The Small Branch

  The high school years are the years that most homeschooling parents dread.   Many just give up and put their teens into school, even if it is just an online school, because they feel very intimidated.   There really is no reason for this.   Ages 14-16 are what I would call the rhetoric stage of learning.  These are the years when students take the material they have previously learned and begin to form their own worldview, thoughts, and opinions.  These are the years in which parents must be careful to prepare their students for adulthood, possibly including college.  The difficulty we have in our culture is that we don’t really know what that means.  I’m not sure I do, but I’ll give you a few thoughts anyway. First, students need to own their own faith.  They cannot ride your coattails into heaven.  Help them to articulate what they believe and why they believe it.  You can help this by making sure they are studying the W...

  In the interest of full disclosure, if you look at 1st-12th grade, we homeschooled 1st-half of 7th, 1st-4th and 11th-12th, 1st-2nd and 9th-12th, and 7th-12th (this one is still in school with me with a couple of years left).   You may notice that these years don’t include a huge amount of middle school experience.   I will say that I also taught a middle school math class when I was teaching at a private school.   Anyway, I’ll still offer you a few thoughts about middle school. Ages 11-13 are what I would consider the logic stage, or the middle stage of classical education.  This is where you help your child to organize all the information they have been collecting so far.  This is also where you will probably veer away from the way things are being done in public schools (and most private ones).  This is because the American system of education has become more of Elementary School, Elementary School 2.0, and finally Elementary School 3.0. ...

  (I’ve covered some of this in previous posts, but thought I would expand on a few things here.)   Most people consider the elementary school years to be Kindergarten through fifth grade, about ages 5-11.  Personally, as I’ve state before, I don’t see any reason to start any kind of formal school until 8-10 years old, depending on your child.  For the kids in the “elementary years” who aren’t yet ready for formal education, you can continue as you were doing in the preschool years (see previous post).  Remember, though, that you want your children to be ready for learning.  This includes making sure they are learning to be obedient, learning to sit still, and learning to work hard even when something is a struggle for them.  In this phase of “school age but not yet school ready,” make sure they are learning these lessons well.  This is something I utterly failed at.  We were too busy playing and having fun, and I was too lazy as a mom, to...

  I am a believer in a Classical Education.   I also am a believer in Unschooling.   “Wow,” you say, “those are totally opposite philosophies of education.”   You would be correct.   To a point.   Let’s start at the beginning of the journey and I’ll explain. From the moment that beautiful newborn baby is laid in your arms, you are a teacher.   This is where the unschooling begins.   You live life.   Your child learns to talk, to walk, to obey.   At this point, some parents really want to put their children into preschool or at least pull out some preschool workbooks.   “DON’T DO IT!” I yell.   Preschool, and even early elementary school are great times of learning naturally.   This is the perfect time to follow your kids’ interests.   Go to the library.   Read living books (see below).   Take “field trips.”   Plant a garden.   Cook together.   Clean the house.   Count everything in si...