Homeschool - Shifting Paradigms

I first began investigating homeschooling four years ago after talking with a good friend of mine who homeschools her five children.  I wrote about my thoughts and original motivation for homeschooling a couple of years ago in this post here and here. 

When it comes down to it, my initial investigation into homeschooling came about as the result of a complete shift in the way I view education for young children.  Really, though, I'm not sure I had a prior view on education, as much as I simply went with the cultural flow.  It's what we know.  It's what we do.  No questions asked.  No questions asked because  I didn't have any questions.  Yet.

It wasn't until Luke started second grade that I really started thinking about the kind of education I wanted for my children.  Up until then, motherhood was all about survival and basic training.  Suddenly, as he approached 8 years old, I could sense the coming years of teaching and training, shaping and molding, and I began to wonder how I would go about it.  I had feelings about what I wanted- instincts, maybe?  But no clear, organized thoughts.  And definitely no plan.  Not until I read about A Thomas Jefferson Education (also knowns as TJEd.) And more specifically, about Leadership Education .  It was the latter book that really struck some chords in me regarding the education of children and their phases of learning.  I found myself saying:  This is what I want for my children.  This is what I want for my family.  In those books I read about ideas that had only been feeling thoughts in me up until then.  It all just made so much sense.  And I was so grateful that I was not alone.  That someone had thought of these things, connected all the dots and written books about it- to help me follow my own instincts! 

Forgive me for not going into detail about these principles.  I'm providing links to the books on Amazon where you can read summaries and reviews.  There are far more reviews for them on Goodreads.  There is also a link to the TJEd website on one of those earlier posts I wrote.  I do not have the time right now to do it justice in this post, so I'm hoping the links will suffice for anyone interested in investigating further.
The founders of  TJEd have compiled a resource called A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion which gives examples of practical application of their educational principles.  Keep in mind, A Thomas Jefferson Education  is NOT a curriculum.  It's a set of principles based on the educational methods of great men and women in history, including some of the Founding Fathers.  Because it is not a curriculum, the Home Companion is helpful in outlining specific ways of organizing your home and schedule to apply the principles, with whatever additional resources you choose to use.  It takes a couple of readings to digest, but really helps dissipate some of that fog of wondering where to begin.  It's really more simple and instinctual than we realize.  I found that much of what was suggested I was already doing or in the process of implementing in our home.  I realized I needed to trust myself more, rather than outsource so much of the wisdom on how to raise and educate my children. 

Which leads me to perhaps the most important point I've learned in my homeschooling journey:  there is no one organization or one method or one curriculum for educating my children in the fullest sense.  Not one that has all the answers.  Especially not for the vision I have.  I know that sounds scary- like walking on a tight rope without a net, but it's actually quite the opposite in this case-- because as long as I think that someone or some earthly entity has all the answers, I enlist myself to live and act under enormous pressure to meet unfounded expectations and/or deadlines for learning when there ought not be.  This is precisely where stress and misery enters homeschooling for me.  This is the foundation of so much of the fear involved- the idea that I'm somehow going to do it wrong or fall behind according to some imagined expert or authoritative criteria.  And this is where learning is robbed of joy

Nonetheless, it's important to have a place to start-- an idea, a philosophy, even a set curriculum to cling to until we get our footing.  But for me,  it's been equally important to grow into my own from there.  It seems unimaginable at the beginning- when you feel so disoriented- and even in the middle (like me, this summer,) in a place of forgetting.  But the growth really happens; knowledge is gained; confidence rises.  Homeschooling becomes far less daunting for me once I realize how much liberty I really have in my approach- and then take baby steps towards my vision through a basic plan and schedule.

A Thomas Jefferson Education was the perfect jumping off point for me--there is so much truth in it's philosophy--but even so, I don't subscribe to every single aspect or appendage of it.  I have learned to pull ideas from other homeschooling methods since then- ideas which ring true to me- probably because they are specific ideas my children need.  I have learned on this journey that God is my compass, just as He is in my life. He is the only one I should completely subscribe to.  If I ask, He will direct me in the specifics of what my children need.  And He already has.   There does not need to be fear. (Reminder to self.) 

I know that it's difficult to feel like we're getting answers to prayer.  Or that we can pray for something so specific, such as "Help me find a good history program that teaches _____ for my children this year."    And then actually trust that we're really truly going to get an answer...  But we really can!  This is entirely how I came up with the core materials for Abby and Miri this year.  I get dizzy navigating through homeschooling resources on the Internet.  It's far more efficient  for me to pray specifically about what I'm looking for and then trust that He'll bring it my way- in a way that I recognize.   And He did.  I'm very happy with the resources we're using this Fall.  They are simple and straightforward and achieve the desired goals.  We fill in the rest with whatever our hearts desire. 

Approaching education in this way has been enlightening.  It has opened my mind and broadened my perspective.  It has led me to look up instead of out and to trust that there is a divinely marked path for each one of us, from our earliest years-- if we're interested enough to seek it, and follow it.  Bringing God into the everyday of education has brought life to my vision and transformed my desires and expectations for my children.  I have really, truly experienced a major shift of paradigm.