A Homeschool Journey, Part 4: Early Education

In my previous post in this series, A Homeschool Journey, Part 3: The Research Begins, I related some of what we learned while investigating the idea of homeschooling. Meanwhile, we were blessed with two children. Right from the start, we wanted our children to have the best education we could provide. And that started at home, no matter what our ultimate decision would be concerning school. We read to the kids from the time they were babies, beginning with soft books and board books with lots of pictures. From there, we progressed to Little Golden Books, classic picture books, and nursery rhymes. The public library was a favorite destination, and we went there often. The children never sat in front of the TV. In fact, we didn't even own a television!

Instead of staring at a screen for countless hours, we did things. We went to parks to play. We went to nature centers to learn about and enjoy God's creation. We went to the beach, or had picnics of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the backyard. We went for walks around the neighborhood and met people. The baby rode in the stroller while his older sister held onto the handle with Mommy. (We continued to teach our kids to do this as more children came along, preventing little ones from running off and getting hurt or lost in stores). We didn't just wait until they misbehaved and then punish them for it; we taught them how to behave. We explained to them what to expect if they were going to encounter a new situation. Our kids learned to sit quietly and enjoy concerts. They memorized nursery rhymes and Bible verses and songs. They colored and made crafts and played with puzzles. And after a busy day we had bedtime stories and prayers, and then the kids drifted off to sleep with classical music playing softly on the stereo.

On Sundays, we went to church. The Lord led us to a little storefront church with lots of young families who loved Jesus (someone we met on one of those walks had invited us). The pastor's wife even had a Sunday school class for infants. The babies sat in their car seats or "sassy seats" that hooked onto a table, and had a little lesson with songs, puppets, pictures, and baby-sized Bibles with pictures of Jesus. The children learned that church was a fun place to go, with people who loved them. And there were even a couple families who homeschooled their children!

I had been a little nervous about the whole thing. I knew that I was capable of teaching my kids; after all, I had been teaching them since they were born. But I didn't know what legal issues we might encounter. Did the school district give homeschoolers a hard time, or were they easy to work with? After talking to one of the couples at church about my fears, they assured me that they had never had a problem. The homeschooling law that had been passed in 1985 was a good one; the requirements were easy to meet. That encouragement was all I needed. We were going to homeschool! Now, all we needed was the answer to The Question: What curriculum would we use?

Stay tuned for Part 5 of our homeschool adventure!