Homeschooling and the Love of Learning
By Ted Howell
As a former homeschooler, I am always surprised by the responses I get when I inform people I was homeschooled. Most are astonished, and begin asking questions, ranging from the silly, like Could you wear pajamas all day?, to the serious, such as Why did your parents decide to homeschool you? A single underlying concern lurks behind these various inquiries: did it work? I always respond to this challenge with a resounding Yes! Homeschooling works! It worked for me, and it can work for you. With commitment, great curriculum, and much patience, homeschooling is quite simply the best education choice existing today.
Quieting the Doubts: In Defense of Homeschooling
Those of us involved in homeschooling know that it is a terrific way to educate, especially with curriculum options like Learning by Grace, but many of our peers are skeptical, even suspicious. For this reason, homeschoolers, both parents and their students, often feel the need to explain themselves. The choice homeschoolers make is unique, dynamic, and life changing: they have decisively set themselves apart from the mainstream, yet still feel the need to defend their choice. For my part, I have found that the best way to enlighten those who express doubts about the worth of homeschooling is to tell them the story of my education: why my parents decided to homeschool me, how much I enjoyed the day-to-day process of homeschooling, and the how homeschooling fostered in me a lasting love of learning.
The Love of Learning: Deciding to Homeschool
When I was in first grade at our local public school, my mother noticed how much I enjoyed reading and learning. She feared that if I remained in public school, this love of mine would slowly fade, and education would become more of a chore than a joy. She began homeschooling me in second grade, and even at this early stage, I was allowed to read to my heart’s desire. Because of the additional time I had each day, it was possible to cover all the basic requirements, and still have extra time for reading. Homeschooling gave me the chance to read more books, more widely, than other kids my age.
There were a number of other reasons my parents choose to homeschool. Two of the most important were their commitment to a strong family life and their desire to raise children that exemplified a Christian worldview. In a secular world, where strong family relationships often take a backseat to individual pursuits, homeschooling was a deeply Christian alternative. My parents recognized the importance of putting God and family first, and homeschooling was the natural extension of their commitment to their Christian worldview.
Working at Your Own Pace: Homeschooling Day-to-Day
One of the foremost advantages of homeschooling is the opportunity for students to work at their own pace and focus on subjects of interest to them. Personally, this meant reading widely in literature and church history on top of my basic humanities, math, and science curriculum; for my younger brother, this means extra math and science, in addition to his vital humanities education. I was encouraged to pursue my own interests on top of my basic education. This cultivated in me a deep love of literary exploration, and developed my research and reading skills. For another, my brother for example, this means more time to investigate other scientific disciplines, such as astronomy and creation science.
The alternative structure of a typical homeschooling day promotes a favorable attitude towards schoolwork and upholds the general love of learning. My school days, especially high school, were radically different in structure and nature from the act of “going to school,” in that there was no hustle in my school day. While my peers were rushing to get to school, moving to and from classrooms and lunchrooms, and waiting for the next period to start, the only enforced segments of my day were “morning” and “afternoon.” I generally did my math in the morning and my reading in the afternoon, but this was far from a schedule, for it could be altered if I simply changed my mind. I enjoyed the luxury of doing two math lessons one day, to get it out of the way, or spending six or eight hours on a Friday rapidly tuning pages of Great Expectations. This not only encouraged my reading habits, but it also taught me discipline, and fed my scholastic enthusiasm.
Education for Life: The Lasting Benefits of Homeschooling
Homeschooling has had a positive lasting impact on my life and my education, making school and scholarship a priority. In my education, there was never a divide between schoolwork and learning. Consequently, I was deeply engaged in the work I was doing; it rarely became a chore, and I never lost the love of learning I possessed as a child.
Homeschooling was also great preparation for the serious scholarship I did in college. I became accustomed to reading between 100-200 pages a day in high school, so I was not swamped by freshman reading assignments. My excellent education left me well-equipped for academic life, and led to my success in college.
In Conclusion
My experience as a homeschooler prepared me for a life of reading and scholarship in a way that no other form of education could. It instilled in me a love of learning that has lasted all of my life, taught me school-related discipline, and prepared me for a life of reading and scholarship. I fear that if my parents had taken the easy way out, and sent me to public school, my love of learning and devotion to reading might have faded.
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