next time. Did they use the quotation marks correctly…a quick review of the punctuation might be needed. As the child advances he will be given dictation without first viewing the selection and then make comparisons.

Nature Study is an integral part of Charlotte Masons approach and she encouraged students to keep Nature journals where they could record what they were observing. These journals were meant to be beautiful as well as informative. One page might have a careful drawing of the grasshopper the child observed…and the next a poem written or copied that reflected the season.

History is studied through the use of living books. Biographies, Autobiographies, historical fiction, and well done non-fiction books are read independently and aloud.

Math studies rely heavily on the use of manipulatives. The goal is to have the child understand the concept before doing any paper and pencil work with equations. This assured the teacher that the child truly understood and wasn’t just parroting back memorized facts.

Art, Music, Shakespeare, and Hymns were also studied in the same relaxed fashion. An introduction was made and the child was free to explore and take in what spoke to them. In this fashion they were introduced to the great men and women of centuries past and were able to better understand their place within their own time.

Before we leave Charlotte Mason let me leave you with a few of her quotes on the importance of instilling courtesy into our children.

“Courtesy seems a small thing until we encounter rudeness.”

“Children learn courtesy by living in a courteous environment and by simple coaching.”

“Do not allow a child to be discourteous just because a person is familiar.”

“Let the young child feel that the omission of courtesy and kindness causes pain to loving hearts, that the doing of them is as cheering as the sunshine.”

Books on the Charlotte Mason Method

For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer McCauley

The Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning by Karen Andreola

A Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison

When Children Love to Learn: A Practical Application of Charlotte Mason’s Philosophy for Today by Elaine Cooper, Eve Anderson, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, and Jack Beckman

Learning in the Garden Part 1

So many fun things you can learn in the garden. I’m in the digging stage of putting in a vegetable garden and it made me remember some of our past gardening experiences, when the boys were young. No matter what the age of your kids, or the subject you’re teaching, keeping a garden can be a great tool for your school. Here are a few of the things we have done in our garden, along with a few I’m trying this year. Most of the following can be used whether you just have a patio with pots, or an acre of land. I’m starting with some activities for the preschool, early kindergarten stage…but that is not to say that your older kids wouldn’t have fun with these.

If your children are in preschool and early elementary school everything in the garden is a fascinating lesson. Watching the miracle of seeds developing into plants, flowers, and vegetables never gets old. A favorite activity for the young is to take a few bean seeds, soak them for an hour or two to get them started, then take a clear glass and fill it with damp paper towels. Place a few seeds around the edges of the glass so that they can be viewed from the outside but are still in contact with the damp paper towels. Don’t allow the paper towels to dry out. I had my boys draw pictures each day (or twice a day if there is a lot happening) of the changes in the seed. They may want to carefully measure the seed to see if it swells before the root breaks forth. As they watch they will see the root emerge, the original stem, and the first leaves unfurl. . Although the glass allows us to view what would normally be going on under the soil, there is a lot going on inside of the seed as well. I’d suggest getting a few books on seeds from the library before you start.

Another fun activity for the younger set is to get a fast growing seed like radishes, have the kids write their names in the dirt with their fingers, then sprinkle in the seeds. In a few weeks time they will have their name in the garden. Take a picture and enjoy a salad.

One year (so sad I can’t find the pictures) we planted a square of tall sunflowers with one opening, then, once the plants were about 4 inches tall, we planted morning glories around their base. As the sunflowers grew the morning glories climbed the stalks. With some careful twining and few well placed strings we were able to train the morning glories to make a roof and we had a gorgeous flower clubhouse. When the clubhouse ‘bloomed’ it was truly extraordinary. Adding to the fun were the butterflies and birds that came to hang out in our clubhouse.

It seems young children can’t get enough of little hiding places, so if the sunflower house seems a bit extravagant another option is a bean tepee. All you need to do is make a tepee out of some long sticks or PVC pipe you might have around the house. (Pieces long enough to make a tepee a child could climb into.) Then run and tie string around most of the pieces leaving an opening. Plant 2-3 bean seeds (makes sure they are a climbing variety and not a bush.) at the base of each stick. As the plants begin to climb and send out tendrils help your children to observe closely. The tendrils will always wind the same direction and many of the tendrils in between plants will make themselves into curlicues. This is to protect the plant during growth and in the wind because the tendrils now have some give and won’t become taut and snap. As the beans mature they will hang down into the tepee and children can harvest them while they play. My boys liked to take a book into their tepee and ‘read’.

Science and botany aren’t all that can be going on in your garden. How about keeping a gardening journal with careful observations, poems, and illustrations. This can be a spring writing project, the possibilities of what to include are endless. With a little intentional thought on the part of mom this could be your Language Arts time and what child would object to a lesson outside sitting in the garden drawing and writing about the plants they’ve grown. They can keep track of the insects and wildlife that visit their garden. They can group those animals into beneficial and harmful categories. A journal can be both practical observations and a time to be creative with stories, poems, songs, and illustrations that the garden inspires.

Reading time is easy to incorporate into the garden. You may choose to check out books on plants and gardening, or maybe instead read some great literature. How about a cozy chair in the garden where you can read about Pooh’s adventures in the Hundred Acre Woods. Most little girls would love to sit in their sunflower house and read or be read to ‘The Secret Garden’. For the reluctant reader just moving your reading instruction outdoors can be inspiring.

Even math is more exciting when we are in a new place. I’m sure you can come up with garden ideas for addition and subtraction. Older children may want to figure the percentage of seeds that sprouted. Most seeds need to be thinned to a certain number of inches apart (don’t worry directions are on the seed packet) so it’s a great time to get familiar with using a ruler.

In ‘Learning in the Garden Part 2″ we’ll look at ideas for older students and how to incorporate history into your garden.

So get outside, get your hands dirty and play in the mud. Oh mud, maybe you could make some relief maps….. I’ll stop now.

BAGDANOV PHILOSOPY OF EDUCATION

I apologize for the length of this post….I will probably move it over to my ‘pages’ but for now I thought i would put it up in it’s entirety.

Many years ago I decided to write down my philosophy of education. All that means is that I thought out and recorded what my educational goals were for my four sons and how I was planning on getting there. When I wrote these the boys were quite young…now they are young men and I’m glad I had spent the time and effort to think these things through. Steve calls it brainwashing (and don’t all of our brains need a good washing). I did this to help me be intentional and productive in the time I spent working with the boys. I divided this up into four sections: Foundations of Education, What is Education, Goals for Education, and Methodology (the practical stuff). You may have different goals than I do, you may have chosen a different path to reach your goals. That’s great. The important thing is that you are intentionally working toward your goals. I would encourage each of you to take a couple of hours this month and write your own philosophy of education.

BAGDANOV PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION

1. God is the author of all knowledge and all true education must begin with knowing Him.

2. Parents are responsible to God for their children. This is a responsibility that must be considered carefully; how children spend their time, who they spend it with, what they fill their minds with, what activities they participate in, what habits and attitudes they are forming, all of these we will be held accountable for. Let us never forget that these are God’s children and that he has entrusted to us their care and training.

What is Education?

American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828

EDUCATION: n. The bringing up, as of a child; instructions and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rest on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.

This definition has two distinct advantages over more modern ones. First, education is clearly the responsibility of the parents, and second a religious education and a child’s behavior were deemed more important than academics. To this definition I would add the following.

1. Education begins at birth and from there never ends. When we stop learning and growing we stop living. True Christian education embraces all truth. It is neither narrow nor restricted, but is in fact extremely comprehensive. As stated by Susan Schaeffer MacCaulay: “Education extends to all life. The truly educated person has only had many doors of interest opened. He knows that life will not be long enough to follow everything through fully.

2. We educate our children to prepare them for life, not merely to make a living. This sounds simple but it is a profound paradigm shift that affects all of our educational choices. We must expand our thinking to view educating as bringing a child to the point of entering adulthood well prepared to deal with a complex and often valueless society.

GOALS FOR EDUCATION

Our first goal is to raise Godly children. Godly children being those who:

1. Have an ongoing, personal relationship with God.

2. Can accurately handle God’s word.

3. Show evidence of their faith in their character.

4. Show integrity, compassion, and strength in their relationships.

5. Participate in the life of the church.

6. Serve others in the area of ministry suited to their gifts.

Our second goal is to give our children a solid academic foundation. Achieving this involves two equally important components. First, we must strive for excellence as teachers. This means setting a good example. Our children must see in us the qualities that we want in them. Also, we must give our children’s education top priority in terms of our time, our finances, and our effort. It is our job to provide a rich learning environment that will challenge and stimulate our students. Second, we must establish in our student those habits that will make them life long learners. They must learn to give each task their full attention, to pursue excellence, and to take responsibility for their own learning. When our children begin to take responsibility for their own education much of our job has been competed and we can begin to assume more and more the role of facilitator.

Thirdly, we need to open up as many doors as possible for our children. Let me explain. Most of us do not know at 15, 18, or 20 what it is we want to do with the rest of our lives and without intending to we often make decisions that limit our options or present obstacles in our path. We have, under normal circumstances, 18 years to prepare our children for their futures. We have determined that for our children graduating from high school will mean completing a challenging, well-rounded college prep. program. They may not have reached a decision yet regarding college, but this way the option will always be available. They may not think they want to pursue a career in the field of science, but they will have the background necessary if they make that choice. They may not have decided to pursue politics, but a solid grounding in civics would benefit us all. The point is that a rigorous course of study over a broad subject area will leave our children best prepared to take on the next phase of their lives.

Fourth, we need to bring up children who will be contributing members of our society. This would include the ability to hold a job and to be fiscally responsible. While we don’t want the ability to make a living to be the only goal of education it is certainly an important one. As adults much of our day is devoted to work and we want our children to be well prepared to pursue the career of their choice, to be industrious workers, and responsible for the talents the God has given them.

We also want children who are involved in their communities and are informed, wise voters. In a society as complex and fast moving as ours this is no small task. Our children will need a solid grounding in history and government to have the background necessary to make informed decisions. They will need a comprehensive science background to understand the issues that will be confronting their generation as science and morality overlap more and more. They will need compassion and wisdom to deal with issues like poverty, abuse and personal responsibility. At one time loyalty to country might have been enough to qualify someone as a good citizen, but that is no longer the case.

Fifth, we want our children’s concern for others to extend beyond America’s borders. There is a world full of fascinating cultures and people to be introduced to and to learn from. We want our children to be geographically aware and to appreciate the rich diversity that God has created. Scripture says that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few, maybe some of our children will have the privilege of being sent out into the mission field to bring in the harvest.

Lastly, we realize that for our children to be considered well-educated they must possess the ability to evaluate any situation or idea presented to them in light of Biblical standards and to choose a right course of action. They must then possess the courage and wisdom to act upon those convictions. Without this strength of character, a man can never be considered truly educated.

METHODOLOGY

The first and most crucial step in this process is not killing our children’s love of learning. Sometimes we say that the first step is to instill a love of learning, but I believe that it is always there initially. Watching any young child you can’t help but be amazed at the joy they feel at each new discovery and at how quickly they learn and assimilate new information. Yet, sometime in the early years of school, learning becomes boring, stifling, and a drudgery. This is a crime against our kids. We need to do all that we can to keep the love of learning alive, or to rekindle that love if it has died.

Second, Parents to respect our children. This sounds obvious but I think it is another area that when taken seriously will revolutionize our approach to education. Our children’s time is as valuable as ours. We shouldn’t waste it with endless workbook pages or pointless assignments. What time we ask our children to invest in formal education should be productive. One of the quickest ways to kill the love of learning is to fill their school hours with busy work. It may keep them out of your way, but it also communicates your opinion of their intelligence and the worth of their time.

All educators need to respect the intelligence of children. Much of what is written for children in the name of education is insulting at worst, bland and boring at best. Subjecting children to dry, stuffy textbooks and calling it education is shameful. Ruth Beechick explains, ‘Some educators’ questions whether textbooks, even at their best, could ever do the job. The very nature of textbooks is to present information that is predigested, pre-thought, pre-analyzed, and pre-synthesized. A steady diet of such books deprives children of the joy of original thought. It turns them off to learning.

The alternative is to introduce children to a wide variety of living books and original sources. There are so many options: classic literature, wonderful autobiographies, original documents, and great non-fiction works. These kinds of books should make up the core of our curriculum. From infancy onward we should be sharing with our children wonderful books that challenge their thinking and engage their hearts and minds in meaningful dialog. Think in terms of spreading before your children a lavish feast that will delight and nourish their minds and souls. The world is a fascinating place and that is what our children need to be introduced to. We don’t need to know everything (or anything); we just need to join our children on the journey of discovery.

A large portion of learning should be done beyond the walls of our classrooms or homes. Our children should be spending large quantities of time exploring nature, art museums, science centers, factories, libraries etc. Reading about the germination of a seed can never replace growing a plant. We need to, whenever possible, flesh out our studies with real hands on learning. We need to expand our view of education to include all of the activities of our day. The trip to the post office, soccer practice, making a meal for a hurting family, these are all learning experiences that we need to take advantage of.

Our curriculum should also include work. Our children should be contributing members of our family, taking on some of the responsibilities of keeping a household running. Children will gain a strong sense of belonging as they become an integral part of the family unit. Chores will also prepare them for the realities of life when they move beyond our homes. Being able to do laundry, cook a meal, change a tire, are all necessary skills that should not be overlooked when we determine what our children should learn by the age of 18.

Lastly, our children should be involved in some area of service. Volunteering at the library, helping coach a soccer team, working in the nursery during church, in some way they need to be giving of themselves to others. If we establish this habit in their youth, both they and the people they help will benefit for a lifetime.

IN SUMMARY

We have come to the decisions that the best way for us to accomplish what we want for our children is to do it in a non-traditional setting. The family structure seems made to deliver the kind of education we have been talking about. It can incorporate the many elements of academic instruction, character development, and opportunities for work and service naturally. Each child can be treated as the unique individual that they are. For us home schooling has been a great adventure in learning. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.