If you were to ask a new homeschooling mom what her biggest fear was about teaching her children, what would she say? Nine times out of ten, she'd probably remark that she's worried about covering all the bases. The truth is, no one covers all the bases. No teacher in any school can ever teach your child everything they need to know.
"The problem with trying to cover all the bases," say Andrew Pudewa, a former public school teacher turned homeschool father and advocate, "is that your child's knowledge will be a mile wide and a quarter inch deep." In other words, they'll know virtually nothing about everything.
Case in point: Without looking it up, would you be able to rattle off the four major cloud formations, the third prime minister of Canada, or solve a grade 9 level algebraic equation? You learned these things in school, but because it wasn't taught in a memorable way that related to, or was was necessary for real life, you've probably forgotten the answers (so have I).
The idea that the-way-the-school-does-it-is-the-way-I-need-to-do-it-in-my-home has such a grip on many a homeschooler's mind, that we actually believe if we don't teach math, English, science, French, history, geography, Bible, PE, music, art, and home economics every day, our children might not turn out. This isn't homeschooling. This is school at home!
More than likely, you're keeping your children out of school for one or more of the following reasons:
- You feel it's your biblical responsibility to be your child's primary instructor.
- You
feelknow you love your child and can understand their imitations and abilities like no one else can. - While one-on-one instruction has proven to be a superior method of teaching academics, you're after their heart and don't believe their personal salvation in of the school's deepest concern or responsibility.
- You don't believe your child's individual gifts and talents can be encouraged through a one-size-fits-all classroom approach.
- Your aim is to help prepare your child for real life and don't believe the school model is of any advantage in achieving your purpose.
So, why are we so stressed about trying to do it like the school does it?! Pudewa bravely put it this way, "The greatest handicap a homeschool parent can have is a teaching degree." It's time we quit using a deficient educational system as our standard and start homeschooling in ways that are conducive to our purpose.
Great post! It's taken me several years of home schooling to finally "relax" and realize that it is really o.k. not covering all the bases. However, the most important base is being covered....real life living for the Lord!
ReplyDeleteSide note, I sent you a couple of e-mails yesterday, along with our vasectomy reversal attachment :) Please be sure to check your spam in case they ended up there.
Blessings to you~~angela
I think we get that mentality because we fear having to deal with the state. Thankfully our family lives in a state that has fairly lax homeschool laws but the state we just moved from AND the state we grew up in are very strict in homeschooling laws. I know thats what makes me nervous...I had to laugh though about the clouds, we just learned them last week so I said YES! Ha ha ha. Of course, ask me about other things and I couldn't tell ya much.
ReplyDeleteHear that? It's me breathing a sigh of relief! I am going to start preschool homeschooling next month and I have been gripped with the fear of "not covering all the bases" on more than one occasion. But, as Andrew Pudewa has said {and you paraphrased}, if I try to cover all of the bases, my son will know nothing about everything. I'd much rather him be very knowledgeable in one or two things... Thank you for this reminder.
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Thank you for that!! I soooo needed this post. Now if I could only convince my husband...
ReplyDeleteAmen! I'm a former public school teacher, too, and now a very strong homeschooling advocate, and Mr. Pudewa is absolutely right. I'm often told that my teaching degree must help immensely or is the reason I can homeschool well, but that is just the opposite! It has not helped, and it has hindered my ability to really educate my kids instead of just "schooling" them. Thank God for His grace in moving me past it, but it's a daily struggle.
ReplyDeleteI'm entering my 9th year of homeschooling my kids and still need to hear this. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it! I homeschool for a combination of all the reasons you mentioned. My kids have been in an actual school and had great teachers who really loved them. Even still, my kids have flourished being in the home and have cultivated a love for learning that just wasn't happening in a classroom setting, even with teachers that we consider dear friends. Awesome post, Jacinda!
ReplyDeleteI remember the first few years I homeschooled and felt so uncertain about what I was doing. Most of our curriculum was read-and-fill-in-the-blanks, with no real flexibility at all, because I felt tied to the scope and sequence provided by the curriculum companies. When I read The Well-Trained Mind, it really freed me up to teach my kids to be learners. By the time I started schooling my younger two, I was confident in just focusing on the 3Rs with them and building from there. Thanks for a good post!
ReplyDeleteYESSSSS!!! Thank you for the reminder - right when I was in the midst of twisting my brain over COVERING ALL THE BASES during my planning. Thank you!!! It's so easy to get caught up in what everybody says are the "have tos" even when I've been doing it for a few years. I love the reminders to keep it simple, and keep it fun!
ReplyDeleteGreat Article! Here here!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this - we haven't started homeschooling yet but plan to its time to start school. This was one of my first concerns when we made the decision!
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