New to Home Education? Step Four – More Helpful Thoughts
I trust that by now you are feeling a bit more comfortable with the choice you made to educate your children at home. Freedom, you will remember, is having choice and control. The choice has been made, so now we need to focus on obtaining and keeping control over your home education so you can taste the freedom of unschooling.
Unschooling is best described as not doing what school does and/or doing what school fails to do. This is not to be confused with un-parenting or being undisciplined, un-structured, un-focussed or with being unreasonable. Rather, it is simply a matter of establishing your authority regarding the education of your children. And, as previously mentioned, it is not a step but rather a process that takes time.
Once comfortable with being in control of all things educational, most parents will be on a sort of “learning cruise control” until the children reach puberty, when things really begin to change.
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New to Home Education? Step Three – Learning
Assuming you have RELAXED by claiming your rightful place as the authority over your children and their education, and hoping you have found a simple yet thorough program to follow such as ACE or CLE, we will now proceed with a few more details to make your home education journey less disconcerting and more exciting.
Let us first review what we have discussed so far:
• RELAX – nothing good is accomplished when panicking.
• Find a program for the interim. ACE or CLE are both good starter programs. You may not follow these programs forever, but they will give you a comfortable starting point.
• Memorize the three cardinal rules for home educators:
◦ Don’t Push
◦ Don’t Hold Back
◦ Don’t Compare
◦ … and remind yourself daily to follow these rules.
Most parents want to arrive at the destination before actually departing! This is understandable, as deciding to do something new is indeed to have a new destination. But nobody arrives right away. Few families, if any become “overnight unschoolers”! In fact, IF unschooling is the goal, one must follow a pathway that leads incrementally from “schooling” to “unschooling”. It goes from school at school to school at home, followed by home schooling which eventually leads to home education which may end at unschooling. Some people may skip a step or two or move through the transitional steps very quickly, but rarely does anyone jump directly into unschooling. It is something that develops with time. Be patient.
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New to Home Education? Step Two – Curriculum
Undoubtedly, the first concern parents have when just starting to home educate is which program or curriculum will I follow? This is definitely a carry-over from our school experience, but it is still a legitimate concern that must be quickly addressed. Let me start with the best advice I can give you; then I will make a few explanations to help put your mind at ease.
Find a reputable, prescribed program that will immediately fill the void you are feeling about where to start. There are two programs that immediately come to mind: Christian Light Education (CLE) and Accelerated Christian Education (ACE). Although these are not the only prescribed programs available, they are two of the best known, having been around for a very long time. Prescribed programs have everything you need, including plans, lessons, answer keys and tests for every subject in every grade. Best of all, they are mom-friendly. You can find these programs by going to our web page (www.educationunlimited.ca), clicking the Program Resources tab and then choosing Program Resources Listing. They are relatively inexpensive and we have Purchase Order agreements with both agencies.
While some may take issue with the fact that this programming comes from a Christian perspective, it fully meets the immediate need to start somewhere. There are no programs free from ideology, as there is no such thing as being neutral.
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New to Home Education? Step One? RELAX!
There is one word that needs to be expressed: Relax! I will repeat that: relax! Once more, repeat it with me: RELAX!
Deciding to do something you have never done, perhaps never even considered, is a bit daunting, to stay the least. The immediate encouragement I can give you is that you are not alone. Every new venture comes with anxiety. Choosing to keep your children at home for the first time is no different. But you can RELAX!
What is usually the cause of anxiety is not knowing, not being sure of or confident about what will take place. Being ignorant of the what’s, when’s, where’s and how’s of the processes and expectations for home education is certain to cause some anxiety, maybe even fear. But, RELAX!
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Freedom Means Having No Fear: Freedom (Part 3)
What does it mean to be free? In the last blog I said freedom requires having both choice and control. When either is missing, freedom is but an illusion. So how does one know they are truly free? I believe having choice and control – being free – is demonstrated by a lack of fear on the part of the individual toward the thing they are free from. Conversely, if one is fearful, they are not likely free.
To demonstrate this point, let’s take the recent discussion regarding the Covid vaccine mandates. Although it is pretty clear that the population is not only divided, but truly polarized regarding this, my point is not to take a side, but rather to show the power of fear and how fear robs people of freedom.
Everyone has a choice as to whether or not to “take the jab”. This is good and it does appear to be advancing freedom. However, how much control does one have in this matter? If one’s decision not to take the jab results in losing their job and livelihood, how is that being in control? That is not freedom as it involves surrendering either the choice of whether or not to take the jab or the control over keeping or losing one’s job. It is brilliantly deceptive, but deceptive all the same. If choosing “to jab or not to jab” is fraught with fear, there is no freedom.
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What Does Parental Freedom Look Like? Freedom (Part 2)
There is usually much excitement when parents first make the decision to teach their children at home. Unfortunately, rather than starting with a commitment to avoid the pitfalls of school-based learning, it is usually a matter of bringing school home with the children.
This is not unusual. In fact, it is perfectly natural, as most parents have had limited, if any, exposure to what home education is all about. Most do not understand what parental freedom looks like, having only experienced some form of school-based education themselves.
First, let us begin by defining freedom. The dictionary provides three definitions for us. Freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. This is what we usually think of when describing freedom. The second definition is really more a qualifier of the first which is that freedom must be in the absence of subjugation to foreign domination or despotic government. The third definition is easy to understand as we are not free if we are imprisoned or enslaved. We are all born free, unless we are “citizens” of a “despotic” government or “enslaved”. However, that does not mean we stay free.
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Freedom (Part 1)
We all want to be free. We yearn to be able to do what we want, where we want, when we want, how we want, all within reason, of course. Ever notice how many songs are about freedom? Next to love, freedom is probably the most sung about theme or topic. That is because love and freedom are probably what life is all about.
I have always been a freedom fighter. I have gained a reputation for standing for what I know to be the truth. Not that I know everything and certainly not that I cannot change what I have come to believe with time and experience, but I will not back down when told to do something that is questionable.
I recently read that to take a stand is to provoke an answer regarding an issue at hand. This is essential. There should be a good or reasonable answer for what is being demanded or advanced. If there isn’t one, something has to be changed. For instance, how often is the question “Why are we doing this?” answered with “Because that is the way we have always done it” or simply “Because” without elaboration? These responses are not acceptable as neither answers the question as much as insinuates that to question is itself wrong. If questioning is wrong, how can anyone come to knowledge of the truth? And, if we do not know the truth, it cannot set us free. Back to freedom.
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