The education of our children is a duty Phil and I as parents are charged to oversee. We reject the teaching that it is something we are mandated by God’s Word to take upon ourselves to be the sole teacher of our children, but do believe it is our responsibility to see that they are provided with an education. We believe parents are free to choose how they can best provide that instruction for their children.
Though I thought I would probably homeschool our children waaaay back 100 years ago, Phil and I have decided that for now the best way we can educate our babies is to send them to our local public school.
There are many reasons for this, but the easiest to state is that at some point after the babies kept coming I had to ask myself if homeschooling was realistic for me. My emotions run amok on that question, but it had to come down to one simple question, can I do a better job at educating these children than someone else could? I don’t think so, at least not in this season of life.
For me keeping my children churched, dressed, fed, somewhat disciplined and kind of clean proves to be challenging enough. The thought of taking on the great responsibility of their learning just added to my anxieties. So trusting Christ and my husband, I relinquished that role of “teacher” to someone else.
A math lesson with Grandma.
I’ve learned many valuable lessons in my role of mother. One has been that I can not be all things to all of my children all of the time. Though I am many things to them, even teacher as God and life allow teaching moments, I have to let my babies be things for themselves or for one another and I have to let other authorities in their lives serve them as well. I am thankful for help from others and instead of feeling guilt that I can’t do it all, I have learned to gratefully accept that help and see how God has provided for me and my family where I can’t.
So how does a large family navigate the waters of being schooled outside of the home?
The more children we have had start school the more I realized I’m gonna have to have some kind of system in place to stay organized. They require back packs, lunch items, supplies and do bring home a lot of paper. It wasn’t easy to find ideas on how to keep all this in order on the scale of a large family but I have come up with a few ideas that seem to work for now.
My dream of a Family Command Center was made reality. Phil ordered this sheet metal from a local metal works company. They custom cut it and folded the edges for us. Phil drilled it into place on this wonderful wall we have in our Laundry Mudroom area.
It’s magnetic so it’s here each child has a spot for their papers and I added a box where their folders can be placed when they get home from school. I check them and put them back so they can go back into backpacks.
Facing this board is our family calendar. I can keep an eye on schedules, homework and art work here, it’s all together in one place.
Backpacks are stored in our Mudroom along with seasonal wear and shoes in this monstrous explosion of stuff.
Lunch bags and snacks for packing are kept together in an area the kids can get to themselves. I help a little but all of them are able to make their own lunches.
While we do see the advantages of using government school, we are also aware that it is not a perfect system of education, as there is no perfect method of education. We are diligent to stay aware of what our children are learning there as well as what they are not learning there.
I decided several years ago that in order to round off their education I would fill in the gaps at home with the subjects I want my children to learn. The two subjects I chose to supplement are History and Literature/Poetry. (Art study, Latin or Greek are the other subjects I hope to eventually fill in as well.) For now my main focus has been History.
Literature and Poetry are not sit down style lessons at this point but are “taught” by adding good books to our home library and by reading aloud good literature, nursery rhymes and poems to my children.
As for our more formal lessons, I set aside an hour on Saturday and on Sunday for history.
There are so many different methods of education out there. I favor a more classical style of learning for children. In our case of supplemental lessons at home, a chronological study of history beginning with the Classical world or Ancient History, and moving on to Modern Times. Since we don’t have access to a “Classical” school I thought supplementing classical studies into the American studies our children will receive in their public school was a good route to go.
But I also enjoy the freedom of different models, one that eases children into the study of the world around them beginning with what is most familiar to them, their own country; it’s history, stories and prominent people. So while our formal lesson time is devoted to the ancient civilizations, the books in our living room are American Folktales or stories of early America.
During the previous school year, I worked my way into Weekend Lessons with a book called The Story of the World. I liked this book for it’s brevity and being easy to read aloud to the kids, but I wanted to beef it up with coloring sheets and activities related to the lesson we were reading. After a while I got tired of all the leg work of having to round up the accompanying activities, crafts and coloring on my own. I didn’t think this was sustainable so I pulled a big fat book off my shelf. One that I bought some time ago but having thumbed through thought it looked like it would be too much for our needs.
I was wrong. It turned out to be exactly what I was needing. It’s a ‘homeschool’ curriculum called The Mystery of History. You can watch this about it HERE if you’re curious. I love this resource.
For a small price I ordered the complete set of handouts or notebooking pages that are available to use with it and I’m so glad I did. The babies really like the lessons and the worksheets and I don’t have to come up with my own activity ideas unless I want to and have time to do so. I might go ahead and order the coloring pages too.
Building our own Stonehenge.
I’m pleased that the lessons include Biblical history right along side the rest of the lessons on other civilizations. Including Creation, the flood, the tower of Babel etc. into History Lessons gives kids a more complete perspective and understanding of the history of the world. And since my time with the kids is more limited, this kills two birds with one stone, the birds of teaching Old and New Testament History and ancient history. I can do both at the same time!
Cracker ziggurats of Mesopotamia.
The other resource I draw a lot from is the curriculum of Memoria Press. I like to look through the reading lists on their site and order from them or find cheaper versions online or at the library. I have also ordered some of their materials just to have for us. The Art Cards I like as well as the handwriting manual (though Lily’s using one of these to learn cursive at school) and eventually I want to use the Poetry Workbooks.
We’re all enjoying the time we spend learning about history together. It’s a blessing to live in a time and culture such as ours with the choices and resources for education available to us as parents. It’s a great modern luxury to be able to have access to libraries, books, supplies and don’t forget free time with which we can educate our children either on our own at home or through the private and public schools.
There is a great debate, very heated, around this subject of education. It’s hard to ignore especially when the arguments against Christian parents sending their children to public school begin to create fear and despair.
Making use of government education for my children has at times been a matter I don’t speak much about. In some circles there isn’t much support for parents in my situation and can start to make one feel lonely or at the worst like they’re being a “bad parent.” That is very unfortunate. I hope this post might be helpful to someone. Perhaps I’ll consider writing further on the issue of Christian Children in Public Schools at some point.
I do homeschool and have been quite overwhelmed at times 🙂 Some of the easiest things I’ve done that have produced the best results are:
1. Maps on the walls (one of the U. S. and one of the world)– big ones in easy to get to locations. The readers learn without effort. Sometimes I even stand and look and learn while swaying back and forth with a fussing baby.
2. I think one of the best things you can do is to keep the good books available at their fingertips. They look at pictures first; when they can read, they usually do.
3. Read to them lots.
Another fantastic post, Aubri. I really appreciate all of your details as well as your explanation on why you chose public school for this stage in your family. Our children are fortunate to attend an LCMS school but will likely go to public school for high school, as I did. So thankful for Christian freedom in this area as well as knowing that our families are using the same course of thought that we are.
Aubri, you are an absolutely wonderful parent for your children. Never forget that. The choice to educate your children at home or entrust them to somebody else is a decision that was made with great thought and consideration. I applaud you for thinking through your decision and making the best decision you can for your family. There are many ways to educate one’s children, and what works for one family may not work for another. Above all, you and Phil are giving your children a Christian education in giving them Jesus on a daily basis. God bless and keep you every day as you care for these little ones.
And if I haven’t told you this week, it bears repeating… I am so proud of you for doing the work that God has given you to do. He will bless and guide — always!!!
Thank you ladies so much. <3
It is unfortunate how parents are judged and judge each other. It is sad how much guilt there is brought on by other parents. No matter what decision is made there always seems to be someone there to say you’re wrong or to make you feel bad. Thanks be to God we are not saved by those decisions, that we are not required to all homeschool or use public education or private education. We can use our Christian freedom to decide what works best for our families. Thanks be to God that He provides us with everything we need to support this body and life, including public, private or homeschool education.