Natasha Trudeau of Christian Homeschool Supplies talking with Erika Shupe of the blog, Large Families on Purpose:
![[Shupe+Family+Zoo+8+2013+%28125+of+125%29.jpg]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ3DCMfC4pZ4gQwc8i5K1GGG0NS8nAHk5VQiAK0hFE6Rx3Ic8ndd2wovdlAMJqrvXtPMWk2z50IXmuAJ_snna5bpsBJFaK6qKGiQj8eEKc8OgKfjPQG7AbouFiAm8tWYutGxPmhotsT5c/s200/Shupe+Family+Zoo+8+2013+%2528125+of+125%2529.jpg)
Natasha Trudeau ---“What are five suggestions that you
would give to new homeschooling parents?”
Erika --- First, you really have to get your heart and mind right
about what you’re doing and why. Home education is about discipleship first and
education second. If you raise a PhD and that is a heathen, self-centered and
materialistic like most other people in the world, what was the point? Here is one of our posts on why we
homeschool. http://www.largefamiliesonpurpose.com/2011/05/homeschooling-why-do-we-do-it.html
1. For the practical
elements of homeschooling I encourage moms to implement a plan for your week; a weekly routine or schedule in
place at least 4 days out of a 7-day week (more than half the time).
In order to be
successful in the goals we’ve set and which the Lord has placed before us, we
must have a plan (Some people are very good at “seat-of-the-pants” type of
living but most need a plan). And in order to avoid expecting 27-hour days our
of ourselves and then going to bed every night feeling like a failure at all of
the things we can’t get done or done well, we need to plan out a 24 hr. day for
ourselves and our children that is balanced. There should be time to do school,
time to get enough sleep, to have time in God’s Word, to exercise, to do a
little bit of a hobby, to spend quality time with the children, to keep up with
the house work, to have dinner on the table on time, to have some smile left in
the day when Hubby comes home…Yes – it’s very possible. In a word you need to
have balance in your life, your children’s lives, your schooling and home in
order to sustain the homeschool lifestyle and to be successful.
Our blog page is
really a very large version of answering this and other similar questions born
out of our desire to answer the primary question “How do you do that” to people
who are just starting out, adding children to their family etc. If you would
like more information and practical how-to’s on scheduling you can start with
this post. It will cover: why I began scheduling, how I began scheduling, my
overall scheduling framework, and additional benefits to scheduling. In part 2
of this post you can read about the difference between winging it and planning
it, the blessings of planning, and looking at some common road blocks to being
in a successful schedule.
2. I encourage you
(everyone) to learn how to productively
occupy young children that are not yet ready to use homeschool curriculum
yet.
They learn a great deal from their siblings but they also
have to have their own time and activities. We cannot have young children
wandering about the house during homeschool hours and expect to not be
interrupted by managing their choices or relationships. And we cannot expect
homeschooling children to stay focused with younger siblings playing all around
them and with activities out all over the place. It just looks too fun and
older ones have to join in! But if we productively occupy younger children in
healthy ways then they are doing their own learning and mom can focus on the
older ones. And the younger ones learn to focus on specific skills or
activities. If you like, you can read
more about why and how to do this starting with this post.
or productively occupying 3-year-old boys, http://www.largefamiliesonpurpose.com/2012/05/productively-occupying-3-year-old-boys.html
3. When beginning to
homeschool I would also like to encourage you to stop-stop-stop. *wink*
By this I mean,
stop “doing school” (curriculum) at a general time of day every day; stop for
the week on a certain day each week; and stop for the school year at a
designated time of year. It is easy to
feel like you should be doing a lot more in a day of that you should finish all
that you’ve set before you and your children and so you may be tempted to
continue working into the evening. I made this mistake in my first year of
homeschooling and it totally burned me out. I’ve learned better strategies that
are healthier and one of those is to do school/curriculum for a certain part of
the day and then stop no matter where you are in that. Likewise, it is easy to
work into the weekend also and not take the break that everyone needs in order
to live a balanced life. Or even in to
holidays or the summer. Children and moms need breaks; and our husbands need us
to have had breaks.
Keep in mind that
the overarching goal is to win the hearts of your children with the gospel and
to instill a love of learning that will help them their entire life. You can
undoubtedly see all around you how fast the world is changing. A child that has
mastered the facts of the day but is unable to learn new things as they go will
be left behind and likely have a very disappointing career life. Career is not
everything but it is an important component of a successful life, especially
for men.
You can read more about how we homeschool if you like by
beginning with this post.
4. I encourage you to intentionally develop character in your
children which will greatly influence their attitudes and success in school and
life. Even at the expense of your schooling schedule when child training is
necessary. We personally would prefer children who are morally upright and a
grade behind the world than masters of the education and corrupt at heart.
(which rarely happens due to the great nature of homeschooling, but if it does
for a season then no worries.)
Children need to
learn things like obedience, punctuality, orderliness, perseverance, and the
rest of the 49 character traits for people’s lives. It will greatly effect how
homeschooling goes and the rest of the children’s (and parent’s) lives. So how does one do this? I have a great resource to share with
you! *smile* Learning these outward
behaviors is not for the sake of good behavior it is a reflection of what is
going on inside the heart of the child… or adult for that matter. Remember that
the child’s greatest influencer will be you and likely they will do what you do
more than you do it. Homeschooling is a refining process for the parents as
much as it is for the child and sometimes more so. There are reasons more
people don’t do it; it’s hard to grow our own character. *laugh* Sending your
child down the street in a yellow school bus is easy and has very low
expectations on the parents. As does going to a job every day instead of
staying home to disciple the children and to be discipled by the Lord as well.
5. I highly recommend
the resource, 100 Top Picks for
Homeschool Curriculum, by Cathy Duffy, to help you find the best
curriculum for your family not only in quality but the best fit for your
particular students and for you as their teacher. I believe this book can
literally save you thousands of dollars and years of time by helping you find
the curriculum that is best for you. It saves you money by helping you avoid
purchasing a variety of curriculum choices trying to determine which one you
like best for your family and that is successful in teaching your children.
Instead you can make a very educated judgment as to which curriculum would be
best and then run with that. It also can save you years of time as you purchase
and experiment with all types of curriculum only to discover that one requires
too much teacher preparation, or too much handwriting, maybe too much review
work or not enough. Perhaps the curriculum you chose does not teach concepts in
an order that makes sense to your students, or perhaps it is either
unattractive to look at every day or it can even be too entertaining (which teaches children that all learning ought to
be fun and exciting – which is not real life, and which will have to be always
increasing in “entertainment value” in order to keep their attention). Any of
these things can cause you to be tempted to purchase something different. Or,
if a child is struggling in a subject of school how can a mom know if the
problem is that child has a learning disability, or maybe the curriculum isn’t
good quality, or maybe mom isn’t teaching it well? This book can help you find
that out and know when to make a change and when to encourage a student to
persevere.
Okay…that was 6 things I’d recommend. I couldn’t help
it! *wink* There are many more books we’ve recommended
in our “Recommended Books” list on our blog home page as well. ~ Blessings as
you begin your journey! Erika
If you go to Christian Homeschool Supplies and use promo code OQDPUXVPS49X before tomorrow night 8/20/14 You get 10% off any order.
If you go to Christian Homeschool Supplies and use promo code OQDPUXVPS49X before tomorrow night 8/20/14 You get 10% off any order.
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