HOMESCHOOLING IS CHANGING!! So, what should we do about it?
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- Опубликовано: 15 июл 2024
- I had to just chat with you about this because the more I see, the more I talk to people, the more I notice Homeschooling is changing.
I am a former public and private school teacher and I have now been homeschooling my kids for over 10 years. I work as a homeschool consultant and evaluator and I've noticed some things.
Please watch and comment below. I want to know your opinion!
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:54 My experience and why my opinion is valid.
1:48 Freedom is Important
2:23 Changed I've seen in the Homeschool Community.
3:40 What is happening in Public Schools
5:18 Looking at our culture and history.
7:13 Our society today
8:41 We have so many homeschool curriculum options.
12:23 What we need to remember.
13:02 Challenge ourselves
14:58 Classical Education
16:47 Faith
18:02 We were Dumb Down
Dumbing Us Down Book: amzn.to/3tNO9Nn
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There is a culture of anti-intellectualism right now that is *so loud*. We are struggling to make the case of education, but we won’t give up.
I’m in the middle of the book “Dumbing Us down” now! It’s truly sobering.
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your thoughts!
I love that you chose to cover this topic. This is actually something my husband and I have talked about recently. I didn’t grow up homeschooled but from the outside looking in and from the perspective of a homeschool mom, it seems that a lot of “sound good,” “feel good,” “trendy” ways of providing an at home education are very much so in the homeschool community. This is why I am always praying for wisdom and the Lord’s guidance in my decision making as my husband and I walk this journey out.
A common problem I see is this silent tug of war between a rigorous education and a gentle education and what that does or should look like.
We want our kids to know all the things and so we overwhelm our homeschool by throwing all the things at them. We want our kids to not be tied down to the books so we ditch all the books and have them play. Me personally, I believe there needs to be a balance of this for so many reasons.
Even the Charlotte Mason approach (which we all know is well known and widely used) isn’t as “gentle” as it may look until you actually research the ins and outs of it and have a better understanding of what a gentle approach to education is.
This video has so many great talking points!
"silent tug of war between a rigorous education and a gentle education" - you hit the nail on the head with that one!!
I'm just going to sit in the corner over here and listen for some more comments on this 🤔 because I am in the middle of that tug of war myself!
@@Jolene166me tooooo! I've been feeling lost suddenly or rather torn between these two. I believe God sent me to this video 🙏🏼 He is so faithful & good😭 I need direction after 9 years of homeschooling 🤦🏻♀️
Look into the Robinson curriculum. Such a great and basic way to educate children. Get some rigor in the mix but not too much.
@@mrs.b3902 oh my goodness😂 I have been considering Robinson here lately!
@@mrs.b3902 is this what you do. Would love more insight on it
The reality is someone who doesn't take it seriously will not likely see this video. I know a lot of amazing people who homeschool and go above and beyond to make sure their kids are always learning even in fun and play. It's crazy to me when I meet a parent that doesn't have the same zeal to educate their kid, but chooses to homeschool.
Years ago people thought those with depression were lazy now we know that is not true. People are not lazy nowadays. Our modern world is toxic in it's food, in it's spiritual decline and the increase in pressure and stress. People are physically and spiritually sick and overwhelmed. Not lazy. Their hearts are hurting. New homeschoolers are burned out in the beginning. Many of us started homeschool excited and with energy. These Mamas are BURNED OUT right at the beginning. They need grace and love and encouragement from where they are. They cannot be compared to those a decade ago. I am a Christian homeschool mom of 20 years. My last child is starting highschool. I have seen alot.
This is a good comment. I believe you’ve made an excellent point about our culture being toxic and people being sick. As a community we should show grace, and we should definitely encourage other tired mothers. You are spot on. However, I hope there will come a point when each mature adult assesses their life and makes responsible decisions to improve their circumstances. I believe in the Protestant work ethic, and I believe that through Jesus Christ we can persevere, be healed, and find strength. Yes, compassion, understanding, and encouragement are blessings that we can and should extend to each other, but we also need to step out of the victim mentality of this toxic culture, and step into Christlikeness. Laziness is a moral problem, and we are all susceptible to it, but we are in a war and our children will be the next generation of spiritual soldiers, so it’s time to make haste. For struggling mums, I would say: read your Bibles, pray, evaluate your lives, and make changes (always remembering “I Can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Phil 4:13). God brings order into our lives, and through Him we can flourish despite our circumstances. Blessings!
@@kwilliams2729 yes, but not everyone is at that spot of the Protestant work ethic. Patience must be had. We push people too much by making them jump to a spot they are not ready for. Slow and gentle steps. Not aggressive leaps and bounds. We can get so caught up on how things should be and the right way that we push people to already do that. But it takes time and patience. We shame people too much, even passively we shame them. We must take people where they are and very slowly and gently come along side to encourage. That is different than putting the right way ON them.
@@nancyann1090 I agree with you wholeheartedly, it’s never a good idea to push people. Thankfully, RUclipsrs like this channel are gentle and encouraging while still speaking truth. Blessings to you, friend🙏🏻
That’s IT. That’s exactly it. The “laziness” is a spiritual, emotional, mental and physical sickness and we are being daily pushed to isolate and rely on technology and the government. It’s part of the agenda. I refuse to go along with it!
So good! In my homeschool sphere, I see a lot of what you are talking about. Some say they are so busy with appointments and other stuff that they haven’t the time to homeschool or people ask what online curriculum we are using (not that online is all bad, but it’s an assumption). Or very relaxed and all life is school mentality and yet their 8 year only is still in the kindergarten reading book. I tell my homeschool friends that homeschooling is a JOB and should be treated as such. Professional development is so important! So much more to say, but I appreciate this video and knowing I’m not alone!
Yes to homeschooling is a JOB!! I've been thinking about that myself a lot lately 👏
I definitely feel this. My 9yo is still struggling with reading (although he's made huge improvements this past year), and I am continually trying to do what's best for him and find books I know he will enjoy. It's so much work, and there is a huge facet of the homeschool community that simply says, "he'll get it when he gets it." But if I'm not doing my part, how will he ever have the tools he needs?
My daughter was in the same boat. We ended up going to have her evaluated by a developmental optometrist. Her vision was fine, but her eyes were not focusing correctly. After a year of vision therapy, she reads so well.
Aussie homeschool mum here... I can totally see this here and honestly it made it very hard to start out homeschooling. When I started out and was looking for support I felt looked down upon for using a more rigorous curriculum rather than going with the unschooling trend, now I tend to keep my curriculum choices quiet amongst other homeschoolers. I want my kids to enjoy being kids and have the freedom to play and enjoy life but I also want them to be able to read and write properly. Great video, I wish more of this was posted to help new homeschoolers know that it's ok not to jump on the unschooling bandwagon if they don't want to
Yeeees!
Me too!! Like if I shared what I was using for curriculum, I felt judged by some that real homeschoolers don't use curriculum or suspected by others that I was only homeschooling for academic and not really discipleship if i wasn't using certain curriculums. It has been disappointing. This has been so encouraging!
Living in Australia too. We are new homeschoolers I totally relate to what you all are sharing. I am starting to panicking as people suggest to relax and unschool first. I am desperately looking for wholesome curriculums . We love the idea of classical education but many people have not idea. I feel like I am the odd one 😢
This is such a needed message. We use a very academically rigorous curriculum (MP), and I've found it's better to just keep quiet around others because it's very looked down on to push your kids. I expect them to deliver their best and develop a work ethic. It will benefit them the rest of their lives when they have the tools and education to succeed.
How long have you been with MP? We haven’t used them yet, but it looks like a solid curriculum.
McGuffey readers. What our country relied on for over 100 years.
It truly is brilliant in it’s simplicity! McGuffey’s, great literature and living history, rigorous yet straightforward math, and chores around the house/homestead. Simple and effective. All the rest is icing on the cake.
New homeschooler to a 5th and 6th grader. Thank you for this, I respect your opinions a lot! Because of a lot of the homeschool culture, I worried that I was challenging my boys too much, but I think I'm right on the target. Although they were 99th percentile in PS on most subjects, I've found them to actually be behind in most subjects compared to the standard in my childhood. I'm catching them up slowly. They homeschool 4-5 hours a day, and I worried we were overdoing it. But we have a lot of joy and freedom, AND we're catching up to my comfort level. We started homeschooling due to one of my kids' severe anxiety. Importantly, this is NEARLY GONE since we started homeschooling. Praise God.
I very much agree. I graduated in 1991 from high school and went into teacher education in school and saw what new teachers were being taught. It was horrifying to me then. And seeing how things have gone have only hortified me further. I think one of the things that helped me understand how far education had sunk even by the time I graduated, was seeing an eighth grade test from the 1800s. And hearing what the reading curriculum was for kids. What we consider college level now was upper primary school. Thats a big jump. I also know kids can do a lot more than they are asked. Multiple of us in my 4th grade class read The Hobbit and The Odessey for fun. Had no idea that wasnt "my grade level". And I look at what I am doing with my downs son, who is similarily aged to Naomi, right now, I keep stressing thinking how behind he is based off of my school education, but then finding out to todays standards how he is actually to grade level. And that concerns me. I mean I am happy gor my son , but wondering why all the other kids are being held back so much.
I agree!
Once you know the true answer to your last sentence, you can never unsee it.
I agree. I have been homeschooling my kids for about 11 years now and I still struggle because my own public school education was so pitiful. I'm trying to learn alongside my children. It makes it hard to know what to teach when you weren't taught it. I am 33, my husband is 38 and we both have trouble reading and spelling.
I’ve been homeschooling for 11 years now. It has changed drastically in that time. At first the change was really subtle, but now it’s a full sea change that kind of has me drifting about wondering how to keep navigating. The sheer volume of choices that have flooded the market boggles the mind. There have always been choices, but now there are 20x the choices. I personally feel like the push is for everything to be digital. Everything is a PDF download, and I frankly hate it. Physical books (curriculum and library) are much harder to acquire.
And, my oldest is a high schooler, and there seems to be 2 camps for high schoolers: online courses (done independently) or a pile of books and workbooks (expected to be done totally independently). I was in high school in the 90’s, and I don’t remember being 100% in charge of my own education. The teachers taught, and we discussed, did group projects, had tons of interaction with our classmates and teachers. Sure we had homework, but even that was often done together with classmates.
The current choices seem so shallow and lonely, and just sad.
Thank you for this comment. I’m glad to know I am not alone. My oldest is 12 and I feel this push to let him figure it out and do everything independently or online. He has some learning delays, so that wouldn’t work, but I still don’t want that for any of my children. Yes, it’s important to increase independence incrementally, but our children shouldn’t be alone in a room doing all their work IMO.
Ugh. Yes. I can't stand how much of it is videos and/or PDFs. People frown on workbooks, textbooks, and otherwise structured material, but that's what I want. I have no problem supplementing as needed, but I don't want to have to collect a million things from a thousand different places. Open and go physical books, please and thank you.
@@katie7748 Right?! It's exhausting piecing 4,000 things together. It's like curriculum has come to mean "here are some random ideas we've had and a list of books, websites, games, projects, field trips that you could do, but you don't have to, but you really should if you want it to be complete. Have fun putting it all together! Oh, and that'll be $300 for one PDF please"
@@kayaseaton2955 LOL EXACTLY 😂😂😂
I’m newish to homeschooling, last year was our first year with a 5th,4th and 2nd grader. My 5th grader couldn’t do multiplication or division. My 4th grader couldn’t write a paragraph (still can’t.) My 2nd grader couldn’t read.
They came out “behind” and are still behind. When I talk to other homeschool moms they say things like “if you’re stressed it’s because you’re doing too much” I promise you we are doing bare minimum and everyday is still an all out battle.
If I had left them in public school no one would be worried about what kind of education they were getting no matter how far behind they were, but now that we’re homeschooling it’s suddenly a big deal.
I hope you get some feedback on how to combat this, how do you teach children who were used to getting through public school without any effort? These schools just push students through no matter where they are at academically. How do we teach these children and instill a love of learning and help them see the work is hard but worth it?!
I don't have all the answers, but I would for sure focus on read aloud- perhaps stories that highlight and encourage kids to learn.
I will pray for your situation!
@@mrs.jaywojo5426 Thank you so much for the prayer and advice!💕
One of the things I love about homeschooling is the ability to choose your pace. My advice would be to prioritize the love of learning. Start with the subjects your children enjoy and then sandwich in the subjects they struggle in. Battling your kids every day is counter-productive to your end goal.
I'm a year-round homeschooler, and we certainly homeschool more days than public schools are in session. Charlotte Mason uses short sessions for each subject (15-20 minutes for your 2nd grader, 20-30 minutes for your older kids) with full focus. You have the ability to go at your child's pace, let them get comfortable with writing a sentence or two for a couple of weeks before asking for a full paragraph. With persistence they will catch up. I hope this is somewhat helpful to you.
Wow this is such a good question!!! And your observation is so correct. The PS do just push kids through, they do the best they can but at the end of the day, there is just so much and the lack of parent support and administrative pressure is unbelievable. When the year ends, it ends. Did you try unschooling them? It may be an option? If not I loved to suggestion of finding a way to teach them love for learning. You can also start teaching things to them that you love. Not only to build the connection but your enjoyment might pass onto them. Keep pushing through, it is a lifestyle change and a journey.
That third paragraph is 🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯
I am a younger homeschooler and I would say that definitely there are so many options for curriculum out there and I know they are not all equal. It can be overwhelming to discern which curriculum will give my child what they need, not just give me the fluffy, fuzzy feeling that my kid is doing great and loving their curriculum when in reality they are not being challenged and stretched and educated in a way that I want them to be. There is a lot of marketing out there and I appreciate the seasoned moms who share their knowledge and experience. It’s humbling actually, to realize that although I have the full control and say over what my child learns, it’s not just a right and a privilege but a responsibility that I need to take seriously. And it isn’t wise to think that I don’t need counsel in helping me to make good decisions for my homeschool. Thank you for sharing this.
Totally agree with you! I started homeschooling during the pandemic. I actually wanted to homeschool when my oldest was going into kindergarten but my husband wasn’t on board and it wasn’t until we saw what was going on in the school system during the pandemic that he agreed to me homeschooling our four daughters. Since homeschooling I’ve been learning so much myself and I love it! I hope my excitement is helping my girls to be excited about learning too.
I’m a second gen homeschool mom, and I agree with you. I, personally, have started moving toward homeschooling curriculum that has a long track record. I initially was drawn to some newer resources because I grew up with Saxon, BJU, and not much else, but then I started feeling like I was experimenting on my oldest. I like knowing that the program has been around long enough to have graduates who have gone on to successful careers and were prepared when they went to college, tech school, or completed certifications.
What did you end up going with that you really like for your kids
I agree with you, schooling is definitely dumbed down and I see it in the home Ed community. Lots of posts saying you can school for a few hours a day because that’s how much schools actually do when taking away breaks and lining up, assemblies etc. It genuinely puzzles me why parents use that comparison, why compare to schools and educate to that minimum. Aspirations and hard work no?
YES!!!!
I 100% agree with your observations. The only one I have personally not witnessed is the motivation of certain parents, after COVID, that choose to computer-homeschool, changing our culture from the inside, but I can completely imagine the truth of your statements. I have personally experienced everything else, or witnessed it, or both. I have also read parts of “Dumbing Us Down” and have to agree with your observations there as well. I know everyone’s journey is different, but speaking from my own experience, I was so overwhelmed when I decided to homeschool, and saw what you were speaking about, how it’s really a business and there is a game to be played. It was so consuming, for me to overcome much of the obstacles posed at me from having no guidance and being brand new with no prior knowledge (or knowing anyone who preceded me in homeschooling), that it is a hardship I know I will not soon forget! I have been homeschooling for a few years now and currently teach two children from 4-9, and am only just now beginning to feel confident and like I can breathe easier. But, to get to this point, I worked diligently to overcome the obstacles you mentioned: the lack of education I personally received as a child (despite holding a BA for several years), the lack of information I had about curriculum (despite there being so many to choose from), and the lack of know-how on HOW to teach a child to read or learn math EFFECTIVELY, especially for boys (whom I also learned require their own considerations). I didn’t sleep for a year+. I schooled my oldest by day and studied for hours at night with a colic infant on the breast. One of the strategies I chose to combat the observation you made of the “dumbed down” generations that are now teaching children, is I purchased several texts from reliable or time-tested sources/companies, took notes, and compared for falsehoods (usually opinion-based instead of fact-based, other fallacies, and inconsistent information, to help weed out which were the most reliable curriculums and what was most likely true, before giving them to my children. I swam in research and waded through tides of information, that it hurt my brain. I am still reading text upon text, book upon book, and sources galore, but I have finally gained a little momentum and am JUST ahead of where my oldest is currently at in their studies. I will spend years pooling over more information to learn “the basics,” that are not commonly taught anymore to make sure I am thorough because you can’t teach what you don’t know. Right now, I stopped some of my current projects to preread and screen young reader chapter books because it has become apparent to me that there is a huge gap in sources naming reliable, trustworthy literature for kids that are confident readers, but not yet ready for the smaller-print chapter books. And a small list won’t cut it for avid readers. Literature is a great source of fast knowledge strait to the child, as a whole, or a cest pit of corruption and a tool for dumbing them down some more, so it is a worthwhile venture to protect that I am also taking seriously. When I am done barreling through this side project that is time-sensitive because my oldest is ready to read them now, I will continue on my mission to continue learning and screening for future grades and self-teaching whatever I need to, to break the cycles you have observed. I no longer watch as many YT homeschooling videos, but I watched thousands in those first two years of this journey. Videos like yours, and other quality channels truly helped get my feet on the ground and be the lighthouse in the dark. Be encouraged that you are right on the mark with this video, and I appreciate all you, and other homeschooling moms have done, to help newer moms like me.
I also wanted to add a footnote that I was an astute student growing up and loved school. I begged to be taught to read, I couldn’t get enough textbooks and literature in my hands, I didn’t fear tests, and I thought learning was the best thing, right next to movies and chocolate. This is how I can be so confident that if I didn’t learn something, it was because I wasn’t exposed or offered it as a child, not because of anything I did or didn’t do myself. And I was credited to being in a good school district, too. These are reasons I think “Dumbing bc Us Down” holds some valid observations, among other reasons.
Thank you so much for your words. So very encouraging. Thank you!❤️
Thank you for sharing this. I see this in my home. I’m a grandma teaching my grandson that lives in my house. His Mom, my daughter doesn’t back me or hasn’t much for 3 1/2 years. She’s beginning to a bit now. (Yea)! Anyway, I’ve taught using a tougher grading scale because I witnessed in my older children that they thrived better when more was expected of them than when they were placed back into the government school. I see the importance of exactly what you relayed here and I wrestle in my home with the mentality of “I can get whatever I need online”. I can see a time where that might not be the case and we will need to read well, speak well, and do mathematics well.
Yes, homeschool culture and curriculum have changed since we began homeschooling ten years ago. The pandemic accelerated the inevitable shift in the homeschool culture as millennials began to homeschool, and growing pains are expected. It certainly motivates me to connect with like-minded homeschoolers and continue my education as a mother-teacher.
You articulated a lot of what I’ve been thinking and trends I’m seeing!
I’ve been implementing more and more Charlotte Mason and Classical methods in my homeschool. So, far it seems to be working well.😊
That’s good to know that it not just me. Thank for sharing. ❤️
I’ve also have been noticing this!!
Actually concerned for the future credibility of the Homeschool community.
Second generation homeschool here and I know what homeschooling use to look like.
What do you think are the essentials to be teaching? So much curriculum is fluff. I love this video. I have been thinking the same things. But what do my kids really, really need to know? Is it reading, writing, math?
I agree with all that you said. The main message I got was: understand and remember what happened before; understand and remember what is happening now, keep your 'why' forefront.
I’m a first year homeschooler to a kindergartener. I’ve been thinking about this for a few months as I’m looking at curriculum for next year. Thank you for articulating what I was thinking.
This was an insightful heart to heart. I think it's important as homeschool moms to find like-minded people to encourage and challenge us. Thank you for being one of those people! Sometimes I find it difficult to keep my son motivated in his education because many of our fellow homeschoolers have more of the mentality of minimal time and minimal effort when it comes to studies.
As far as the continual learning as adults, that is one of my favorite things about homeschooling. I'm certainly getting a much richer education in history, among other things, by learning along with my son.
I totally agree! I homeschooled my girls (now 26 and 29) and now I’m homeschooling 4 of my grands and have been for 4 years now. Once I jumped back in with the grands I saw SUCH a difference-good and bad, mostly bad in the homeschool community. Obviously there is a ton more curriculum available, but I find, as you said, that a lot of it is dummied down! I also agree that reading and writing (especially writing) is not a priority in many homeschools. I see many young homeschooling moms who look for “easy”. Easy for them to teach and easy for their kids to learn. Which is all fine until you see what they are NOT learning. So to sum it up, in my opinion, as I look at the two homeschool worlds of then and now I agree that for the most part the education that homeschooled kids get now is not as good.
Interesting. I am probably one of those parents who pulled their kids out during the pandemic. Having them online with the teacher made me realize that I did not agree in the way things were getting taught, up to disagreeing with the teacher myself. Lol. Since then, it’s been a learning journey for both me and my kids. Something I never ever thought I would do coming from a country where homeschooling is mostly forbidden and not understood.
So based on your name guessing France. 😁 Yes! It is such a journey and we learn every day. Keep pushing through.
I ❤ your post 💯 %. It is hard to pick a curriculum and figure out how to homeschool my children. They are 6yrs old and 4yrs old. At this stage so many people have told me to just focus on the phonics and light math and let them be kids. But as a parent i do believe if im homeschooling my kids im dedicating my time to them, to help them learn great habits and skills to set them up for life. I want to push them and guid them but keep a moral compass.
Im not sure which homeschool curriculum we will officially choose next year, but i will continue to ask god to help pick and push forward with making sure they are learing life skills.
Every structured curriculum I've tried was like a bomb going off in our house. Money wasted kids upset me, pulling my hair out, etc.. The things that worked were old vhs tapes of Rusty and Rosie abc songs, Dr. Seuss books and an abacus with printed out math worksheets. After the basics were learned, we focused on excellent literature and added Saxon math. Our school day was relaxed with lots of play time. The best things we did was get some backyard chickens and grow a garden. Board games and cards were also part of a good education. Monopoly teaches you more about the world than you realize.
I have a book club I created to enjoy books with my youngest daughter while teaching literature. My oldest daughter did a cookbook scrapbook to write a bit about recipes she cooked, while also adding them to her binder. Most were hand copied recipes. She loved copying recipes that she might like to try!!! So many practical skills she was developing!!And I took a picture/s of her cooking and presenting her recipe, which made it a scrapbook!! She added scrapbook paper and stickers!! She took it when she got married!!!
Whatever works! We, on the other hand, need the structure and routine of the books. We have more casual stuff on the side but the core of it is workbooks and textbooks. There is no one size fits all to homeschooling (save that for public and even private schools) and that's OK 😊
@katie7748 I'm glad that worked for you. I really wanted a more structured day, but it just never worked for us. Maybe there's a good "workbook" curriculum out there (life would've been so much easier), but I never found one. My oldest daughter thanks me now for the way we did things. She said it gave her the freedom to focus on her passion, which is writing. I never formally taught writing, but she authored and published a book anyway. I spent too much time worrying that I didn't do homeschool right, but my kiddos proved me wrong. If I could turn back time and do it all again I would've focused more on trusting my intuition and enjoying the process.
First, I’m thankful for your channel and all the regular and very important info you provide for us. Second, you need to know that your channel is crucial to Florida homeschool moms like me. Third, I’m thankful you are our evaluator-which I need an appt for late June, please 😊. I almost feel we need part 2 because there is so much to cover. Great video as always! So my daughter, Mia, has never been in the public school system, but when I decided it was time to homeschool starting “7th” grade, and without having any experience whatsoever, except the info I devoured from your videos and other moms, one thing I had very clear and I have not even considered to change: I was HOMEschooling, I was not private schooling at home, if that makes sense. The first thing I (and I bet about 95% of Christian moms with kids in Christian schools) noticed was, “how come these kids in a Christian school do not talk, care, are excited, you name it, about Jesus or The Bible?” Instead, they are very aware who the Kardashians are dating that week, etc. In our case, we are a conservative family so my daughter has certain values and beliefs she held in because they would put pressure on her. (She says now, “Mom, I look back and it was unbelievably stressful!) So, why would I under any circumstances would want to duplicate or copy in *any* way anything from her school, let alone, the current public system? So, my standard for homeschool is very simple, “Train up your child in the way that they should go, and when they grow up, they will not depart from it.” (No, I didn’t google it😅). I do not want the government or leader of any kind to tell me what or how to teach my daughter. I guess I fall into the unschool type. For science for ex. I look at what a 9th grade curriculum in public & christian school are *saying* they will be teaching and I do that and about 3x more. (Wait until you see what Mia will be covering in Health class alone) But my focus is not if she is ready for Berkeley or Harvard (God forbid). My focus with her is Truth. The Truth she will find only in GOD’s Word. Her values. My focus is to teach her that we are in a journey in which we are never alone because GOD is always with us. My focus is to teach her the importance of protecting her spirit heart. Family. Hard work. To learn to love, forgive and repent when she fails. To go to The Lord daily. To know that she knows that she knows she can trust in Him. To worship Jesus in spirit and in truth. To be a cheerful giver, to owe nothing to anyone except to love them. I want her to understand what is going on in our country. The importance of real history. The importance of standing up for our freedoms, for what is good and honest. To stand for life. To stand with Israel. The importance of resisting tyranny, resist wickedness at all cost. To have discernment. To ask questions. To recognize the lie. The evils of communism. To understand this is not our world, we are in it, but we are not of it. Come to the realization that the world will call you crazy and thank GOD for that, for Jesus said, “Woe unto you if every man thinks good of you.” It is very important for me to teach her the importance of her future husband, family, children…and yes, to cook :) That is the most important subject in our homeschool. That my friend, will go through the fire and be refined.
To save her soul! And to save her mind and body from unnecessary punishment!
I also really related to your message when you said you do the minimum and then you add 3x more to that. I have been doing that as well because I can’t understand how 1 hour a day can possibly cover everything that needs to be covered, even in the younger years. There is so much foundational information to be learned, so many books to be absorbed, and so much growth that won’t take place without it.
@@readingbliss2954my daughter is a born again believer in her Savior Yeshua. She, her spirit, is saved and she understands that there’s nothing she can do to earn her salvation. However, she also understands our soul (mind, will, emotions) must be renewed every day to God’s Word, and that’s the journey. She is understanding the authority of the believer, and the power of the Name and Blood of Jesus, the perfect finished work of Jesus on the Cross and the full redemption of our bodies as Paul tells us in Romans. And so much more!
I also want to make clear that our school is done between 8:30-2:30 and that’s including her reading time, lunch and a R/A. Everything I mentioned is daily “lessons” throughout the day every day. Her passion is drawing and I make sure she gets plenty of time to do so as long as she wants.
Do we do every point every day? Impossible. Do I believe dropping everything on a nice cold (60 for us) morning and walk to our village Sweet Paris Crêperie for hot chocolate? Absolutely! Yes, please! Outside, corner umbrella table! No hesitations.
well said! I concur. I do want my children to try things that they think are hard but the Most Important and maybe hardest thing is to stand up for truth in The Most High and the Messiah! Dumbing us Down is by John Taylor Gatto and I do understand what the main idea of the video is. It is also a very important discussion.
Ahhh thank you so much and thank you for sharing! Make sure to sign up for my Newsletter (I think you are there). I am working on my speaking engagements and conferences for the summer. I should have those set around March and then I'll open up my calendar. I promise I'm trying to keep my Conferences and Speaking Engagements to a minimum, so I have more time for my family and my Homeschool families. I know I'll be at the Tampa Homeschool Convention and the Homeschooling Special Needs Convention in NC. I might do the FPEA, but just as a volunteer. I don't think I'm ready for the expo hall yet. And I'm also waiting to hear back from the Florida Special Needs Conference. That's it so far. But I'll keep you posted.
Beautiful!
I agree on curriculum la and the freebies too! If I haven’t legit used it and am excited about it, I’m not promoting it. It’s not authentic, right? I want people to trust me and my recommendations.
I love everything you’re saying. ❤
You are not full of it. 😊 You are speaking truth. Thank you for sharing. Please if you would, speak more about this in other videos. I appreciate you very much.
Thank you, I will
Yes!! I hear you on this. I have also felt similarly. One thing that really helps is to just pray pray pray! God will lead you in what to do with your children, how to support them and let them have more independence. It’s something that our human nature has trouble with - usually we take the easiest path! ❤ By God’s Grace we can be sacrificial and love our family wisely!
We do similar work, I am in VA, in education for 25 years professionally. You are so right ✅️. It is a balance for families, getting guidance and wisdom from other veteran home educators and those who may have some professional experience as a resource. This helps to give our children our best.
I actually laughed hearing how God has redeemed your life when you said you struggled to communicate and understand what you read as a child, and now you are communicating laws to parents, homeschooling on youtube, life skills to special needs and everything else you communicate and I didn't even know you wrote a book, what a hopeful story! I follow a lot of Charlotte mason writing because she talks about discipline and a lot of Charlotte mason channels talk more about all the things. Momdelights and Ella Frances Lynch have really helped me to relax about the stuff and focus on just showing up everyday for a set time to learn with my child, they study the material and I study them. Also I've been looking into schooling at the start of America and schooling was solely reading and writing, math and nature and baking sciences and handicrafts and personal hygiene and fitness were part of daily life and work at home. With that in mind I have become more focused on the Bible, character training, and reading and sparking curiosity and imagination. With AI and everything coming or who knows, I've just felt disciplining myself to train my kids on those things, the rest will come. You're very encouraging and sweet and your efforts to grow and be trustworthy are very clear to see even from far away on a screen. Keep going onward and upward❤
I love MomDelights ❤ She's like the aunt who was also a Sunday School teacher I never had.
Ahhh, thanks!
Thank you so much... I pray so. I was for sure a late bloomer in communication and comprehension and ironically, I see it in one of my kids. I think it was because my Dad made it a point to help me love learning and I think that's what we're suppose to do to for our kids. Thank you so much for the encouragment.
John Taylor gatto his legacy will live through all of us.
On my 5th homeschool child, but this one is 15 years younger than the next youngest, hurray for surprise babies, I was shocked at the shear magnitude of options. I figured out after a while that at least at this age, preschool/kindergarten the best curriculum is the one you actually use, at first I was hopping around and nothing seemed to be working, but I just picked one and stuck with it, and learning is happening finally, did I pick the 'number one best option' probably not but just sticking with one for a few months at least is allowing us to 'get in the groove' and at this point learning to concentrate and follow the given directions is more the point, and letter and numbers are getting learned, yay us.
I 100% see what you're saying! And I have had some of these thoughts as well. I see so much of "gentle schooling" which. . .yes, it has it's good points. But at the same time, I want to challenge my kids as well, right? I want them to have a BETTER foundation than I did. I'm always struggling with whether I am pushing them hard enough or am I trying to do too much? Will these issues sort themselves out with time and maturity or do I need to change something now?
Oey, and YES. SO. MANY OPTIONS. It's enough to drive a woman insane! Augh, which one!!
Funnily enough, I was drawn to a classical style because I liked the emphasis on reading, writing, and rhetoric. I'm not a classical conversations girl, but I felt challenged by the fact that I needed to be reading a lot to my child and having him narrate things back to me. Thats something I didn't do in school (I've been taking lots of free classes from Hillsdale Online to help with that, haha).
Anyway, thanks for the chat. It's so important to remember why we're doing what we're doing.
Personally, I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on this subject.
Thanks, I'm digging in. I have to go back and listen to myself and glean from these comments. There is so much here.
I agree! It's been 10 years for us and classical seems to be a great way to challenge kids. It's simple but effective.
Love this. Your talk totally laid down the points on what’s most important and lasting when it comes to the foundations of homeschooling. So good!
I like how you said "It's very important that we keep our freedom" Homeschooling has opened my eyes on how the PS failed me and how I have gone all my life thinking I was stupid. No one is stupid we just weren't educated properly. This is our first year homeschooling and it's definitely a rollercoaster. I've felt a lot of guilt especially with my 6th grader on missing friends and after your video it was like an answer to my prayer that I have been seeking to guide me if I should send my kids back to PS . Now I know deep down homeschool is the better choice. Thank you for your hard work on making these videos and for being my guide ❤
Thank you so much for sharing this! ❤
I needed to hear this, and it came at a very crucial time for me. Thank you
Really appreciated this video
Absolutely spot on. ❤
Thank you for sharing your wisdom 🙏
Thank you. I really needed to hear this today. I’ve been struggling with our homeschool. I’ve known that I need to de-school myself and my two older ones, but it’s so ingrained in us. I’ve been doing better but definitely not where I want us to be.
Same here
Same, you are not alone!
Certainly not alone. I'm in the same boat.
Thank you, you gals rock.
My favorite quote from your video is "It's a learning process. It's not a stick your kid in front of the computer process." I also really enjoyed your focus on continuing learning and bettering ourselves. Our children watching us learn and want to better ourselves encourages them to do the same.
Thanks!
I just finished Dumbing Us Down. OHH MAN!!! It took me like two months to finish it because I felt like I was drinking from a fire hydrant! I had to take a few breaks to digest and recover from some of the stuff discussed in the book!! Great book!!
It's so good!
I completely agree with you. I feel as if there is a widespread of homeschooling parents who do not want to be involved with the teaching aspect of homeschooling. Only because a child struggles with math they do not enforce it, the parent prefers to just give it up all together especially once the child reaches high school level. Oh don't get me started on writing, the same thing applies. No structured writing curriculum, as long as the child is drawing and writing in journals its suffice 🙄 Or if the child does not want to attend college, they do the bare minimum to complete high school. These kids are not being pushed to reach their full potential! Sadly a combination of technology and laziness has killed our education system: public, private, and in the home school environment.
"Full potential" is subjective and can hold biases. No everyone can or should be a doctor or lawyer. We desperately need trades. We need cashiers. We need the "lowly" jobs no one seem to want their child to do.
Edit: I do agree with your overall sentiment, by the way.
I follow you because you are an inspiration. I completely trust you for reviews, support, ideas, and just being a wonderful mom. I love the freedom homeschooling allows us but I certainly don’t feel “free” from the government. It’s a complicated time in the world. I would love if you could recommend a Bible study for myself and my 13 year old daughter.
I found you one video ago and you are the pep talk I needed this season. God bless you abundantly for your heart ❤️
❤️ Blessings!
This was so encouraging to me. I always wanted to homeschool my kids, but I have often worried and doubted my ability to do so, because of my own education. Thankfully my husband has been my biggest supporter and encouraged me that I could teach them and it has been exciting to learn alongside my children. Lately, I've felt a pull to really think about what education truly is and how to attain that. For us, being able to have a biblically based education for our children was the number one reason we chose to homeschool. Often, I feel like I'm not sure if I'm doing enough or what standard to set for our school so I've been reading Charlotte Mason's Philosophy of Education to see the why behind what she did in her schools and really thinking about what makes up a good, thorough education for our children.
my husband was homeschooled. I was a public school kid. You are totally right. Thanks for catching me early. I see in him an ability to write and speak and learn in a way that goes way beyond what I can do. My oldest is 2 so i havent started homeschooling yet but im even more convicted now. I want my children to get a better education than I did. It's not like im not intelligent so i know I could have learned so much more. I have a bachelors degree in music education and I taught in private schools for a few years before having kids and, unfortunately, it wasnt any better there than in public school. This journey will be hard since I know am unprepared to teach my kids to be able to think and speak and write in a way that I cant. We will learn together and I'm willing to work hard to make it happen.
You’ve got this. The most important thing is to remember what you want for your child to be/do/think as they grow up. Don’t stress if you don’t completely finish the curriculum, if they need more time over a topic, it’s ok. They will “catch” more than public kids ever will. Living books are a lot of fun to read and learn from. You can easily build a unit study from them
Really a great post. Thank you!
I am a private tutor and have a lot experience with children who have skills far below what I had at their age.
This was so good! You are right on! I am a former public school teacher. I left when I had my first child knowing that I would pursue homeschooling for my children. Now 5 children later I have my own mini classroom lol I’m still homeschooling & will never turn back!
We chose ABeka about 10 years ago! It is a great curriculum for us. I love the strong emphasis on reading & the importance of biblical world view.
Thank you for those video. Lots of things to ponder.
YES! I sense and agree 100%!
This was sitting on my heart. This is my 6th yr homeschooling and kinda fell into the gentle routine which has its place especially with the kids being so young. Butttt it’s easier to “stay” there as they get older and advance in thier schoolwork. Thank you for making this video, it just confirms that a little more needs to be done. Because I want more for my kids and some of the curriculums we’re using now, I feel like won’t help them get there.
This was so encouraging to me. I do recognize this pattern in some of the homeschool communities I am involved in. Especially when it comes to reading and writing. I recognize learning is not linear for all children, but the desire to push these skills off has never felt like the right path for my family. Second generation homeschooler, here, and I have thought for so long that I was pushing my children too hard, but truly feel like my solid homeschool education opened many doors, that I want to establish the foundation for my children.
Very Important Topic and I can completely relate to what you are saying. I feel like too much technology is the culprit behind both issues beside the way the school system was created. I fully agree with that. Children think a computer can do all the work for them and a lot of us parents are falling for it also. Thank you for discussing this.
So true!
You articulated this well! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and challenging us fellow homeschoolers. Definitely going to check out the book!
Thank you!
I’ve been reading about the problems in our educational framework, too. I will look into the Dumbing Us Down book. 3 books that help inform this topic: The Book that Shaped Your World by Magalwadi, Excellent Sheep, and The Closing of the American Mind (especially the last chapter). The latter two are not Christian sources. I’m still trying to figure out what is the best education. The Bible is still the King of Books! Psa 119:99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
Psa 119:100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
Bold, brave, and honest video from the heart. You spoke truth here. Accountability is key. Thankful for the freedom to homeschool my child. As we say in our house, education is a journey, not a destination. Always learning, always growing. Thank you for creating this content.
Thank you!
I'm one of those "dumbed down" parents, that is now homeschooling. I went to public, private and finished online. My kids have never gone to school. They are 1st and 3rd grade. I struggle between thinking I'm doing/ expecting too much, or am I not doing enough?
I don't know if I have much to offer to the conversation. I just wanted to say please make this a series. You articulated so much of what I'm feeling and need education on.
I have watched your vidoes a few times. Today's video made me subscribe. ❤
See now you guys are challenging me! Okay. Let me pray and think on it.
Great video and loving the comments ❤((10 year long homeschooling mamma here))
Dumbing us down is on my wait list on Libby already lol i agree with what you’re saying! I fell into the trap myself. I’m trying to find the balance between challenging and too much. Which is how it should be. My son has adhd, that’s the main reason i chose homeschooling. I didn’t want him in a chair all day everyday, but I have also seen I need to challenge him more than I have been. I also agree about taking everything from everyone. I’ve worked with one curriculum company out of the dozen that have contacted me.
I think about this every single day! I sometimes feel like Im in a loose- loose situation. I wish I had all day to sit with my kids and learn with them, but I also balance running my own business from home, so I just cant. I have a high schooler that we pulled out of public in 4th grade because public school was not serving him in any way, shape or form. Luckily we were able to catch him back up at home. But now, balancing a 4th grader and a 1st grader, who both learn completely different is a challenge (even though they are both awesome kids) ....And I love what you said about continuing to learn. When I am working (I work on wigs) I try to always have something on in the background on that I am learning about. But I just came here to say, you said exactly how I feel also :) Im always trying to do better for them, without bouncing them around with curriculum etc.
Thanks!
Now that I'm homeschooling my kids, I am following a classical education model and can definitely see the contrast of what they are learning compared to the watered down education I received. That said, I'm literally learning alongside my kids and so enjoying reading really old children's books to them that have such richness to them. I try to keep from things becoming too rigorous as to not lose the joy of learning. Don't want materials shoved down their throats as they are all 8 years old and younger.
That is awesome!
Great video! It's a challenge with all of the information available now, to know how to prioritize. This is my 8th year homeschooling, and I still wonder if what we're doing is what we should be doing. If we are going to base things off of what was valued in the past, we also need to remember that we have far more information today than anyone has ever. Jesus and the truth of God's word should be our absolute number one priority and how to live out our lives as God has instructed us to. Then it's reading, arithmatic, writing, and logic. Then I think we explore gifts and interests. Not all of this at once, which has overwhelmed so many of us and created a paralysis due to information and opportunity overload. I hope this makes sense and I pray that you're able to develop and share and encourage and direct fellow homeschoolers to focus and to keep on keeping on.
I’ve recently had thoughts that I just can’t get my brain past some of the public school stuff when I’m homeschooling my kids. I did homeschool some but it was mostly self led. Also struggling with my 9 year old son who has a REALLY hard time staying focused and it drives me bonkers. I wish I had a better education.
People say it all the time but learn alongside your child. Especially try to find first source or primary source.
Though I’m not homeschool my child, I think this video benefits me, too, thank you 😊 learn a few things that I have to work on my daughter’s education. Please pray for my family, thank you again❤
This was really interesting. I fall into the category where you would say I'm not challenging my kids enough, especially academically. My kids have an assortment of diagnoses, each one doesn't have all of these but collectively there is ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. One book that completely changed my outlook was The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan. My goals shifted from making my children smarter than the public school kids to making their strengths stronger and teaching them how to delegate their weaknesses or use their strengths to work around their weaknesses. For years we killed ourselves trying to do all the best curriculums, Saxon, IEW, etc. We did nothing but homeschool and we were all miserable and felt like complete failures. Letting go of outside expectations that all kids need to be good at everything freed us to find my kids strengths and prepare them to use those.
Would you mind sharing what curriculum you landed on for the dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia? I have a few children with dyslexia and some the others as well.
Yes, if you wouldn't mind sharing what resources you've used, I would like to know as well.
This is older video and I don’t completely remember exactly the context. I do know All About Reading and Spelling. And also anything Orton Gillingham.
We get bogged down and distracted by the unnecessary details and marketing ploys. What do we want for our children? I think most of us would say something along the lines of: good moral character, to be able to work hard and take care of themselves and a family, and be able to learn and communicate clearly and effectively. If we step back and focus rigorously but succinctly on the 3R’s, life skills, and building character through faith and community, we can let go of the FOMO on everything else. Kid wants to do piano lessons or judo or whatever? Great. But our job is to train them to thrive as adults, and if we’re buzzing around trying to keep up with the homeschooling or public school Joneses, we will fail them in our essential mission.
It is interesting how education in different parts of the world are different. I grew up in post soviet union education and it was interesting to see how system was changing throughout the years while I was in school. Thankfully I my experience mostly based on soviet union one but my sister who went to school 2 years later went with the new system that was based on American education and was as you said "dumbing down" students. Then I can to USA (WA) and after finishing even college was send to senior year of school here because we had 11 year school system and not 12 year one as it is here. While being in a senior year I realized that education in US is so much below the level I got used to in my home country. In 8-9 years here I moved to Idaho state and started to work as a substitute teacher for public school system in elementary and middle schools. After working in the system for 2 years I decided for myself that I never taking my kids to public school system so now I am a homeschooling mom.
On understanding the laws...I've had a few people tell me to ignore homeschool laws and teach what I want, when I want. Sigh. I agree with the principle and don't think there should be ANY homeschool laws, but I'm not going to put my family at risk like that. All it takes is one meddlesome person for our world to get turned upside-down. There are all kinds of laws, rules, and guidelines that people choose to follow or not follow. And, like I say all the time, there is no one size fits all to homeschooling.
We used to live in a state with fairly lenient, but still a bit stifling, homeschool laws. They required certain subjects (which I'd teach anyway) and had an hourly requirement, for example. For some people that's not an issue but for us it was. The state we moved to has much better homeschool laws so we are free to do as we please...for the most part anyway. We still school for roughly the same amount of time each day, but the pressure from the State is gone.
I hear that other states have to homeschool specific subjects. Florida laws are great though, because they really protect the homeschool family.
@@LivingWithEve I live in New York and they do tell us what subject to cover and we have to report every quarter and final assessments.
Agree 💯
This is my 3rd year homeschooling. I was “dumbed down” by my public school for sure. I graduated from high school in 2004 with an honors degree, took AP classes, etc. then graduated with my BA from a university in 2008.
We are using The Good and the Beautiful for math, language arts, and handwriting. And also using Ambleside Online curriculum as written/scheduled.
I want to break the dumbing down cycle. I never know if I am doing too much or too little. I suppose if it’s one of those I would rather do too much.
I wish you could tell me if these curriculums will create a decent education for my children.
But yes, I see a lot of people online not doing much “schooling” in their homeschool and shaming others for doing “too much schooling”
I get a few people (one on Y T in particular but I shan't name names...she's not a homeschool content creator anyway) who constantly shoves down your throat that you can homeschool in 2 hours a day, and that people are brainwashed to think they HAVE to do more than that. It's so aggravating. Just because it's what YOU choose to do and it works for YOU doesn't mean it's what WE want and will work for US. They get so snooty and snotty about it. Ugh.
You’re doing TGATB AND AO? That sounds like too much, frankly. If it works for your family, great, but for us even just AO as directed was too much. The more we simplified, the better off we were. Now we use the Robinson method with the AO booklist. If your kids can read and write well, have fluency in arithmetic, can keep good hygiene and home, and can work hard at something by the time they leave home, they’re better off than 99% of their peers.
As a parent, learning to go against the flow was very scary. Now that I did it, and got used to it, it's just fine! But at first it was very scary.
As long as you're concerned with fitting into the culture or societal expectations, I think you're stunting your potential.
I suspect that there is generally a dichotomy of people with very high expectations of themselves and their kids and who exercise their freedoms, and people with no/low standards who base their success on meeting society's expectations (not realizing that society doesn't care a bit about them as a person!)
I trust Messianics because just being Messianic goes against the flow, so I know that you make your own decisions and think for yourself! And I'm Messianic too. Love it!
lol... for sure.
#StandingOvation ❤
We are repeating that pattern if we don't break that pattern. That spoke to me.
You should see the state of Australian school curriculum, the curriculum itself was one of the Easton’s we pulled kids out of private school. You mentioned that you don’t love the classical curriculum, funnily, it has been an absolute godsend for my gifted child who spent the last two years bored in school. It certainly isn’t for every child, but gifted kids absolutely thrive with a Classical curriculum.
Oh I said I did a video on not particularly liking it but I learned that it wasn't the method that I disliked, it was a particular style of classical education. I actually use classical education like IEW and some others because I appreciate the stress on communication, comprehension and speaking.
Hello! I live in Arizona and I agree with pretty much everything you’ve said. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on the new state program we have for homeschoolers. Currently Arizona is an incredibly easy state to homeschool in but with this new government funding will they slowly creep in and take over our freedoms? I’m very interested to hear your thoughts because of your experience with working for homeschoolers in Florida. Thanks in advance!
Yes, Florida and Arizona seem to be embracing this new funding. I spoke with someone on the board of our lobbyist's organization for homeschool. From what I understand is that it was a way to keep homeschooling safe. The politicians were trying to change the homeschool laws and make it harder, so the lobbyist here had to come up with a way to protect the laws. Our funding program is actually not homeschooling. It functions like homeschool but politically it is not. It's called the Personalized Education Program and the only requirement is testing. The homeschoolers who decide to not take the money, their laws have been left unchanged and protected. So now if the government wants to come in and control homeschooling here, they will focus on the PEP families before they touch the families under the homeschool law. It was a very smart way to keep the laws safe.
Yes! One thing I think you are missing that will cause quite a stir is the role homeschool charters have played in this. The endless money for all the Curriculums, to dump the Curriculums and start over, to make these endless content videos. Curriculum companies are also seeing this money and switching their curriculum to appease the government to get their pay day. We used to be part of a charter school, and once we left, it was so obvious that I was being played. The game is changing because of the homeschool charters, and it's having a domino effect. The curriculum companies have their normal packages, and then their charter package. This needs to stop. Either charters need to go or homeschoolers need to demand that these curriculum companies stay true to values
Oh, side note: An HSLDA representative I spoke with last summer told me not to bother with Latin because it's dead, nobody uses it, it's a waste of time and money, etc. I was FLOORED. I wouldn't be surprised if she feels analog clocks and penmanship (especially cursive) are unnecessary as well. I wrote her name down somewhere so I could lodge a complaint but lost it amongst all the papers we have before I could get to it. (It started with an M but that's all I can remember 🤔) If I ever find it, I will call and be a "Karen." I'm not normally like that but that's unacceptable to me.
That's so hard Because as an HSLDA rep, it's hard to separate her opinion from just focusing on the legal things. People take her opinions as facts because of her status, I know because I feel that burden often. It's not easy.
People write off Latin without trying to understand the benefits of it. Theres a reason that people have bought into it. My son studied Latin for 4 years and I have so many examples where he figured out what English words meant bc he knew the Latin root. Most don’t realize how many English words come from Latin. Not to mention the other romantic languages. One of my friends told me she knew somebody who took Latin through classical conversations and then tested into 3rd year Spanish in college (having done NO Spanish before). It made me wonder if Latin is the reason our forefathers knew so many languages.
Latin isn’t for everybody and that’s ok. My teen daughter isn’t learning it even though my son did. But it’s not a useless study. It just depends on what your goals are. 😉
My grandmother left public school teaching in the late 1960s because she saw the dumbing down happening at that time and knew it would only get worse and she couldn't play a part in it.
I personally think it is more common among younger moms to assume that “gentle” and basically slow-paced education is the best way. I don’t think they realize how trendy this is rather than actually true. The pendulum will eventually swing the other way.
The Seven In All channel said it best. “Sometimes less is more…but sometimes less is just less.”
Bible as firm foundation and CM method!!!
I was just talking to a fellow homeschooler about this yesterday. I have three boys, 7-11 years old and it literally takes us all. day. long. to get through everything for all three. I don't group them altogether for everything and the older two are starting to have much more independent work. I don't want homeschool to look like public school but I still want to have standards. I think it's easy for both mom and kids to get lazy... because no one is really holding them accountable... kids are ok with being in trouble with mom rather than a teacher or principal in front of their peers. But I dont know how some families are only doing school for 4 hours a day. I dont do just one curriculum and really try to tailor everything to each child and their likes and needs. But it is a full day for us here. Our thoughts were that they were either only online or they weren't doing challenging or a reasonable on grade/age work. Which I think is still critical. All this coming from someone who taught in the public school system at one point. It makes me relieved to know that I am not alone in this thinking.
SAME! I'm so tired of the snooty and snotty ones who say I've been brainwashed into thinking I have to spend more than 2 or 3 hours doing school, and that things like gardening and cooking, comparing prices at the store, etc all count as school. I'm horrified by that. Yes, those things are still educational but...no. For one thing, two of my children require individual attention for certain subjects. I literally CANNOT homeschool in "just 2 hours" and have them all thrive across the board. We have multiple children (not a whole brood, but more than some of these snooty parents do), there is a lot of catching up to do, a lot of things I want them to learn and know beyond the basics, they learn differently, and we sometimes spend an entire hour on Theology alone. (I try to keep it 30 minutes but Bible study portion often goes longer than planned lol)
The bottom line, in my opinion, is if it works for you, great. If it doesn't work for Susie next door, that's fine. There is no one size fits all to homeschooling and that's OK!
@@katie7748 Agreed!
@@serenab2938 It really helps to know that others dont finish up around the same time as we do. My boys also like to have a lot of breaks and quite frankly I need the breaks too in order to get housework done and prep for our evenings.
I think when you say there are things you don’t agree with in classical education you’re referring to NEO classical? Because there are so many things I love about well trained mind but moving towards Charlotte mason and following Andrew Kern, I found classical education is at the heart of CM philosophy and that time period. Which is not neo. I love that we have options and we can incorporate what feels right and timeless.
I think number one going to primary sources, being your own fact checker rather than passing down the “funny phonics” or other things taught that are dumbed down, but not facts. To stay on the topic of spelling, homeschooling introduced me to phonograms and there are so many amazing curriculums that are phonogram-based and I got to learn along side my kids. I’m not pushing any particular curriculum, but logic of English has a RUclips video by that title with about an hour long encouragement on how there is a logic to English and even an older student can be taught the rules of linguistics and how much that helps these kids that are otherwise struggling because they are logical, but the way things have been taught are not.
I've been enjoying several of your videos, and like a lot of what you have to say. But, Please read up some more on the Pilgrims. They had left England to go to HOLLAND for religious freedom. But they lived in Holland a number of years before moving to North America. In Holland, they *had* religious freedom. So, they didn't come to North America primarily for religious freedom, although they did value it highly.
What book did you write & publish?
Freedom to Learn www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5K3FS1G/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_api_gl_i_K82P2E5F3GR0RN9106P7?linkCode=ml2&tag=leilanimelend-20
What hs companies did you work for? Ty by the way.
Companies? I’m self employed now. But I work for the public school system and then a private school.
Is it important that your kids be able to read the Bible in the original languages?
That's really up to you and where you are. I've been encouraging my kids to learn certain words in the original language, words that are important to context and meaning, but we mainly focus on how to read and understand scripture as a whole. As they grow older, of course, how we teach the bible will change.
Thank you. I did a rigorous curriculum for my older three. All graduated from known four year universities with scholarships, honors and tough degrees. I now feel pressure to do Charlotte Mason/ gentle approach with my fourth. I tried, but it’s not working because I’m not preparing him for the real world. I’ve gone back to what I know works, and my fourth is thriving. This is why I’ve been silent in this “new” homeschool world. I think it’s a generational thing, honestly.
That sounds like what I’d like to accomplish. May I ask what curriculum you used or what it looked like? Of course relationships are important too, but I think children are being taught a lot in character when they have to get things done even if or when they don’t like it. Very much like real life…
@heatherjordan4022 what curriculum do you use ?
Hi! I am also wondering which curriculum you are using?
I am currently using The Good and the Beautiful as well as Ambleside Online.
I am open to other curriculums!
I'm not sure which curriculum you are referring to as "Charlotte Mason/gentle approach," but an authentic Charlotte Mason education is a classical education and should be rigorous by Form 2 (4th-6th) grade with the inclusion of Shakespeare, Plutarch, Ancient History, and Latin.
Food for thought. I am 75 years old and a former 5th grade public school teacher. Public school has disintegrated because families and the cultural norms have drastically changed. Perhaps what you are struggling with is the dilemma of how can the average parent fully educate their child when their own education is woefully inadequate. There is so much about our world that is dysfunctional and the average person feels they have no control over anything. If you want to manifest this frustration and homeschool your child then you might believe your intentions are honable, but only time will tell you if you were up to the challenge.
Yes and that's why as adults we should never stop trying to learn and grow as individuals too.