My First Homeschool Convention...

"God cares more about the hearts of our children than their education!"

So we have just returned from our very first homeschool convention. Wow. It was a whirlwind of a weekend, filled with inspiring messages, wonderful stories, and great encouragement. The place was packed with veteran homeschoolers (many with their beautiful children in tow), as well as new-comers like ourselves. I attended various workshops (lectures), with titles such as "Boys Will Be Men," "Learning to Delight in Your Children," "Why I'm Glad I Homeschooled Through High School," and "Gotta Love Those Preschoolers."

I took in and learned WAY more than I had imagined. One of the biggest things that I am taking away from this weekend is a renewed sense of WHY we are choosing to homeschool. I am still in the beginning phases of developing my personal homeschooling philosophy, but I definitely have a better idea of WHAT and HOW we are planning to do things. The most important aspect of our home education over the next several years is going to be CHARACTER development. And the beautiful part of that is that God's Word is the only "curriculum" we truly need for that!! :)

I have developed a top ten list of things I learned at this past weekend's convention. Enjoy! :)

10. I will continue to tell people that I'm just taking it one year at a time, but deep down in my heart I have a real good feeling that we're in this for the long haul. It's a lifestyle choice. It's not a fad or just a wild idea that I'm running with. It's a calling. Both Kevin and I firmly believe that this is 100% what God wants us to do. And knowing that now, I can't ever see myself walking away from this. But we'll see what the future holds. For now, we're just taking it one day, week, year (whatever) at a time. ;)

9. I was challenged (in a good way) to think outside the box about this whole thing we call education. What is the purpose of education? To whose standards should we be teaching? What should our "school" look, feel, BE like? What, exactly, is a grade anyway? Who has set the standards for education? What if academics don't even technically matter until middle school? Why have we all bought into the idea that we all MUST go to college? (And, by the way, accumulate MASSIVE amounts of debt along the way?) Why do we continue pushing "school" down our children's throats earlier and earlier? How were we, as human beings, wired to learn? What would happen if I didn't teach my son to read until he was 10 years old? Why do high schools teach algebra and geometry to almost all students? When have I EVER needed to use either of those subjects in my adult life? Then why waste an entire YEAR of life learning about them? Why do we teach WHAT we teach and WHEN? See what I mean? And these are just a few of the thought-provoking questions I still have swirling through my head right now. :)

8. In these preschool years, it will be important for me to change things up quite often. They need LOTS of different types of activities, interactions, experiences, etc...and the more variety, the better. These kiddos get bored easily. Boredom leads to frustration (mine and theirs) and ultimately leads to a negative learning environment. I'll plan to keep things fun, simple, and engaging for them...especially over the next few years.

7. "If you destroy your relationship, you destroy the learning." In other words, there is more to life than education. Make learning FUN. Don't sweat the small stuff. Enjoy these early years, because we'll never get them back!

6. I will continue reading to them...A LOT. More than any other variable in parenting, reading to our children can greatly effect the outcome of how well they learn when they are older. I LOVE that my children love books. I am now obsessed with literature. Our library of award-winning and classic children's books keeps growing and growing. I may have a slight addiction. But I digress...the important thing is instilling a love of reading and learning to our children. It's SO easy and simple...yet SO incredibly important! Want smart kids? Just READ to them.

5. I have the freedom to teach them whatever I want, whenever I want, and so I will. :) Once they reach the age of seven, they are required to attend 180 days each year. It doesn't matter which days or for how long each day. But we will need to be able to document this later on. That gives me three more whole years until my first child is even going to be "officially" homeschooled. Now, of course, I've been homeschooling each of my children since the day they were born. But I don't have to keep attendance records for a little while! I am SO thankful for the freedom to be able to choose how and what I will be teaching them. I am definitely most intrigued by the Charolette Mason approach to education. More information on that can be found here.

4. We don't have to model ourselves after the public school system (and shouldn't). While we refer to it as "homeschooling," we are not schooling them at all...we're educating them. School is a government institution, whereas education is "the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life." One of the many benefits to educating my children at home is that we don't have to follow the public school system's schedule. We will probably never take an entire three months off in a row. Why are schools still doing this? Nothing else in society takes that much time off in a row. I don't want my children to forget what they learned the year before and therefore need to waste time reviewing material we've already covered. Their learning will be continual...much like it is for the rest of the world.

3. Whether it's his energy level, his propensity toward dangerous things, or his constant antagonizing, many of those little things that drive me CRAZY about my son will likely one day be used for good. Right now he is a boy, but one day he'll be a man. A man who will need loads of energy to provide, protect, and lead his family. He will need that boldness and courage to do what God calls him to do. His persistence and sense of justice, if trained well over the years, will surely be used for something great! :)

2. I need to delight in my children...always. By learning how to view the world through their eyes and respecting them as the little human beings they are, we can cultivate deep, loving relationships with our children. When we delight in our children, it produces correct responses...fruit in their lives. It is the key to having them give us their hearts. Just a few (of the many) tangible ways to delight in them include: having cuddle time, using nicknames, being excited about things that excite them, displaying their artwork, getting down on the ground and playing with them, praising their character, letting them fail, believing in them...and not shutting down their dreams, and simply telling them that we love them. I was reminded that it's important to build solid family traditions and to be intentional about having good, quality family times regularly. We were encouraged to speak vision into their lives...telling them who we see that God has created them to be...to call out the giftings that we see in them. We were also encouraged to fill their minds with the Word of God...CONSTANTLY bathing them in Scripture. This is all WAY more important than anything we do for their education.

1. God cares more about their hearts than their education. These first few years are going to be very laid back. More than rushing into academics, we will be working diligently to develop their character. We will study the Bible. We will spend this time planting seeds and cultivating their relationship with the Lord. Because it doesn't matter if we have the brightest child on planet Earth if he doesn't know God...if he isn't respectful of others, or doesn't know how to relate to people. God was gently whispering to me throughout it all, "Teach them about Me. Teach them My ways. Love them well. And they will love Me." YES! That is SO what it's all about. I am homeschooling my children so that I can raise up godly warriors in the faith. So that they will be young men and women of honor, courage, boldness, and LOVE. I want to raise them with a Biblical worldview. I want them to be set apart. Different. I want to teach them how to learn, while I encourage them to think for themselves. I want to invest in them. HE wants me to invest in them. They are treasured gifts from the Lord...they are worth it. The sacrifice of my time, energy...of myself. Yes...they are more than worth it. He has entrusted these children to ME. Not some other well-meaning teachers. Not the government. Not even their Sunday school teachers. He has entrusted them to me (and my husband). And so if it seems like I take this whole parenting job seriously, it's because I do. I'm not only their mother, but I have the honored privilege of also being their teacher. And by God's grace alone, I can and will do this job as if working unto the Lord. Here I am, Lord...use me!! :)