New to Homeschooling? What I Learned As a Teacher Turned Homeschool Momma

I’ve spent quite a few years teaching in various capacities. My credentials include teaching Sunday School at church, substitute teaching in public schools, and leading devotional Bible studies for women. Homeschooling, however, is a completely different arena. When you homeschool, you are both the teacher and the mom. Over these last couple years of homeschooling, I developed some thoughts and ideas about educating at home that those of you homeschooling for the first time or those of you gearing up for another year of home education might find helpful and encouraging!

A few of my ideas about education are left over from when I was young, too. Although this might seem funny to admit, I think more than a few bits of my educational knowledge came from Mr. Feeny of “Boy Meets World” and Anne Shirley from Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island. I admired both characters and from them internalized probably more than I’ll ever realize about how to teach effectively, gently but firmly. When I watch Mr. Feeny interact with his students or read about Anne Shirley’s “Jonah Day,” I feel like their ideas and attitudes mimic mine.

When I think about a philosophy of education at home, the first thing that comes to my mind is that education is so much more than feeding children knowledge and information. A good philosophy of education encourages students to grow in the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control [1]. A good philosophy of education recognizes that your children will forget dates and timetables, but they won’t forget the lessons that come from serving others and serving God. Finally, a good philosophy of education searches out beauty, goodness, and truth and applies those three pillars to all of life. Philippians 4:8 reinforces this concept well: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

With all that in mind, here’s my philosophy of education at home–a summary of what I learned as a teacher turned homeschool momma.

Think of yourself not as a teacher, but rather a mom who teaches. As home educators, our most important job is to be a mom to our little ones. The teacher role always comes second, even during the school day. I say this because as parents we disciple our children–train them in the way they should go with love and affection [2]–and also nurture their growth in habit and character. If we get so focused on what and how much our children know, we run the risk of forgetting that education means more than just knowledge. Keeping the mom-first-teacher-second mindset in place helps prevent us from straying from our primary role as disciplers of our children.

Charlotte Mason says, “Children are born persons.” This means that every child is born with their own unique personalities, callings, gifts, abilities, and ideas. When I used to substitute teach, I reminded myself of this truth every time I stepped into a classroom. I did my best to show interest in every student, even if that just meant a friendly smile and a hello. As moms first and home educators second we must recognize the God-given gifts our children posses and teach our children good habits that they can use to cultivate and grow those gifts. This is just as important, if not more so, than making sure our children know their multiplication tables and the location of their hometown on a map.

Read good books and talk about them afterwards. What makes a good book? I like Charlotte Mason’s idea that good books are living books–“books that will feed your child’s heart and mind.” We feed a child’s heart with a book that contains beautiful, illustrative language and ideas. We feed a child’s mind with books that point to the goodness and truth of what we see around us. A book solely focused on imparting information to a child might begin like this: “The ocean is big and blue and filled with fish.” A living book might begin like this: “The ocean stretched for miles around, its blue expanse covering and shimmering over everything my eyes could see. Fish swam in darting multitudes below the waves, jumping and dancing in great schools.” A living book not only informs, but also puts a child into the narrative of the story.

When I taught in Sunday School, we used the reading/comprehension question model. I think a better model to use is the reading/narration model. In this model, children read a passage on their own (or a parent reads aloud to them if they can’t read yet) and then they narrate–or tell–what they heard. This sparks discussion, thoughtful questions, and helps children retain the knowledge and living ideas they gleaned from the story.

Read and memorize good poetry. Poetry is quickly becoming a lost art form, one that I happen to adore. Poetry especially speaks to the beauty part of the beauty, goodness, and truth triad. Samuel loves to cozy up on the couch in our basement and read a few funny poems by A.A. Milne or discover more about nature in the insightful poems of Robert Frost. We memorize the poems that mean something to us so that we can recall their beautiful ideas in moments of discouragement (we hope the same applies to the Bible verses we memorize, too).

What makes good poetry? I would suggest starting with classic, well-known writers or a book compilation of children’s poems. Ambleside Online contains some great resources. We read their poems-by-month on a regular basis.

Homeschooling is a way of life, or, almost anything can count as school. First of all, I’m not advocating that you do whatever you want all day and label that “school.” What I mean is that any time you spend instructing your children counts as a contribution to your child’s home education. This year, we plan to start including gym class in our homeschool day (i.e. soccer in the backyard), music lessons (let’s have a sing-along while I play the ukulele), and handicrafts (Samuel learned some sewing basics last year, so we’ll work more on that). You can practice addition and subtraction with everyday items around your house and study the plants and animals that inhabit your backyard and neighborhood. I daresay–you can even include daily chores in your homeschool lessons.

Homeschooling is FUN. Yes, I said it–homeschooling is fun! As home educators, we have the privilege of showing our children how the world points to our all-wise Creator, who made all things in truth, goodness, and beauty. We can make education as fun, interesting, and enjoyable, for both ourselves and our children, as we want to. I know that some days present their own challenges, but overall we get to savor every moment watching our children grow in their callings, gifts, and abilities. We get to watch them make new discoveries about the world, when those jumbled thoughts suddenly all “click” together. Most importantly, we get to watch as they figure out how to love Jesus, serve others, and live out the ideas that mean something to them.

Homeschooling brings me so much joy. I hope whether you are a homeschooling veteran or new to the homeschooling gig, you find joy in your home education experience this year as you watch your children grow into who God designed them to be.

Photo: Brian built our chalkboard and my Classical Conversations director made those lovely banners for all of her tutors.

[1] Galatians 5:22-23
[2] Proverbs 22:6