This homeschool benefit is especially important to me. When I first learned about homeschooling, I happened to be in my very last semester at Ball State University studying elementary education. I read four books by Dr. Raymond Moore as I was
graduating and finishing up my degree. (I was given these books by someone
in my church.)
I can remember making notes in my margin as I was taking class notes that
said “If this is true, why don’t we do it in school?” “This is why
homeschooling might be better.” “Wow, you can actually do this in
homeschooling!”
I was amazed! We were learning about learning in children. As I was
studying how children learn, the differences between boys and girls, late
bloomers versus early bloomers, and even Piaget’s Theory of when levels of
development take place, I was realizing, as a 21-year-old mother of one
toddler, that with homeschooling, you could you all all of the things that I
was learning in college –but that couldn’t be done in the classroom.
Fast forward several years later when our second child was starting school.
Kayla was a curious, intelligent, creative seven-year-old dyslexic,
dysgraphic student. By this time, I had learned enough from Dr. Raymond
Moore to know that I needed to wait for her to be ready in order for her to
learn to read.
This advice was amazing! She learned to read when she was nine, and she
learned to write/spell (though not very strong and spelling) at age twelve.
If she had been in school, she would’ve been labeled and put in a slow or
learning disabled class.
Fast forward again about ten to fifteen years later, and that same late
bloomer, dyslexic, dysgraphic student received a perfect score on the ACT
verbal portion two times, went on to write language arts curriculum for
elementary students, wrote a biographical compilation for young readers,
wrote two books for missionaries on health and nutrition that are used
around the world today, and is working on her fifth degree.
You would be hard-pressed to find someone who thinks the whole school
benefit number two is more of a benefit than our family. Of course, it
wasn’t only Kayla who benefited from learning at her own pace. We were able
to wait for readiness in all areas for all of our children – potty training,
moving to a big bed, learning to read, learning to write, learning to drive.
These have all been areas in which our children were able to learn at their
own pace rather than being pushed when they were not ready. Of course, there
are many other areas too. In a nutshell, homeschooling can be tailor-made to
each child….so many benefits, too many to count! 🙂
I get very sad when I see homeschoolers who do not take advantage of this
benefit. They are moved by peer pressure or grandparent pressure or Sunday
school pressure to turn around and pressure their children to learn when
they’re not ready. Take advantage of this homeschool benefit! And let your
children learn at their own pace.
