Are there recommendations you have for homeschooled children? The values and practices you’ve covered in both articles align with many homeschooling principles and yet it’s not been mentioned as an option.
I don't have any particular recommendations for homeschooled children. My wife and I are actually homeschooling all five of our children, so I have a lot of thoughts on it and I think much of what I wrote here does apply to homeschooling.
In general, I think some of the primary benefits of homeschooling are:
1) It encourages (requires!) initiative and independence, which are excellent qualities to inculcate.
2) It recognizes the reality that parents have the primary responsibility of educating their children.
3) In larger families it allows for multi-age interaction, which is a normal part of life and something a traditional school environment often lacks.
4) It allows for learning to be more naturally integrated within life (e.g. evening read-alouds are part of our homeschooling, but they don't feel like school). I think it is in keeping with a person's identity and in their economic self-interest to be a life-long learner, and integrating learning within life helps to promote life-long learning.
5) It provides the flexibility for other types of learning. A student in school 40 hours a week and doing extra-curriculars may struggle to have time to help build a chicken coop and keep backyard chickens or do an internship. Homeschooling is more efficient than traditional schooling, which opens up other types of learning opportunities, many of which are very valuable, but cannot be found within a traditional classroom.
I have had conversations with hundreds of parents about education over the years. As a Christian I believe my time belongs to others and as an elder I believe it belongs to the people of High Point in particular. If any type of conservation would be helpful or edifying, I would be happy to meet with you!
Thanks for the offer! We no longer live in Wisconsin, so meeting isn’t an option. I did introduce myself to you when we were visiting in November. We also homeschool all our kids. I’d love to see your reading lists for different ages, including adults! We still do read alouds and I love how my older kids still want to be part even though they’re fully literate!
We’ve been part of a co-op for the past 5 years, and that has been a great addition to our life. Do you have thoughts on building a homeschooling community?
Hi Libby, now that you mention it, I remember meeting you. You were with your in-laws (or parents?) who I know, but won't name here :)
In terms of building community, this is tough! Essentially, homeschool families have opted out of institutions to do their own thing. This makes them hesitant to invest in building institutions. That being said, they are highly committed to their children and will go to great lengths for their well-being. What I have observed is that if you can find just a few like-minded people that share similar goals, you can create something relatively quickly and people will pore themselves into it. But because they are doing it for their children, and not for some overarching goal, the second their kids grow up or it stops benefitting them, they will abruptly pull out. This makes it easier to create something, but very, very difficult to maintain community for longer periods of time.
In terms of a reading list, I have one in Excel. I don't know how to translate it here, but if you email me at MKnetter@highpointchurch.org I would be happy to share it with you!
Are there recommendations you have for homeschooled children? The values and practices you’ve covered in both articles align with many homeschooling principles and yet it’s not been mentioned as an option.
I don't have any particular recommendations for homeschooled children. My wife and I are actually homeschooling all five of our children, so I have a lot of thoughts on it and I think much of what I wrote here does apply to homeschooling.
In general, I think some of the primary benefits of homeschooling are:
1) It encourages (requires!) initiative and independence, which are excellent qualities to inculcate.
2) It recognizes the reality that parents have the primary responsibility of educating their children.
3) In larger families it allows for multi-age interaction, which is a normal part of life and something a traditional school environment often lacks.
4) It allows for learning to be more naturally integrated within life (e.g. evening read-alouds are part of our homeschooling, but they don't feel like school). I think it is in keeping with a person's identity and in their economic self-interest to be a life-long learner, and integrating learning within life helps to promote life-long learning.
5) It provides the flexibility for other types of learning. A student in school 40 hours a week and doing extra-curriculars may struggle to have time to help build a chicken coop and keep backyard chickens or do an internship. Homeschooling is more efficient than traditional schooling, which opens up other types of learning opportunities, many of which are very valuable, but cannot be found within a traditional classroom.
I have had conversations with hundreds of parents about education over the years. As a Christian I believe my time belongs to others and as an elder I believe it belongs to the people of High Point in particular. If any type of conservation would be helpful or edifying, I would be happy to meet with you!
Thanks for the offer! We no longer live in Wisconsin, so meeting isn’t an option. I did introduce myself to you when we were visiting in November. We also homeschool all our kids. I’d love to see your reading lists for different ages, including adults! We still do read alouds and I love how my older kids still want to be part even though they’re fully literate!
We’ve been part of a co-op for the past 5 years, and that has been a great addition to our life. Do you have thoughts on building a homeschooling community?
Hi Libby, now that you mention it, I remember meeting you. You were with your in-laws (or parents?) who I know, but won't name here :)
In terms of building community, this is tough! Essentially, homeschool families have opted out of institutions to do their own thing. This makes them hesitant to invest in building institutions. That being said, they are highly committed to their children and will go to great lengths for their well-being. What I have observed is that if you can find just a few like-minded people that share similar goals, you can create something relatively quickly and people will pore themselves into it. But because they are doing it for their children, and not for some overarching goal, the second their kids grow up or it stops benefitting them, they will abruptly pull out. This makes it easier to create something, but very, very difficult to maintain community for longer periods of time.
In terms of a reading list, I have one in Excel. I don't know how to translate it here, but if you email me at MKnetter@highpointchurch.org I would be happy to share it with you!