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.

A COMMITMENT AS SCHOOL STARTS

Steve giving Joe a hug goodbye. So proud of him.

Originally, I published this article in 2008 when we were dropping Caleb off for his Freshman year at Westmont.  I’m republishing it today because we just attended Joseph’s Freshman orientation and Service of Commitment.  This tradition of making a formal commitment as the school year begins, brings into clearer focus what our purpose is.   As you and your children begin this school year, whether they are going to school or being homeschooled I hope reading the litanies at the end of this article brings you clarity and hope for the year.

Last week (Sept. 2008) we dropped two of our sons off at Westmont College to begin another year. It’s always an emotional time and Westmont seems determined to make it more so. One of the elements to Freshman orientation is the Service of Commitment. I thought part of it worth repeating here as we begin a new year. If you are unfamiliar with Westmont college it is a small, Christian, liberal arts college in Santa Barbara…Montecito actually. It is built on an old estate and everywhere on campus you are either going up or down the hill…very little is flat.

(quick note, the pics are not mine but Merrill Pirates, and came up when I googled Westmont images.)

When students graduate from Westmont they gather on Kerrwood lawn which is on the top end of campus and march together, for the last time, down the paths through campus to the baseball field which are set up for graduation. They are led by bagpipers, next comes all the faculty in their academic robes, and lastly, the the students. As you sit you can hear the faint sound of the bagpipes moving from the top of campus down until they emerge onto the ballfields. Once there, the faculty, instead of continuing to their seats lines the path the graduates take and cheers and applauds them as they pass by. It’s a great tradition and especially moving for parents who were at the service of commitment.

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

Are schools killing our kids creativity???

Great thoughts and one of the many reasons I found homeschooling so satisfying. I thought of it in terms of ‘keeping my kids love of learning alive’. But it is probably accurate to say it kept their creativity alive too. The boys are a fairly creative bunch. Enjoy!

Simple Writing Exercise No. 3

One of my favorite books is The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. If you haven’t read the story you need to get a copy from your local library…or buy it. It’s a keeper. It’s the story of the Three Little Pigs told from the wolves perspective. Full of laughs and twists that you missed in the original, this retelling brings new life to the story.

I use this book in my creative writing classes and it’s one of the most rewarding classes I teach. Each year I’m amazed at the stories this one book generates. (One year I had a student tell the story of the Three Little Pigs from the perspective of a worker at Home Depot who was selling them the building supplies and listening to each of their plans.) After reading the book we make a list of other fairy tales that everyone is familiar with. As soon as we have a good list we begin to talk about the different characters in the story and how the story would be different if someone else were telling it.

Can you imagine Cinderalla told from the evil step-sisters perspective or perhaps the Giant telling us about that criminal Jack who climbed a beanstalk and broke into his house. Using this book as a guide children can create great stories out of stories they are already familiar with.

For many children telling a story from a different perspective can be quite challenging. At first you may just get a retelling of the original story with very little deviation. The idea of telling a story from another’s perspective may take several illustrations before they catch on to the idea. If they just don’t seem to get it, don’t sweat it, just put this exercise away for a time and come back to it down the road. That’s the nice thing about homeschooling, we don’t have to stick to a strict timeline and this exercise is fun in 4th grade or high school so don’t push it if it isn’t making sense to your child. Just enjoy the story and move on.

After you have finished your story you may want to follow up with another book by the same author that involves the retelling of several other fairy tales. I’ve found that it’s best to save this book for after your child is done with their story. The Stinky Cheeseman uses so many different fairy tales that students could get frustrated that the author has used up all the good stories and they can’t think of another one to tell.

3 Keys to Great Writing

Caleb with our newest family member, cousin Hope

Imagine, if you will, a family that has just had a new baby. These new parents never talk to the baby and somehow manage to keep the baby from most conversation until he is about two years old. At two, they decide it is the correct time for baby to begin to talk. Each day, for fifteen minutes, they have talking lessons. They don’t speak to the baby the rest of the time. These well meaning parents spend a lot of money and research and find the perfect talking curriculum. Unfortunately, they quickly become frustrated with their child’s inability to speak.

Now If these parents came to you for advice I’m sure you would be horrified that they hadn’t been speaking to their baby all along. It is likely you would tell them to dump the complex ‘talking curriculum’ and just start conversing with their child. You would reassure them that teaching him to talk is really not that complicated and if they would just start to make conversation a regular part of his environment, he would absorb (learn), most of the necessary skills. These well meaning parents might be shocked. Surely it can’t be that simple. After all, there are speech therapists and experts, people who have degrees in how to teach babies to talk properly. This is of course a ridiculous scenario. Yet, don’t we have a tendency to do the same thing when it comes to teaching our children to read and write. Do we complicate the process with too many expert opinions and complicated curriculum’s.

We all know the process babies go through when they learn to talk. Ideally babies are surrounded by a loving family who continually converse with them and cheer over their every attempt to communicate. We know that a baby learns language skills by being around conversation. We don’t teach a baby sentence structure, but by three they can put together a rather complex and grammatically correct sentence. They have learned, by example, without much conscience effort on their part. We accept this as the natural way of things. We know that children begin to acquire critical language skills even before they are physically able to speak.

We can draw several parallels between a child learning to speak and a child learning to read and write. I think if you incorporate these into your school day, over time, you will observe a great improvement in your child’s writing abilities.

We are often like the above parents when it comes to teaching writing. We mistakenly think that writing begins when our child is five or six. Whether we are aware of it or not, we have already been laying a foundation for their writing in their early years. Just as an infant needs to be surrounded by conversation a child needs to be surrounded by good books…great writing.

Key One to growing great writers: Children become good writers when their environment is filled with good writing. I know, you are sick of the mantra, but I don’t think it can be emphasized enough. Reading good books to our children, taking them to the library regularly, buying them books of their own, and encouraging their own reading, is the best foundation we can lay for them to become proficient writers. A child who has been read to daily will have assimilated (learned) much of what he needs to know to write. Just as a baby absorbs the way we speak, our children will be absorbing how to tell a good story, illustrate a point, or give instructions. All of this learning will be done with very little effort on their part. So, the first and most important step in teaching your child to write is reading to them and introducing them to outstanding writers. After you have done this, the rest of the process will be greatly simplified.

Key Two to growing great writers: Children need lots of time and opportunities to write, and this writing needs to have a purpose. Just as an infant is forever playing with sounds and saying the same word over and over our children need practice and time to play with language. Now I sympathize. I can hear many of your now saying, “but my kid never wants to write.” While I would like to have all our schoolwork be fun, the reality is, some of it is work. However, while not all writing assignments may be fun, they should have a point.

Don’t load your kids up with busy work just because they need practice writing. When writing has a purpose, it is much easier to get excited about it. For instance, writing a paper about the last field trip that will just be going into a file of mom’s may feel like busy work, but a letter about the field trip to Grandma gives the assignment some purpose. Having your children make up shopping lists, take down messages, write out invitations, or write a story to be published in the monthly newsletter gives the writing activity a sense of purpose and focus. We all put more effort into something if we have an audience, so make sure that most of your child’s writing has an audience.

Key Three to growing great writers: Provide a safe environment with plenty of realistic praise. Would you want to write a poem and share it in front of our next parents meeting? Realize that the same insecurities that you feel at that prospect, your kids feel too. Writing exposes us, so we need to make a safe atmosphere for our children to write in. We need to help them see that they have something worthwhile to share.

Remember when your child was learning to speak and you cheered over each new sound and word, how you would try to get them to show off in front of friends and relatives. Well, do the same thing with their writing. When they write a clever poem or story make a point of sharing it. Let them hear you bragging about their writing to other adults. When your child was an infant and mispronounced words you still cheered them on and applauded their attempts. Isn’t it obvious that if you talk up how well your child is doing in writing and what progress they are making that they will in turn feel more confident and positive about the writing process? That they will be more likely to improve?

Now, a serious word of warning. Your praise must be realistic and earned. You can almost always find something to praise, and with an elementary school child I think you can praise just about every effort. However, children are not stupid, they will quickly figure out if you are gushing over their work when it is undeserved. They will come to distrust your opinion if you praise everything they do, even when it is an obviously poor effort. So be honest in your praise. This is especially important as your children get older. If they are handing in written work that is obviously beneath their capabilities then you must call them on it and demand a rewrite. Kids are quick to find ways to wiggle out of the hard work and while we need to praise their abilities that is not the same thing as letting them off the hook when they are not handing in their best efforts.

So here it is in a nutshell. Fill your children’s lives with great books, provide as many opportunities as you can for purposeful writing, and be sure to provide a safe environment and to praise their efforts.

DIG MAGAZINE

For those of you who would like to supplement your history studies with a fun addition you should check out Dig magazine. This is an exciting magazine exploring the world of archeology. Dig is published by Cobblestone which has a wide variety of terrific magazines for kids. Dig is geared for students ages 9-14 and can add new dimensions to your study of Ancient History.

If you are in my History class we will be taking orders in September to subscribe. A regular subscription is $33.95 for a year (9 issues), however if we have several people ordering together the cost goes down to $21 for the year. If you follow this link you can also check out how to order back issues, download quizzes, games, and teacher ideas. The following is a description of the magazine that I copied off the website.

Experience the thrill of archaeological discovery with DIG magazine! Explore the caverns of an ancient shipwreck or read what it feels like to discover a new tomb in China. DIG is packed with mummies, pyramids, dinosaurs, and more. Plus, DIG gives kids the latest news on archaeology—and explains how ancient ideas shape our world today. Each issue is filled with fascinating articles and photos that inspire kids’ imaginations. Plus DIG is fun. Chock-full of hands-on puzzles, games, and projects, DIG gets kids involved. Kids can decode an ancient language or make a 3000-year-old recipe, or send in their own art. Published with the Archaeological Institute of America, DIG lets young people share in the thrill of archaeological discovery while learning about the cultural, scientific, and architectural traits and beliefs of different societies. Recent developments in the field of archaeology form the magazine’s core subject matter. Each issue focuses on one theme, providing a broad understanding of the topic. Colorful graphics, photos, puzzles, games, and hands-on projects enhance cognitive and critical thinking skills.

Caleb and Monet…Joseph and Picasso

Caleb now

Joseph now

Art has been a part of our school life from the time the boys were toddlers, both producing art and enjoying works by others. I’m certainly not an expert, but I enjoy art and I think exposing our children to beauty always has rewards.

When they were young I collected postcards, calendars, posters, and books. I didn’t have a formal plan, we just enjoyed them. If they expressed an interest we might read up on a particular painter, but for the most part I just made the introductions and let them gravitate toward the works that spoke to them.

As time passed they became quite familiar with many different styles and time periods and could accurately identify and group paintings. We made it a game, putting out cards and seeing if they could pick out all the Van Goghs (Van Gogh is a good one to start with as his style is so distinct). Sometimes we would study a work and then turn it over and see how many details we could remember. While there was benefit to these games they were really just a tool to get where we were going.

As I said when speaking of Shakespeare, we have the privilege of introducing our children to genius. Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Michelangelo…they were all incredibly gifted men who were able to express their vision of the world in moving and beautiful ways.

Bringing a new perspective to everyday objects and a unique insight into the times they lived, we can, in a sense, enter into a conversation with them. It’s an amazing thought, your child can enter into a ‘dialog’ with some of the greatest minds and talents the world has known by thoughtfully contemplating and studying their work. At least these were the thoughts and hopes that went through my mind as I introduced these masterpieces to my kids.

Following the advice of Charlotte Mason I refrained from giving them a lot of information about a particular work and just let them experience it. They had their own thoughts, insights, and feelings about particular paintings. At some point, I might tell them a little about the artist and the world he lived in, not a long lecture, just enough information for them to gain a deeper understanding of what the circumstances were that surrounded a work.

For instance, Picasso’s work Guernica is moving and disturbing on it’s own. (More disturbing when you consider that the finished work was 11 feet tall and 25 feet long.) The lack of color, violent images were noted by my son Joe when he was probably 8. He had his own thoughts on the painting recognizing it as a work of Picasso and wanting to know what was wrong. (He had found many of Picasso’s other works sad, amusing, or funny, but this one felt different to him.) His understanding was deepened by just the little bit of background I gave him. Guernica was painted in protest of a vicious bombing of the city by the Nazi’s during the Spanish Civil War. A tour of the work brought this war to the world’s attention and has become a perpetual reminder of the tragedies of war.

Don’t worry, google any artist and you can get a brief history that will fill in some of these pertinent details for you. You don’t need to be an Art Historian to introduce your children to art…that is part of my point, you just make the introduction.

Back to the point. Joseph had his own experience with this painting, he interacted with it, came to his own conclusions, sought more information, and then went back to looking at the painting, picking out the anguished horse, disjointed people etc. He didn’t need a summary from me of what he should think and a nice stated objective to walk away from the ‘lesson’ with. If he were to look at the painting now he would probably notice different things and, with the additional years he has had to mature and learn more history, he would probably have a deeper understanding of Picasso’s mindset. In another 20 years his relationship with this painting will change again. Great works of art, (or literature) enrich our lives in a variety of ways and continue to speak to us throughout our lives.

When Caleb, my third son, was 10 or 11, we went on a field trip to the Norton Simon Museum. By then he knew most of the painters he would be seeing and began to wander…until he found this painting by Monet. We had moved on and I realized Caleb wasn’t with us so I went looking for him and found him still standing in front of this work. I asked if he wanted to come see the Rembrandt’s and he said, ‘No, if it’s okay, I’ll just stay here. I like this one.” He found a bench and sat in front of that one painting until it was time to leave. He was so relieved when I told him we could purchase a copy of the painting to take home. For whatever reason, at that time in his life, that painting spoke to his heart.

After these two experiences I appreciated even more that as educators we often need to get out of the way. We introduce our students to ideas, books, works of art, and then we step aside and trust them to take away from the experience what is appropriate for them.

This style of learning can be scary for those of us who associate ‘education’ with mastering a specific set of skills for each grade level. We have science standards, math standards, and reading standards. If you google most museums that cater to children and have educational tours you can get a list of which ‘standards’ their tours will meet. That day at the Norton Simon I had parents who were very concerned because Caleb didn’t ‘see’ everything.

I’m asking you to throw out the standards and let your child lead. Instead of giving information, ask questions. Get your children thinking and interacting on their own. If they are not used to this kind of learning at first they will be resistant…they have been trained to ‘give the right answer’ and will be hesitant to just offer an opinion.

But if your goal is children who are curious, independent thinkers then resist the impulse to wrap up every learning experience in a nice little package with a stated objective. I am not suggesting that you are not intentional about what you introduce or that there are not some specific facts you want them to learn. (We read biographies of the artist, tried out some of their techniques, put them onto timelines, and played the games I mentioned earlier). What I am suggesting is that within that framework there should always be room, lots of room, for them to think their own thoughts.

Fear is a Poor Motivator

I was at the Post Office the other day and got into an interesting conversation with the postal worker about homeschooling. (I was mailing out some newsletters.) Our conversation raised a point that I feel is worth mentioning here.

People homeschool for a multitude of reasons, not all of them good. As the director of a school group I field a lot of calls from parents who are exploring their educational options. I am always hesitant to encourage parents whose main motivation seems to be one of fear. While I am sympathetic to the concerns that parents have, fear is not a very good motivator.

Homeschooling is a demanding venture. You have to be willing to invest time, money, and yourself to do it well. Parents who do well are those who are working toward a goal. They are excited about the opportunities homeschooling offers for their families. They have chosen to homeschool for positive reasons.

There is a world of difference between that scenario and a parent who is afraid of their child moving on to, let’s say, the local Junior High. They haven’t chosen to homeschool, they have chosen not to send their child to school. I hope you can see the difference. Generally, parents who choose homeschooling primarily to avoid something in the school system quickly give up. Being frustrated with a teacher or afraid of the peer pressure your child might face may be legitimate and compelling concerns, but when faced with the day in, day out reality of schooling your own child they are generally not enough to keep you going.

Homeschooling is a lifestyle choice, it is a complete paradigm shift. When done well homeschooling is not just about the few hours of ‘school time’ each day. When you desire this change and can see the benefits for your family and children you have a reason to stick with it through the inevitable struggles. When your choice is based on a desire to leave the school system, as opposed to a desire to homeschool you have a shaky foundation. I would caution you to consider this carefully. It’s not that once you pull your child out there is no going back, but it’s not an ideal scenario.

I don’t offer these thoughts to discourage people from homeschooling, I think it’s a great option, but as you think of leaving the school system you need to not just consider what you will be leaving behind, but what you will be moving toward.