There are times in the life of every parent when it becomes clear that we have done something right. We may not see those glimpses everyday, but they do happen and, when they do, we gloat. Today is a day of gloating, which is a difficult thing to do while maintaining humility. To make it that task easier, I’m going to give my wife all the credit since she deserves it anyway.
For the past several years my wife has been loosely following the Thomas Jefferson model of education. In recent months she has really come to fully embrace it and has enjoyed watching our kids develop a true love of learning. As a homeschooling family we have the flexibility to step outside of the confines of a traditional classroom, so giving the kids opportunities to learn in new ways is par for the course.
My kids have always been naturally gifted learners (again, this comes from my wife). As I stood in front of a hot barbecue this evening with pork chops soaking up a healthy dose of smokey flavor, my (almost) nine-year-old daughter, Maddie, came outside with a piece of paper and a hula hoop. As she started wagging her hips with the hoop obediently following her cues, she said, “Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, Mad,” I replied as I always do.
“Do you want to hear my speech?”
“Sure, Maddie,” I said. “Let’s hear it.” She then proceeded to give me a complete summary and analysis of the biography of Sojourner Truth that she had just finished reading. As I listened to her flawless performance with the hoop spinning seamlessly around her hips, it struck me that what this home-schooled third grader had written was as good or better than any fifth grader had ever written for the fifth grade class I teach at the local public school.
“Who told you to write that?” I asked when she was done.
“No one, I just wanted to write a speech.”
Later, I was talking to my wife about her speech. “She did all that during her free time today. She wasn’t even supposed to be doing school work at that time,” she told me.
So let me get this straight. My daughter, who already has a deep passion for reading, read a book on her own without a parent or teacher ever telling her she had to read anything. Then she developed a further passion for the main character that was so deep that she felt compelled to write a speech about this person, again without an adult ever intervening. Then she was so excited about what she had accomplished that she wanted to share it with her dad. On top of all that, the speech had a clearly defined topic, main ideas, and supporting details, just like we teach in school, only she didn’t have to sit in a desk and listen to a teacher try to creatively explain how such a report should be written. She simply read a lot of books, applied what she read, and enjoyed it in the process.
I know that not every family can enjoy the kind of freedom and excellence that homeschooling can bring to a child, but many families are afraid to try it because they feel comfortable with the status quo. If you have ever considered taking the homschool route, do a little bit of research and always remember this one rule; Homeschooling is much more than doing public school at home. It is a series of opportunities to do things differently. Make the most of those opportunities and you will never regret it.
