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Other People's Children
Dateline: October 28, 2002
By Ann Zeise
Life isn't a race!
Be REALLY careful of comparing your children and a friend's
children.
Someone else's children
will ALWAYS know something that your kids don't. This doesn't
mean they are ahead and your children are behind.
Ahead or behind in what?
Your children may be carefully laying a solid foundation,
while your friend's may be going too fast and her kids will need
to go back and review. Your children will have the basics down
cold, and so can move into advanced materials easily when the
time comes.
Her children may be spending too much time in text books,
and yours are getting a sound understanding of how real life
works.
In the long run it is being "smart" about how life
works, not how well you do in Trivia games. In the long run,
it is how wisely and lovingly your children manage their lives
that will make them successful. No one will ever know or care
how fast or slowly they once completed a 3rd grade math book
when your children wind up being thoughtful and trustworthy leaders
in their communities.
Set some goals you hope your children will attain by the time
they are 18 or so. You won't have much control after that. Your
goals will probably sound a lot more like the Boy Scout laws
than anything else -- I want my children to be trustworthy, loyal,
helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty,
brave, clean, and reverent. (And as my son's troop added - AND
WELL FED!)
Wouldn't you be much prouder if your children succeed in these
areas than if they master calculus and have none of these?
Having goals like these will help you decide which is more
important, say, when something comes up that conflicts with a
planned lesson. For example, if your child has a chance to help
his grandmother do some baking, that would then take precedence
over doing workbooks. An activity like this would cover at least
half these goals: loyalty to a family member, helpfully making
cookies, a thrifty activity, and a very friendly one at that
when the cookies are shared cheerfully.
Catch my drift?
And, yes, this holds for very bright children, too. We need
more diplomats in this world than we need rocket scientists!
We need leaders with kind and honest hearts to take office and
remain loyal to the people.
Most of us homeschool because we didn't care for the values
taught in the public schools. Take time to think hard about what
your core values are so that you will be teaching them to your
children, and not just parroting the party line.
Setting Goals
Big
Hairy Audacious Goals
I asked my kids what big, hairy, audacious, sky's-the-limit kind
of goals they would like to pursue while they're still kids at
home. I was startled by the clarity and unique vision of each
child. By Julie Bogart HEM M/J 01.
Destinations
I highly recommend this workbook for families just starting to
homeschool or experiencing burnout and wondering why. Overview
and ordering information. By Ed
Dickerson.
Learning
to Fish
I could tell you where to find every thing, or I could teach
you to network and you'll have a skill for life. By Cafi Cohen,
Home Education Magazine.
What is
your child's purpose?
At its best, home schooling begins in much the same way panning
for gold does. Until you see a child's INTEREST glistening, you
can invest all the energy you want, but you'll just be moving
... and maybe muddying ... the waters of life which can be made
to swirl around a child.
|
 Homeschoolers'
Success Stories
How Homeschooling Shaped the Lives of 25 Adults and Teens
by Linda Dobson
Readers will meet a cross-section of confident, well-educated
men and women who have achieved success on a variety of levels
- in their own way, on their own terms - as they bring the skills
first grasped as homeschoolers into the world of higher education,
business, art, sports and more. (Prima Publishing)
- The Courage to Raise Good Men
by Silverstein, Olga, & Beth Rashbaum
Why boys raised by loving, involved mothers turn out to be such
good men. Removes fear of "emasculating" your son by
homeschooling. 1995 Paperback
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