- I enjoy spending time with my children.
- We want our kids to be closer to one another than they are to their peers.
- I love reading to my kids.
- We want our children to have a Christ-centered education where everything we learn, whether it's a reflection of God's power and order glimpsed in science, or His sovereign hand over history, leads us to worship Him.
- I love learning and don't want to miss out on the fun.
- I taught in a local university for a couple of years and the quality of student scared me. So yes, academics are a part of why we homeschool.
I'm a firm believer that knowledge comes from books and therefore books should be the foundation of our homeschool. One hundred years ago this was understood in our culture and the best-trained minds learned through self-study and tutors. When I began homeschooling our children, I kept it extrememly simple emphasizing only math and reading. Those were our two subjects. As our kids have grown older we've added a few subjects here and there, but math and reading remain our foundation.
If books are the foundation of our homeschool, then the Bible is the cornerstone of that foundation. My husband and I love the Word of God and believe that it is true, perfect, and timeless. We want our children to be well-educated and intelligent, but our priority is their character. Our greatest desire is for our children to have a heart for the Lord, His Word, and His church. So family devotions, as well as Scripture memory, catechism, and character training take center stage in our home school. We begin each morning in individual Bible reading, corporate character training and prayer.
Since I love books so much, it's no surprise that I would choose a literature-rich curriculum for our homeschool. We are beginning our third year using Sonlight for history, literature, geography, and language arts and the kids and I absolutely love it! We're using their science program this year, too.
Though our children study some subjects like math and reading independently, the kids also spend a significant portion of each day doing school together. We love fostering togetherness in our kids and walking in on unprompted scenes like the ones below makes my day!
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| Twinkle Toes reading to Measle Bug. |
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| Measle reading to Prince. |
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| Prince reading to Queen. |
Homeschooling is an adventure, not for the faint of heart. Each new day brings with it the joys and challenges of homeschooling. In my opinion, the blessings far outweigh the sacrifices! Our children are our greatest treasure, as good as gold, and investing in them now will reap dividends for eternity.
