I grew up near the only family I ever knew as a youth who homeschooled. They were exactly what the world expects homeschoolers to be. They dressed funny, they kept to themselves and had a difficult time interacting with others, and had weird ideas about the world. One daughter my age believed aliens visited her regularly. With this as my introduction, and only idea of what it means to homeschool, it is no surprise I wanted nothing to do with it.
Fast forward 10 years. I was a young mother of two girls, and homeschooling began to be quite common among my friends and some family. I saw many ways that different people approached their children's education. I learned that parents have far more rights than I ever knew existed. My sister would tell me all about her family's homeschooling adventures, and I would smile and think, "that is great for you, but I will never homeschool." Famous last words.
My oldest daughter had begun kindergarten at a local charter school, where I often volunteered as a class parent. I loved watching how my daughter's teacher was able to inspire these children to learn through imagination and play. There was one week I came to the school to pick up my daughter when I found her entire class outside, dressed up as cowboys, roping stuffed animals and bales of hay. This was the norm for her class. I LOVED IT!
One day I asked her teacher when I should expect to see my daughter's homework. I had not seen any come home with her and was concerned she was forgetting it and would slip behind in her education from the start, my niece was already scheduled to go to summer school because she didn't know all of her sight words completely. I didn't want her fate to become my daughter's. Her teacher just smiled at me, and with a twinkle in her eye, she lovingly told me, "There is no homework in kindergarten. The job of a child is to learn to love learning. Simply read with her at home every day."
That was the spark that began it all!
It has been 9 years now since I began homeschooling, and I have strived in all I do to create a love for learning in my home. I have felt inspired that if a person loves to learn, no matter the age, they will be successful in life. I spend a great deal of time working on my own education and excitedly sharing this process of discovery with my entire family. In all I do, I search for ways to "mentor with heart." This is my way of saying, I strive to connect children's hearts to their family and God's children,
to hard work,
to nature and the world,
and ultimately to God, by finding connections to him in everything around us.
I feel that by reconnecting with our surroundings, we can solve many of the world's problems, such as racial or religious prejudice, torn families, health struggles, and so much more. By simply looking up and out, beyond ourselves, or a screen, we see that God is in all things and people. I desire to help my family and community to recognize and live this way. To this end, I have created and organization called Crowned with Virtue. This has been a challenge for my family because it has taken a great deal of our time. We have sacrificed much to work to build our community.
Not everyone needs to create and organization to mentor with heart. You can begin in your own way, in your own home, with whatever time you have. My favorite way to connect has been through regular family read-clouds. From the beginning, we have chosen a book as a family and spent time together as I read the book aloud and we discuss it. This has helped us to discover more as a family than anything else we have done.
Our homeschool journey has not been all peaches and cream, I am a real person, with real daily struggles. I have entered a new phase of life with my children no longer young, but teenagers. This has made it essential to find new ways to connect, and has presented new, and often scary challenges. I rely on God daily to help guide me.
I have realized that I am now that strange homeschooling family, who dress funny and have weird ideas about things, but I don't believe that aliens have visited my home yet. Instead, I hope to be a beacon of light to others who don't know about how wonderful this way of life can be.
