They really get it!

Jack Jalapeno is playing soccer this season. On Saturday his coach asked him the name of his school (He never talks to "others" until he sees fit to do so). Jack Jalepeno's response was heard clearly across the field by his very alert aka nosey sister Cha-hisser, "I'm homeschooled."

Cha-hisser quickly announced it to us and everyone else in the stands and we sat very proud. This is the first time Jack Jalapeno has actually said he's homeschooled (he's 5 so technically this is the first opportunity).

Later we learned that the response by the coach was:

"Oh, so you are going to be really smart!"

So see, non-homeschooling parent DO get it. We homeschool for many reasons but the outcome is almost always the same- an intelligent, logical, well socialized young adult.

Who's teaching your kids life lessons?

Homeschooling isn't just sitting down with your children and teaching them math, reading, science and history. As a matter of fact, in our schedule there is no math. Nature is our science. And reading and history are combined in a fun way.

Homeschooling means you, the parent, want to be the one to teach your children about life. Not letting them wander aimlessly into a large classroom with 12-18 other children under the supervision (hopefully) of a teacher that may or may not be a pagan, homosexual, or a pedophile yet to be "caught".

Oh, I know, not all teachers are bad. True. But, I'm not willing to take that chance especially when I don't have anything better to do ;)

Besides, you can only ask so much of a teacher who is paid between $30k-$60k to work ALL day with a bunch of children (some prepubescent, some rebellious teenagers, some drugged up, some who have never been disciplined, some abused... you get the picture). I can imagine it's hard just teaching them one little concept, much less valuable life lessons.

I went to public school. Where did I learn life lessons? Where did I learn about modesty? sex? drugs? money? honesty? integrity? character? logic?

Sadly, I learned them from the world (or didn't learn them). Now, I had great parents. So, this isn't a "poor me, I was cheated in life" blog post. I feel that my parents did the best they could with the knowledge they had at the time.

Now that I have children of my own these life lessons are approached with extreme care. You only get one chance to expose them to something for the first time. I'll never forget when Cha-hisser was reading a history book to me and came across the Scopes trial. Before Scopes, creationism was taught in schools and after evolution was.

Cha-hisser had never heard of the word evolution before. When I explained it to her, a confused look came over her face and she said, "that's silly." Yep.

I can't imagine Cha-hisser coming home from school saying, "today, my teacher told us that men should be able to marry men." The stress and emotion that would arise from that situation is crazy to even imagine.

How about modesty? Is that something I'd want Cha-hisser to learn from "the real world"? NO! Please, Lord, protect her eyes!

A month or so ago our family was convicted of our modesty. The Lord placed it on our hearts that myself and our girls would wear skirts only. Wearing skirts has been a huge blessing to our family. Sounds strange, I'm sure. But, it has helped teach our girls about being feminine. And it has helped me be more submissive to my husband. For me, wearing jeans made me feel equal to Einstein therefore I saw no need to submit.

Our family does so many things against the norm (really now, who wants to be normal? normal is abuse in every other household, over-medicated kids and parents, spending more than you make...) why add one more battle? Why choose to be on the defensive when you can play offense?

Homeschooling has already created an unbreakable bond between our family- and we've only been doing it for 3 years. Every thing we do is a learning experience.

My goal is to not have moms around me praise me as being some kind of super mom. HA! I only wish they understood that homeschooling is choosing to live ALL your life with your kids. That's it! Yes, you have to spend a little time formally teaching but trust me TRUST ME, if I can do it anyone can.

If you aren't currently homeschooling, here is my challenge to you: Write down the top 5 reasons why you don't want to/don't think you can/refuse to homeschool. Pray about those reasons. Ask the Lord to place people, magazines and blogs in your life that will either negate or solidify your reasons.

I pray this blog post motivates all moms to protect the eyes and ears of their children. It's much easier to teach them the right way first than having to undo bad influences.

Are you smart enough?

You are not required to have a degree to homeschool your children.

Having said that Einstein and I have quite a bit of advanced education. Einstein is a doctor and possibly the smartest person I will ever meet (say any ancient civilization or geographic region and he will give you an in-depth explanation in 10 minutes that will surpass all your years of schooling!). I have a lot of 1/2 advanced degrees :P plus that little bachelor's.

Now, you'd think with all of that we'd know the answer to just about every question our children would ask us. Nope.

"Is a whale a mammal?" Einstein really could not fathom that a whale nurses. I assured him that I had seen videos of this occuring.

"When did dinosaurs live?" I still don't know but Answers In Genesis is teaching me :)

"Who won the Civil War?" *sigh* I'm sorry. I blame my ignorance on the public school system.

"Do dirt daubers sting?" I don't think so but that's just what my mommy told me.

"What is the definition of truth?" Ah, my sweet Cha-hisser. So deep. But, really try to articulate this simple, yet profound word.

"Who wrote (insert any book of the Bible)?" 3 months ago I couldn't have answered 90% of the books. But, after much study I can quickly answer!

There are so many more that I can't recall. The point is no amount of public education is going to give you the answers to your children's questions. Homeschooling isn't just for the children.

I've learned SO much by homeschooling. I'm learning Greek for crying out loud! I can recite Psalm 23!

Recently I listened to a Vodie Bauchum (the one called Answering Objections..) audio and loved what he said about teaching your children the catechism:

...when a father gasped at the vast weight of teaching ALL of these to our children Vodie said he whispered the secret to this father..."you just have to stay one day ahead." (I butchered the quotation but you get the point!)

Basically, learn it the night before and the next day you look like genius to your children. We don't have to know it all.

Can't wait to learn something new tomorrow!

Do You Have 2 Heads?

2 Heads? For sure! I mean I must if I homeschool, right?

That's certainly what many people think when you tell them you homeschool. It's interesting that the fact that we homeschool always comes up after they've raved incessantly over the local schools.

Ever noticed that everyone who sends their kids to public school resides in THE top school district in the state? Fascinating.

I try to smile as they give me this golden nugget of information then, because I would hate for them to leave with the wrong assumption ;), I politely say "we homeschool".

The funniest response I have gotten to this statement: "Oh, well, if you ever decide to not homeschool anymore Kerrville has amazing schools." This man, the pest control man at that, had already bragged on the schools 4 times!

What is so funny about this statement is that he (and most other people) believe that to homeschool is some flippant decision we up and made one day. Like it's on the same level as deciding what color underwear to wear today.

It's actually quite insulting to the intelligence of homeschoolers to assume that it's a decision made lightly.

I remember very clearly when homeschooling became a part of our lives. Einstein was driving home from the practice when he heard James Dobson talk about how detrimental the public school system is for boys. This one statement was enough to flip a switch in Einstein.

We had been discussing homeschooling but weren't sure which way was best and what God wanted for us. Hearing Dobson was just confirmation that we were heading in the right direction. From then it wasn't a question but a matter of how and what.

I was almost 100% NOT on board. I mean really, what mother doesn't dream of the day she gets some "free time"? Who doesn't wish they could read a book at 11am, take a shower at 1pm and bake cookies for the kids as they arrive home from prison daycare school?

Once I got over those insanely selfish feelings...3 years later!...things have actually been fun.

It wasn't until this year that we were "really doing school". We'd been teaching since Cha-hisser was 3 1/2 and her intelligence was praised by many. But as far as having a set plan, 2009 was the start.

We knew that Classical Christian teaching was our future plan but we weren't sure where to start with a 7yo. So we purchase Adventures in My Father's World. After a couple of months of doing that Einstein read Teaching the Trivium.

Talk about confirmation! Teaching the Trivium put into words everything Michael thought and wanted for the education of our children. It gave us resources, schedules, ideas, and support that we had been craving.

My previous post talks more about that.

I can say that 80% of the time I enjoy homeschooling Cha-hisser, Jack Jalapeno, and Grace (on a good day Sterling is napping). If you've figured out how to not be selfish 100% of the time PLEASE let me in on the secret!

My favorite part of our day is reading a good book. I say "good" because not all of the books I read would I consider good. Sure the kids love Hank the Cowdog but ...

I really do love to see the raw excitement that the children have for Greek lessons. They honestly love it and so do Michael and I. Our family is so close. We eat every meal together, read together, have Bible reading 2x/day together, take walks together, drive in the country together, learn together, live life and LOVE GOD together!

That is what homeschooling is about!