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Don’t Start Early: Why Waiting to Begin Homeschooling Your Child Is Better!

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By Julianna Duerksen

“The earlier they’re in school, the earlier they’ll read.”

“Kids need preschool to learn to sit still so they can learn in kindergarten.”

“Children will never be socialized if they haven’t experienced a classroom.”

Such are the mantras the public education system has drilled into our brains. So much so that even we homeschool mamas can easily start feeling the pressure to start formal schooling earlier and earlier.

I risk being controversial, even in the homeschool movement for saying this, but it’s true! The later, the better!

What early education expert and homeschool pioneer Dr. Raymond Moore argued in his groundbreaking book “Better Late Than Early” is just as true today as it was in 1975. In fact, Moore’s book launched the modern homeschooling movement! Moore states the obvious, but perhaps not-so-obvious in a world where universal, all-day preschool is becoming more and more common:

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Redeeming the Time

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By Ashley Vaughan

Thanksgiving is over (though who else has turkey leftovers still?) and the Christmas season is knocking on our door. It’s a wonderful time of year. But let’s face it, with all of the parties, concerts, shopping, Christmas card writing, family get-togethers, and more, we often feel like this…

And in the hubbub and uproar of a season that can include the equivalent of 60 hour work weeks, it can be easy to miss the reason for the season.

What if, before sailing full steam ahead into a flurry of activities, we took a moment (or several) to take a step back and evaluate our traditional busy-ness? And also ask ourselves, are we passing on to our kids the materialistic values of our godless society? Or are we intentionally laying a foundation in their hearts of a God-centered view of this time of year?

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Captured by the Cowpoke

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By guest author Brandee Gillham

As my cowboy and I are working on transitioning our life to having four boys in our band of cowpokes I found myself under attack. I was trapped by the toddler. Our third son is about as rough and wooly as they get. His older brothers have toughened him up very quickly and he is a child we will have to put a tight set of reins on to control his eager spirit (figuratively speaking, of course).

I was in town the other day with my two littlest ‘pokes. The baby needed to eat so I scooted to the back seat, vented the windows and let the toddler out of his car seat. This was my first mistake. Always keep the toddler restrained when you are trapped in a vehicle with him!

The lil’ ‘poke sweetly mentioned crawling up to the front seat. I sincerely tried to discourage him, but I was in no position to resist his movement. Off he went and unfortunately he found the car keys while unloading and scattering the contents of my purse. This lil’ fella is pretty smart and managed to put the keys in the ignition. Still being trapped in the back while feeding the baby I simply tried to discourage the toddler from starting the car. He was able to turn it on accessory and that’s when the party started.

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Family Discipleship Happens in the Little Things

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By Brenda Kelly

Children, dressed, hair in place and sitting attentively in the family room, Dad with his Bible giving a sermon, and me making sure the baby was quiet. That was my initial thought when I heard that we should be involved in “Family Discipleship.”

“There’s no way that is going to happen in our crazy world of 70-hour work weeks, educating 6 children, and a house to manage — not to mention biblical hospitality, church life, etc. Maybe next year we’ll get our act together and mange to pull this off!”

But as the years went by, I began to realize that discipleship happens best when it happens naturally during a day … choosing to sing a worship song instead of a nursery rhyme when putting the toddler to bed, grabbing a Bible and reading what God has to say about selfishness when breaking up a dispute over a toy instead of trying to decide “who had it first,” stopping to pray with a teen whose heart has been wounded by a friend instead of thinking there will be time later for this conversation, wiping away tears over a math problem while reminding that God wants us to work hard and school is part of a child’s work.

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Slacking in Follow Through

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By guest author Suzanne Wales

Raise your hand if you have made a parenting mistake in your homeschool. My hand is up too. Thankfully, we serve a loving, gracious God who can turn our failures into beautiful opportunities for redemption. 

It had been two weeks since I’d followed up. This has happened more times than I care to admit in the last sixteen years of homeschooling. I allowed my own business to become a priority over following up on my children’s education. Independence is important, but it does not mean we leave our children to their own devices, nor should we neglect accountability. This last time, however, my spouse brought to my attention that I seemed overly busy with my own affairs, and he believed our children needed help and accountability. As I pondered his words, I renewed my pledge to follow up just after finishing my project, which, by the way, was to last a few more days.

I know you can see what was going on, but I was blind to the fact I was still putting myself first. There was a lot of “I and me,” and very little “one-anothering” going on by me inside the four walls of our home. Thankfully God in His kindness does not allow us as His children to remain in our current state. He opened my eyes to the example I was setting when I observed one of my children dismissing an opportunity to help a sibling who asked for help with a chore that was too difficult to be handled alone by one so small. It did not hit me right away that this was my lesson. I called out the child at fault for dismissing an opportunity to help in lieu of continuing on with what they wanted to do, but what happened next was painful, humbling, and life giving all at once.

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