The post Benefits of Homeschooling Series appeared first on Character Ink.

Thirty years ago when my husband and I began homeschooling my younger sister and we had a little one-year-old toddler, all the homeschooling buzz was teaching our children the Bible and protecting them from bad teaching at school in terms of humanism. Humanism was a buzzword at that time, and those of us who were seeking homeschooling were going to keep our children from being indoctrinated by it. Here we are thirty years later, and there are many other dangerous teachings in government schools besides just the original homeschool enemy of humanism.

None of us like to think that if our children go to school they are being taught bad things. But if we look at many teachings in schools, we have to admit that much of it is not what we would be teaching our children if they were at home with us—because we wouldn’t want to teach them things that are opposite of the Bible. Sex education has taken on a whole new meaning as now curriculum is provided for schools to teach about gay marriage and to push many non-traditional (i.e. non-Biblical) family arrangements.

When we take our children to museums, I always think about all of the things that we tell them as we walk through the exhibits. How the billions of years are not true. How we do have an intelligent designer. How the creation story in the Bible is really the truth. And on and on and on. Then I think how difficult it would be if my children were in school. We would not just be looking at how to undo one day at the museum with creation materials and biblical teaching. Every year in science and even many times in history, our children would be learning that evolution is true, that the big bang is what really happened, that there is no creator. I often feel overwhelmed just trying to undo one day at the zoo or one day at a history or science museum. I can’t imagine how a parent could have the time, energy, and resources to undo ongoing teaching that contradicts the Bible that is taught in science classes year after year.

This is not a guilt trip for those who have to send their children to school by any means. It is not even a guilt trip for those who choose to send their children to school. But I would be remiss if I did not say that a major benefit of keeping our children at home with us is being able to teach them the Bible every single day.

It is not just creation, biblical marriage, life at conception, and other “science” teachings, but it is way bigger than those. Through homeschooling we have been able to, day in and day out for at least twenty-five years, teach our children the one another’s of Scripture, how to live like Jesus would live in our treatment of others, what the Bible says about character and living above reproach, how to have strong relationships by interacting in a way that is pleasing to God, how to make wise decisions, how to become an outstanding worker through applying biblical concepts, how to guard our hearts from evil and those who would lead us astray, how to live a moral life, and so much more.

If teaching our children science as it applies to the Bible were all we were able to do, that would be enough to say that this homeschool benefit is valid. But I was able to spend every day for twenty-five years reading aloud to my children from godly poetry, hymns, character training books, nature books that are biblically-based, creation science materials, the Bible, discipleship books that point us to living for Christ, and much more. My husband and I have also been able to teach our children from the Bible as we “walk in the way,” “sit in our house,” “rise up,” and “lie down to sleep.”

Being able to teach our children from our own religious beliefs is truly a major benefit of homeschooling – – let’s not let this opportunity slip by and become complacent in teaching the Bible and God’s principles every day in our home schools.

The post Homeschool Benefit #3: Parents Can Choose Materials That Fit Their Religious Beliefs appeared first on Character Ink.

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.

The post Homeschool Benefit #2: Children Can Learn At Their Own Pace! appeared first on Character Ink.

After thirty-one years of homeschooling, I still see the benefits all the
time. Ray and I look at each other almost weekly and remind each other what
a blessing it has been to be able to homeschool all seven of our children
for all of these years. However, sometimes when we are in the thick of
homeschooling, it is easy to forget all of those benefits.

So here is homeschool benefit number one: parent and child get to spend
every day together. Obviously, this doesn’t always feel like a benefit. But
after spending every day for the last thirty-one years with my children, I
can tell you wholeheartedly that it truly is a benefit.

My husband likes to tell groups when we speak that you get to see your
child’s bad behavior all the time by spending every day with him or her. And
then he goes on to explain what a benefit that is because we would miss
those behaviors and those things that we want to help our children to grow
in. I’m not so sure about that aspect of it, LOL, but I am sure that it is a
blessing to be able to be with our children all the time rather than them
being away at school for seven, eight, or nine hours each day depending on
how much bus time they have, how long their school day is, and if they had
before or after school activities.

I look back at all of the memories that I have made with my children by
spending every day with them that I have for these past three decades, and I
truly cannot think of a better way to have spent a large chunk of my life.
When I get together with my grown children, we laugh and talk about all of
the fun times. We make jokes about the terrible crafts and science projects.
And we remember together with joy all of the read alouds, all of the
traditions, and all of the ways that we spent our days for all of those
years. Truly, I would say that homeschool benefit number one is spending
every day with your children.

The post Homeschool Benefit Number One: Spending Every Day Together appeared first on Character Ink.