HOMEGROWN SCHOLARS
Letters Among Moms Recently a mom in my favorite homeschool group, Classical Conversations, sent out the following email: Dear Moms, I have really been struggling with the progress (or lack thereof) we have made this year. I find myself in a constant state of comparison with what our public school friends are learning. It really is exhausting to me both emotionally and physically. I feel like I am failing my children. I find myself seconding guessing our decision to homeschool and the call the Lord has given me. I was sharing all this with a friend of mine this weekend and she had such wisdom for me. I told her that Jack is woefully behind in Math and Reading in comparison to what I *thought* public school kids were doing. She was quick to point out that for whatever reason, the early years of public school is vigorous and the students are doing pretty intensive things (3 paragraph papers in 1st grade, multiplication in 2nd etc etc) but somewhere along the way the system breaks down. The system goes from such extremes in elementary school to basically doing dropout prevention in high school. I recently learned that they are watering down the high school requirements even more, to help kids stay in school. So why would I want to compare our learning to that of a broken system?!? All of this to say be encouraged! If you are like me, and disappointed in where you are or where you want to be stay the course. Don’t make the woeful mistake of comparisons. We are all called “for such a time as this.” With love. Another member of our group responded with this email: I completely understand! I would encourage everyone in our group to read the book by Leigh Bortins (founder of Classical Conversations) called The Core. She so clearly explains the learning process our brains 112
have to go through to be able to retain and process material! How ridiculous for children to be expected to write papers in 1st grade when they have no understanding whatsoever of the mechanics or vocabulary of the English language. This simply produces frustrated, tired children that HATE learning! I feel so encouraged after reading the compilation of generations of wisdom that she has gathered into her book. It has given me a clear understanding of what I was already feeling and a a concise way to explain it to others. I share these letters with you out of great concern for our children. Your children’s most important teacher is you, whether you homeschool or choose to send your child to public or private school. I will be very honest with you, I never dreamed I would homeschool my children and for a long time I stereo-typed people who did as “cultish”. Okay, and CRAZY!! This is my third year homeschooling. Daily I think how incredible my school experience could have been if I had been homeschooled. I despised school. At home I am able to moniter when Austin’s attention level is at it’s peak and we are able to take a break and do something active to refresh a little. I am able to maximize his learning potential, it’s awesome! I know exactly what he is learning and am able to incorporate that in to our every day life. Yes, I admit, when we started I was on the track to making him a college scholar by ten. Then I got real. I know my child better than anyone and I know I can make him write paragraphs in the second grade, but I also know the concept is not sinking in, I clearly see in on his face, so I will wait a while and re-introduce. Enough about me, I could preach the glories of homeschooling all day...which is funny because three years ago I would have preached all day about why I would NEVER homeschool! I will encourage all moms to read The Core, lets all get involved in our children’s learning, whether it is homeschooling or learning how we can enhance their public or private school experience.