Rescue Your Child’s Education Now

When it comes to your child’s education, you should be a consumer, so seek to provide the best education you can for your child. Don’t settle for just a good-enough education. The outcome is going to affect your family, community, the world, and them for the rest of their lives. You should know your reasons for homeschooling. When it gets tough, having your goals written down will help you remember why you began. Over time your goals may change but you will need to have an initial direction to launch. Homeschooling is an adventure, but it is not the best choice for everyone. If you are thinking about homeschooling, or have already begun, this book introduces seven principles to aid you on this journey. It will help you know how to begin homeschooling, guide you through choosing resources and keeping records, how to find your parenting style and discover how your child learns best. Later, common myths about homeschooling will be presented and addressed. Lastly, you will learn how to cultivate a lifestyle of learning so that your children become self-motivated to seek out resources of all types and embrace learning throughout their lifetime. Consider the cost if you choose not to homeschool. What are your children absorbing from the public school culture that may conflict with the values of your family and undermine your family heritage? Is your public school curriculum revising history? What societal pressures will they face too early before they have had time to develop a sense of who they are and what they believe? Political agendas sweep through the education system, weaving their way into the textbooks and into our children’s minds. Through schools and under the pretense of health and safety, partnering organizations seek to break down modesty and promote promiscuity among children, encouraging them to experiment with their bodies before they have a sense of how their bodies are developing. Pressures weigh heavily on children to look like a model, to perform like an athlete, to experiment with drugs, and to explore sexual deviancy. In government-funded education, common core standards profess to know what is best for every child, mandate what each child must do to meet those milestones, and when they are ready to move forward. Standardized testing supposedly guides the child towards a future profession. This testing and common core standard cannot replace the loving, caring, nurturing knowledge of parents who understand their child and where their passions and God-given talents lie. Parents who spend a lot of time with their children can better discern when and how their children are ready to learn. If you have noticed this not-so-subtle social agenda which has made its way into your child’s education, take charge of it now and reverse the effects. When considering the cost to homeschool your child, first consider the investment you will make in their future. Then you can count financial costs. Investments take resources you already have. You must put forth something of value with the expectation and hope of a good return on that initial capital that you put out. You want to make sure you are investing wisely, have trustworthy information about the investment, and a way to measure how that investment is doing. With homeschooling, just as with parenting, you don’t always see a quick return on your investment. It takes time to develop momentum, to organize resources, to develop a plan, to execute it, and to measure progress. Usually, one parent gives up a career to manage their child’s education. Sometimes the cost of materials, classes, and transportation is high, but it doesn’t have to be. One of our most memorable homeschooling years was when we had no extra money to spend. After my husband had cancer treatments, we were all home and able to spend precious family time together. Even though we didn’t have the resources, or energy to go on trips, to buy textbooks, or to pay for music lessons or dance classes, we enjoyed the outdoors and spending the time together teaching our children what we know. If you have always wanted to homeschool or have explored other options after trying public and private school, think about what support you already have. Are you committed to home educate your child? Do you have a family that will help you? Perhaps it is overwhelming to think about homeschooling all your kids full-time. You could start by working with one or two children at a time, helping them learn to read, increasing their math skills, or another area you feel confident in. There are many ways to find a homeschool community. If your area doesn’t have a good support system, consider creating a homeschool group or co-op. You may even consider a career change or perhaps work remotely in a different state or region if it puts you closer to the support you need. Some families relocate to another area for greater home education freedom and better local support.