A Homeschool Journey, Part 12: Beyond the Elementary Years

In my last installment of this series, Our Homeschool Grows, I shared our commitment to continue this journey through high school. The elementary years had flown by with our first child, and by this point, we had five children. As the oldest was going into seventh grade, the youngest was two. Some people refer to this as the "terrible twos", but I like to call it the "terrific twos". We always enjoyed our kids at this age. They were full of curiosity and fun! Be that as it may, it was a challenge to juggle everything. But the children had learned the routine and knew that they were to get started on independent studies, and I would work with each one individually in turn. We would go over their work, and rework any math problems they had missed. We would go over phonograms and spelling words, and any other assignments they had. About mid-morning, we took a break for a walk around the neighborhood and a snack. The littlest ones played while I worked with the older ones, but I made sure that I spent time with them, too. They were eager to "do school" like their older siblings, so we did special, age-appropriate activities together while the big kids did their math. After lunch, we would read stories on the sofa, and the little ones took naps.

As the children progressed, we gradually added more text books and more good literature to their curriculum. We knew what courses were required for college admittance, and we planned accordingly. Some of the books we used were geared to Christians, and some were secular. We used what we felt were the best materials available to teach the subject at hand. Even though our reason for homeschooling was largely based on religious convictions, we wanted our kids to get the best education we could provide. Sometimes, the books available from Christian publishers were just not the best. One chemistry book we tried went overboard with "Christianizing" its material, giving a gospel presentation right in the middle of an explanation of atomic structure. We scrapped that one and went with a secular book that proved to be a better choice. Our belief was that God created math and science, and we didn't feel it was necessary to teach addition by counting the disciples' sandals or how many jugs of water Jesus turned into wine!

Each child was different, and each had his or her own special interests, as well as difficulties. We made it our goal to encourage those interests and to help each child overcome challenges. So while some aspects of their education were the same, others were not. Adjustments were made in curriculum to meet their needs. And extracurricular activities were a big part of our life.

Next up: A Homeschool Journey, Part 13: Extracurriculars