Our Home School is Closing after 29 Years

Well, I did it. We did it. By the generous grace of God, alone, we did it. Just this week, my youngest child finished high school here at home.  Home schooling wasn't always easy, but when I look back on it, I have to search my memory for the rough times. The good times, the joy, the fun and the excitement of learning are what I remember the most.

I love being with my kids. Even when they were little and making messes and screaming and crying, I didn't want to send them off to spend all their days with someone else. I wanted to see them learn. I wanted to be the one to see that
"light bulb moment" in their lives when they "got it" as we learned together. That was my #1 reason for home schooling.

When I started home schooling back in 1987, it was not a very popular thing to do. We only had 4 kids at the time, but were already receiving criticism from Christians for having "so many" kids. Clearly they had no effect on us since we went on to have 4 more. Some said I had "real nerve" home schooling "all those kids." Their arguments against home schooling ranged from me never getting a break to fearing my kids were going to be isolated.

Isolation was the furthest thing from my mind. I could not wrap my mind around why they would think that. My kids were out in the neighborhood playing with other kids, riding their bikes all over, involved at church, involved at an assisted living home and involved in an active home school support group that I started. They played sports, performed in plays, participated in science fairs, sang in concerts and spent time together.

They learned to bake from scratch, cook dinner for 10, set a table right, freeze vegetables, plant and keep a garden and a host of other life skills that serve them well today.

My #2 reason for home schooling might be summed up in one word: laziness. I saw friends whose kids were in school and they were frazzled by getting up early, getting things together to make it on time, signing this paper or that paper and writing check after check for constant things that came up. I didn't want that chaos in our home. I didn't want the rush to make the bus or hop into the car on time to be somewhere early in the morning every single day. That's not to say our lives were never chaotic. One summer, we had 3 different kids on 3 different sports teams, so our evenings were made up of packing sandwiches and the potty chair (for the little ones) and being in different places to see our kids play and practice. Other summers were similar.  I could go on....with 8 kids, you can just imagine.

Part of our parenting style was minimizing chaos so that our kids didn't have to feel constant pressure. We spent most evenings at home where the kids would perform dance or gymnastic routines, magic trick shows and piano concerts for us. Some evenings were spent viewing everything they could find under the microscope and the time flew. Some evenings were spent outside looking through the telescope to see Jupiter's moons or a lunar eclipse up close. We wanted our kids to have time to build big Lego bridges and villages, to throw a Frisbee in the back yard till the lightening bugs came out and lie on the grass watching the clouds. Home schooling allowed us to keep chaos at a minimum even with a family our size.

One of my goals from the start of our home school was to make sure learning wasn't in a school box, but was, instead, part of life all year long. This goal was accomplished.

And now these kids....oh, my word, these kids. They have gone to college. They are starting businesses. One is home schooling. Another reached a career milestone much younger than most could. Two of them served in the USMC and another is thinking about it. But, mostly, these kids are kind. They are generous. They are sensitive. They are polite. They are mine. I am blessed beyond comprehension.

Home schooling was one of the best decisions I ever made.
If you're a young mom or dad and on the fence about home schooling, I say go for it.
You will not regret home schooling.

Now, I have to go find something else to do.
I have a few ideas!
~Tricia

The First of the Last (My Top 10 Favorite things about Home Schooling)

Today is the first day of our last year of home schooling. This year will complete 29 years of home educating my offspring.

When I started, I had four kids. My oldest was 5 years old, my youngest 8 months. I started our home school in 1987, a time when not that many people were home schooling. We got a lot of questions if we were out during the day. I welcomed every question and was happy to answer them because I felt very privileged to be able to home school.

Learning came naturally to all my kids, which made home schooling one of the easiest things I've ever done. I learned early on that each one of the kids learned best at their own pace and this took all the pressure off to meet some criteria set by the world. I let them learn their way whenever I could. They naturally fell into a learning routine that really set the pace for all the kids as they came along and grew.

Learning became part of life, not limited to school hours. We learned how to incorporate official learning into everything we did, giving credit-worthy validity to every day. On trips, they learned to read a map and navigate. They learned to observe as we played games on the road with the landscape around us, along with other cars and road signs. They learned harmony as we sang on road trips.

In light of all this, and in light of the blog post I wrote a few years ago about 25 things I learned in 25 years of home schooling, I want to share my top ten favorite things about home schooling:

1. I got to spend all day every day with my kids, my favorite people on the planet.

2. My kids learned to be independent thinkers, not ones that go along with the herd. I think this is one major key to anyone's success.

3. We loved not being bound by a school schedule. We could vacation while the rest of the world went to school.

4. Learning is a lifestyle, not at all limited to the formal class room.

5. No homework, ever.

6. We got to teach theology with no restrictions.

7. The kids got to interact more with adults than with kids their own age. This is a huge benefit to home schooling.

8. The kids were able to pursue their own interests and I could tailor their curriculum to meet their individual needs.

9. The kids got school credit for making dinner or baking cookies.

10. No school on birthdays.

There you have it, my top 10 favorite things about home schooling.
As I made this list, I had to force myself to keep the list to 10 things because there are many, many more things I love about home schooling.
Next September, it will be very odd for me to not be starting classes yet again.
So, this last year of our home school, I will savor every moment, as I've tried to do for the past 28 years.
If you're thinking about home schooling, by all means, do it.
~Tricia

Flexibility - the Name of the Game

Flexibility is one of my favorite things about home schooling. Over the years, we've been able to schedule vacations after the crowds have gone back to school, we've been able to attend family events when others have had to be in school, and we've been able to schedule school around life instead of scheduling life around school.

In our home school, "school" is just part of life. It's not something we do separately from life; it's just part of our natural learning in life. It's just naturally flexible and that works well for our family.

As our home school has progressed over the years, I have become more relaxed about my approach and how I set up the expectations and academic goals I have for the kids.  This has paid off. This year, my 16-year-old entered college and his course counselor said he had a real advantage because he was home schooled.  That's what every home school mom wants to hear! Even his college classes fit into the flexible mode I've created because they are all online.

Our flexible home school has been especially helpful given my husband's profession. He's a pastor. People have needs. Sometimes, I need to be with him to help meet some of these people needs. Flexibility in our home school has allowed me to do just that.

Flexibility is more than just a wonderful luxury. It has given my kids a more independent spirit; they simply don't go with the flow. They are not used to being herded with a crowd, so they don't go along with a crowd.  They do not have a crowd mentality. They participate with youth group activities, but never blindly, always with forethought.

This is highly due to flexibility.  We do not have to educate the way the world does. We do not have to fall into the patterns of education we see around us. We are free to learn on our own terms, in our own timing and on our own turf.  Flexibility has given us freedom in learning and while that is against the grain of the world, it's favorable to Godly living.  My kids are less likely to be victims of abuse because they think independently, not as the crowd, and that's key to avoiding abuse.

Flexibility. I like it.
~Tricia

25 Things I Learned in 25 Years of Home Schooling

Here are 25 things I learned during 25 years of home schooling my 8 children (I home schooled for a total of 29 years, this was written at year 25).

1. Home schooling is not mysterious, nor is it hard.
2. My relationships with my kids were not hindered by home schooling. That's not to say we have always been problem-free, it only means that we were not able to run from those problems, teaching us all to hit problems head-on, as they ought to be hit, and solve.  It works.  All my kids are good problem solvers and are not afraid of confrontation.
3. Home schooling is easier than I thought it would be.
4. Life is school, not just our "school hours."
5. Education is like a balanced diet.  You might not see results immediately, but you will over time.
6. Letting each child learn at their own pace is really the best way to go.
7. Relax, let the curriculum do the work.
8. Relax, let the children do the work.
9. When frustration sets in, don't get upset. Frustration is normal. Take a break when it comes. It will come. It is temporary.
10. The world's model of education is not necessarily the best model for educating your kids. Even though the entire world revolves around a school schedule, you get to break out of that and follow your heart instead.  It's much more fun, educational and beneficial to follow your heart rather than a school schedule created by the world.  We created our own and it worked.
11. There will be people who will not agree with your decision to home school. Oh, well. There were plenty of people who did not agree with me even having "so many" kids, let alone home schooling them.  I suppose they got over it........
12. It's vastly more important to instill a passion for learning rather than attempt to impart knowledge.
13. When it came to socialization, home schooling provided the best and most well-rounded opportunity of anything else I saw around us.  My kids got to visit with the elderly at nursing homes, develop deeper relationships with neighbors of all ages, interact with adults more and serve others more often, all because of our home school flexibility.
14. Home schooling is cheaper than public school.
15. Grammar matters.
16. Manners matter.
17. Wildlife activity outside the window trumps book work every time. Without fail.
18. Snow days are ok any time of year.
19. Storm tracking is science.
20. Boys can do laundry.
21. Girls can do mechanics.
22. Boys and girls can both cook.
23. Kids learn from example. My passion for reading often translated into me packing up and taking the kids to the library, where we spent hours at story time, reading on the floor, hauling massive numbers of books home to read and meeting other families.
24. Field trips equal fun and learning.
25. It's important to get the basics, but it's equally important for the kids to run with their passion, whatever it may be. They will get all they need along the way.

So, while there is much, much more I learned during 25 years of home schooling 8 kids, these 25 things ought to give a family considering home schooling for themselves a lot to think about.

I say go for it.  Do it.

~Tricia