Our old-fashioned education

Someone recently asked me how our old-fashioned education is going. I am happy to report that I love it more than ever!


Here is a little of what we try to do each day:

Ray's Arithmetic series is my favorite! I am doing the problems in the Intellectual book alongside my children, and I am blessed by the clarity and organization of Ray's methods. I am also being stretched in what I have read in order to successfully instruct each student. I am enjoying using Ray's Primary with my 8yo, this book is done completely orally--why did schools ever abandon these wonderful books?


The readers are invaluable. I love sitting and hearing my 8yo read to me stories containing the Gospel message. The second reader is so wise in its introduction of words that are basic to reading and writing, and yet everything is so simply laid-out that we can be as creative as we want with each lesson. Spencerian Penmanship is proving to be creative and relaxing, as well as even improving the handwriting of the boys.


The children are required to have 25 problems of math done each day, a reading lesson and a writing of a narrative, copying, etc. of the same, sometimes with an oral spelling test. We try and do a penmanship lesson as often as we can. I have the children read aloud from their writings and lessons. Sometimes I will substitute something that I find interesting or appropriate at the time.

I am alternately using the McGuffey Primer and the Johnson's Primer with my 6yo. We read and re-read the lessons until she is confident (making sure we are spending no more than 15 minutes a day in concentrated work), then I have her copy 4 or 5 words after me in her composition book, and then, afterwards, she makes a little box and draws a picture and colors it with a special set of colored pencils.


I have an old 1940's Number Stories book that I use with my primary students, but she is almost finished with that one, so I am leaving the rest of that for a later date.


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When our space program was thinking about sending astronauts to other planets, they were concerned about the problem of having enough food for the trip. They thought they could just feed the astronauts vitamins, thus saving all the weight and precious cargo space that would otherwise be necessary. They experimented with feeding some test subjects only vitamins and water--the results were dismal! They soon discovered that there are elements in food that nourish our bodies in ways we don't quite understand, so it would be impossible to fit all these into a tiny tablet. The test subjects languished and the experiment was resoundingly abandoned.


What does this have to do with homeschooling? I expect that what my children learn on their own all day long is their actual education, what we do together is the primer to help them in their own studies--and they are, indeed, studying and learning in all sorts of other areas; character, handicrafts, history, etc.


Our "table time", as Marilyn Howshall puts it, takes only a small portion of their total study time. I am of the opinion that any program of learning which takes hours and hours away from a child being able to work hard and study on his own is not advantageous to the child, but harmful. Attempting to fit all that a child will need to know in a few books is like trying to feed him the marvelous information and wisdom of the entire world into a minuscule pill and expecting that he should be satisfied. Education done in this way is distasteful and ineffective.


I am using what I have gleaned over many years from all the writers I have loved;  John Taylor Gatto, Charlotte Mason, Ruth Beechick, Marilyn Howshall, Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore, and now  Ray and McGuffey, etc.

From Gatto (picture right)--school methods always have an agenda--don't mimic them. Expect that your children want to be their best selves. Use involvement in real life to encourage them to go further in their studies (guerrilla curriculum).


From Charlotte Mason--form good habits. Use real literature to teach things like spelling, grammar, etc. Use nature to enthuse and interest your children. Don't overload children with bookwork too soon.

Ruth Beechick--more of the same. Learn things yourself so that you can know them when they come up naturally with your children.


From Marilyn Howshall--take time to take a step back and prepare yourself to hear the voice of God in all your home school decisions, believing He is your Source. Instead of doing the work for your children, let them discover for themselves. Replace workbooks with notebooks they create themselves.

From the Moore's--don't be afraid to wait until a child is ready for formal learning, which could be pretty late, depending on the child--especially for boys. When they finally take off, it will be a wondrous sight to behold, and it will take relatively little time for them to come up to speed.


Make sure they have hard, meaningful work to do (such as household chores or a home business). Don't allow them to spend too much time with their peers--get them involved with older people who have some actual wisdom. Allow them to follow what delights them.

Ray's and McGuffey--Slow it all down and make it simple. Train the young mind to think mathematically before thrusting it into the understanding and instruction of higher math. Trust the learner. Be strict in the basics, and don't dumb them down. Give them meat instead of pablum and they will rise up to it. The Bible and the Gospel are not just incidental to education; they are its center and its very purpose.


These are just my impressions in a nutshell, but I am always amazed at how these different writers agree with each other and balance each other.


Here are a few of my own maxims:


Simplicity with diligence--this applies to my whole life, not just homeschooling. We can never have it all, and never at the same time. We need to take what we have at hand, and then apply attention and hard work to it. This will keep us from over-buying, over-working, over-stressing, etc.


Prepare first for Heaven, then for life, then for vocation and pleasure. We have been falsely led to believe that the opposite should be applied; prepare for vocation and pleasure, then for life, then for Heaven. A child could end up in Heaven at any time--he should always be prepared. If he does not know how to live, including how to get along with others, maintain himself and his belongings, pay his bills, etc. then his life will be a mess from the very beginning. With this foundation laid, he then trains himself for a vocation or avocation; he will then be successful on all sides.


Our whole society is in decline because we have put the cart before the horse.


And here is something to bear in mind; rather than being results-oriented, our primary focus should be to train our children to become obedient and respectful to authority.

Many pioneer homeschoolers believed that if one brought their children home, they would take all the wonderful efforts of their parents and use them to live better, more godly lives. While this is generally true, it is not absolutely true. Yes, my children are by-and-large better off than they would have been if we had not home-educated them. They are kinder to children, they love older people, and they work harder and are more responsible than their peers. But they are all still human beings. They each have sin natures and often make decisions based on their respective levels of maturity.


The most important part is obedience. I believe that God has given us a mandate in Malachi 4:5-6,

See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.

And Luke 17:1-2 states:

Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

We must do all we can to allow Him to turn our hearts to our children--and then we can instruct them to keep from being offended (Biblically this means to "turn away from a destructive path or course"). By doing so, we demonstrate our own obedience to God.


Most of us have found that homeschooling is the easiest way to keep our parenting in agreement with God's Word. Keeping in mind that everyone's situation is unique, and that there are countries in which homeschooling is still illegal, and there are families in which the mother or father find themselves alone with few alternatives to the public school route. We must pray and trust God to show us the way even in these difficult situations--He is faithful and will provide!

When we choose to home school our children as an expression of our obedience to Proverbs 22:6, "Train a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.", God remains ultimately in charge of their lives. We must not forget this.

While we are responsible for what they do while under our authority, God takes them for the remainder of their lives, and we can trust Him to finish the work.