My husband and I want our children to
develop responsible attitudes towards others and our earth and
strong moral values
that will guide them to make the best choices
they are capable of . We also want them to love learning. We work
to make them independant learners as well. Lastly,
we wanted to be sure we had control of the content and quality of the
material
they were using. We felt that our goals would best be accomplished by
schooling
them ourselves.
Our children are ages 20, 17, 10 and 4. Our oldest son did not read until he was more than ten years of age. By twelve he was reading on college level. He had a perceptual problem that impaired his acquisition of reading skills but with care and practice he has been able to overcome what the public schools would have termed a disablility.
I know. I am a former special education
teacher.
We didn't anticipate problems for him when
we decided to homeschool but in retrospect we feel very lucky that we
had
already decided to homeschool him. Homeschooling gave us the freedom to
try many methods of reading instruction with him. We were also able to
give him extra encouragement
and set up an environment where learning to read was not a chore but a
pleasure. We feel lucky to have been able to provide him the right
environment
to overcome the obstacles he met with when learning to read.
Our other two boys, ages 17 and 10,
like homeschooling because they can go at their own pace. When a
topic is easy for them, they finish their work quickly and move
on. When a topic sparks their interest, they are free to dwelve
into that topic further and for as long as they like. Both
usually meet their year's requirements quickly and then enrich their
learning with more in depth studies.
We also homeschool because we want
encourage our children to be their own people and to be independant
thinkers.
Not everyone can homeschool or feels like
they
can but if you are considering it, perhaps the answers to other
homeschool
questions will help you. Click here to go
back
and read more questions and answers.
The lessons in values we are all still learning:
*Be good stewards of mother earth and God's
gifts.
*Be generous, kind and love one another. Do
not judge or harm others.
*Live a life that is pleasing to God and
follow
Jesus Christ's example.
*Be thankful for the gifts you are given and
use them wisely.
*Live a life free of greed and wastefulness.
Be respectful of all of God's Creation.
*Think of others before yourself.