Califoregon Living

Description from homeschooloasis.com

Called “the best first book to read”—and for good reason! Father to six homeschooled children and the founder of Christian Life Workshops, Harris helps you find your way around the fast-growing homeschool movement.

His classic introduction will answer all your “who, when, where, what, how, and why” questions.

My Notes:

Of the many books I read for this course, I think, (I repeat, THINK, there are still a ton of notes to review), this was the most helpful book for me in terms of all the basic questions.  This was the book I think I took the most notes from.  Another absolute “must read”, especially for the beginning homeschooler.

Points of impact:

• I am my children’s keeper, protector, and provider.  God has entrusted the care, nurture, and education primarily to me.
  
• Never underestimate the potential of every child.
  
• The Bible makes it clear that the primary responsibility for the education and training of children rests with the parents.  Regardless of how it is pursued, education is always more effective when parents actively participate in the process.
  
• The concept of sending our children to evangelize an overtly anti-Christian public school system …we need to be shaping our kids into arrows that will fly straight to the target God has set for them.
  
• With 20-25 student in a class, a teacher is must aim each lesson at the average child, thus failing to suit the lesson to a number of students at both ends of the spectrum.  Consider the division of the teachers time and attention between many different needs and students.
  
• Tackle hardest subjects first while they have the energy.  Do the bulk of the studies before lunch.  Afternoon is “delight directed”.
  
• The American family has been convinced over the years that others outside the family can do a better job of providing things that the family had always provided for in the past.
  
• The Educational Advantages of Home Schooling:
  
  
  
  • The significance of parents.  Subjectively, you are the most important person in the world to your child.  You have greater credibility with him.  Public/private schooling risks teacher emulation.  There is no say over who your child spends their days with or what their teacher is teaching them.
    
  • Moral purity.  Public/private schools-no control over the values instilled in your children.  Homeschool allows you to choose a curriculum that reinforces your faith and presents it attractively.
    
  • Individual instruction.  Homeschooling provides a higher level of individual attention, which provides a better foundation for teaching and learning.
    
  • Feeling of security.  Children feel most secure at home.  It is in this security, he will venture to take risks and try new skills.
    
  • Healthy socialization.  When children spend ample time with their parents and siblings in a warm and loving atmosphere, they usually learn to enjoy being with all age groups, including their own.  By watching and imitating others, they learn politeness, and they learn to express themselves confidently with good conversational skills. 
    When children spend more time with their age-mates than they do with their parents, they become oriented towards their peers.  They will feel pressured to please their peers.  Peer groups form and create their own identity-(dress, vocabulary, habits, gesture).
    What happens when values of the peer group conflict with those of the family?  The child will have to choose between the two.
    Some parents fear that a child who isn’t exposed to the “real world” while he is young, won’t be able to cope with it later.  But don’t worry; the real world has a way of getting into everyone’s life.
    Nobody is better off being exposed to evil, in whatever form, and that’s especially true for children who are struggling through their formative years.  What they need in order to cope with the “real world” in not a detailed knowledge of evil, but an experience of the value of a strong and Godly character.  The home is much better suited to providing that experience than any school.
    
  • Flexibility.  In school, teaching is confined to the classroom setting and the prescribed hours of attendance.  In the home, there are constant learning opportunities.  The homeschool program can be tailored to the student’s needs and interests.
    
    
  
  
• There is a clear call from God to be responsible for the full development of our children.
  
• Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will no depart from it.”
  
  
  
  • The words “train up” are a command, not a suggestion.
    
  • “In the way he should go”= training in righteousness.
  
  
• Scholarship=academic and a faithful walk
  
• A complete Christian education will equip each student to fill his station in God’s design for society.
  
• Paul said that a man who would be a leader in the church has to have first trained his own children properly.
  
• Do not view education in terms of formal training, but as a lifestyle.
  
• Each of us has opportunities to teach our children.  We simply have to learn to see them for what they are and take advantage of them when they come along.  Now, I admit, this is not easy.  It takes alertness, often when we’re tired and would rather just administer discipline or ignore the question.  But, if we’re going to take seriously our responsibility for the training of our children, then, with God’s help, we mustn’t let those golden opportunities slip away.  They comprise a very important side of homeschooling.
  
• Why is there so much emphasis on teaching young people to endure hour after hour of boring, disjointed and generally uninteresting activity?
  
• Biblical mandate for education
  
  
  
  • Directed at parents
    
  • Our education should benefit the church and society.
    
  • Phil 4:13:  “I can do all thinks through Christ who strengthens me.”
  
  
• The modern homeschool movement
  
  
  
  • Different motivations
    
  • Different time frames
    
    
    
    • From start to finish (PreK to college)
      
    • Transitional (formal school later)
      
    • Supplemental (enrolled in formal school, augmented at home)
    
    
  • Different methods
    
    
    
    • Traditionalist-prepared curriculum.  Similar to formal school.
      
    • Unschooling-children learn by themselves
      
    • Unit Study-multiple subjects if study under one unit.
      
      
      
      • Delight directed study
        
        
        
        • based on an interest of the student
          
        • Child responsive, but parent supervised
          
        • Studies can be “delightful”; a feast for the student’s mind
          
        • Teach by example how to have good taste and maintain a strong Biblical conscience.
  
  
• Three stages
  
  
  
  • “Lift off”-elementary-you are the coach for your child in the game of life
    
  • “Pivotal”-middle school-you are the patron for your child in the arts of life
    
  • “Final Thrust”-high school-you are the mentor for your child in the business of life
  
  
• “Yeah, but…” Qualifications
  
  
  
  • Homeschooling is not a new idea!
    
  • God never gives us a responsibility without also providing the means and the strength to fulfill it.  Lean on Him!  He wants us to succeed.
    
  • Recognize the weak academic record of the majority of our country’s schools
    
  • There is no one more motivated than you to see your child trained well, not only in academics, but in all areas of life, as the Bible mandates.
  
  
• Time
  
  
  
  • The best way to teach a child is one-on-one, giving the child undivided attention, carefully monitoring the level of difficulty and the child’s progress.  The typical school teacher, with over 20 students, just can’t give any one student much individual attention.
    
  • It’s a matter of quality, not quantity.
    
  • Declare and be clear of your priorities.
  
  
• Organization
  
  
  
  • Lesson planning and documentation tools
    
  • Support groups-local and nationwide
    
  • Education is a journey for student and teacher.  Don’t expect perfection of yourself.
  
  
• The daily grind
  
  
  
  • Flexibility
    
  • Consider a two week break every 10-12 weeks, instead of a summer break (similar to the community college schedule)
    
  • Travel and have family trips whenever you want
    
  • Don’t let homeschooling (or parenting) dominate your life
  
  
• Socialization
  
  
  
  • Two kinds
    
    
    
    • Age integrated
      
    • Age segregated
      
      
      
      • Child is pressured to adopt habits and attitudes of peers, while his identity in reference to home and church is frequently attacked.
    
    
  • Practice hospitality
    
    
    
    • Have friends over
      
    • Sleepovers
      
    • Exchange students/missionaries
    
    
  • Homeschooled children have more, not less, contact with others if their parents practice hospitality.
    
    
    
    • Extracurricular activities
      
    • Church activities
      
    • Events with support groups
  
  
• Isolation
  
  
  
  • We don’t want to raise children to be naïve.  But, it does not mean we when and where and how they learn about this world.  Goal is insulation, not isolation.
    
  • Homeschool is not an attempt to run from the world, but a simple, realistic strategy of how best to train a child to deal with that world at the appropriate time. 
    
    
    
    • And that appropriate time is after the child has proved his maturity and Christian character at home
  
  
• Legal complications
  
  
  
  • NEA opposes homeschool
    
  • Know the law in your state
  
  
• Cost to homeschool
  
  
  
  • Huge variant, but average $100-$200/year per student
  
  
• Making the commitment
  
  
  
  • Don’t rush the decision making process.  Pray with your spouse and be in agreement.
    
  • Be resolute.  Don’t doubt what God has shown you.
    
  • Set a realistic timeframe.  Take 30 days to prepare before beginning your homeschool.
    
  • Choose your tools-research curriculum, educational methods, etc.
  
  
• Enlisting support
  
  
  
  • Join Christian homeschool associations
    
  • Subscribe to homeschool magazines
  
  
• Legal compliance
  
  
  
  • Keep accurate, up to date records
    
  • Attendance, grades, lesson plans by subject, health records (The Homeschool organizer)
  
  
• Laboratory of Life
  
  
  
  • Evangelism is the work of the whole Church, not just pastors and evangelists.  It is especially the work of families.  It is a function of life’s grand laboratory: the home.
    
    
    
    • Hospitality
      
    • Foreign exchange hosting
      
    • Entrepreneurial stewardship
      
    • Home business
      
    • History and Storytelling-our own experiences, Bible stories, national heritage