Home Sweet School

Flexibility = Success
By Alisa Kolenc

With three children, ages nine, seven, and four, our decision to homeschool was not made lightly. We started our first year of homeschooling determined to have a highly efficient schedule that was strictly structured. We budgeted every 30 minutes of the morning to include not only the "essentials," but the full array of cultural and faith-enriching activities, as well. As I look back, I believe this was a strong and solid introduction to our task.

The occasional morning phone call, a time-sensitive errand, or minor disruption caused us a great deal of difficulty. So we adapted. We allowed more time for our lessons, and my two older children began more self-guided work. This new option showed promise!

One month into the school year, we were called out-of-state because of a family emergency. We praised the mobility of home education and packed up all the school books with the very best intentions. In the month we were gone, the children learned without effort: geography through our travels, family commitment, physical and emotional preparation for surgery, care and support of an ailing loved one, joyous celebration of God’s healing power, and much more. I did not fully recognize all this learning at the time, especially when the paper-proof equaled only a week’s worth of work.

Then came the holidays and a family flu; we were continually adjusting. When life settled down once more, we needed to work out yet a new schedule. With each new arrangement, the children were given—and proved they could handle—more responsibility. With the new year, I was determined to get the situation under control. Just in those few short months, I had already grown by sharing within our local homeschool support group, listening to others, and reading. Though we had strong convictions that led us to homeschool in the first place, my heart began to grasp—through experience—the wonder of choices and flexibility available to us.

I set up an organized system of mainly self-guided work for our two older children with an outline-style set of goals for each week’s work. This gives them a great deal of responsibility of when, how much, etc. Also, we started our littlest one on kindergarten work and he is much more organized now, too. Yet our schedule is extremely free and open—we allow for each child’s strengths and weaknesses.

Since our home—with noisy computer games (even the educational ones!), phone, toys, pet, etc.—was such a distraction for us all, we decided to work a good portion of time at the library. We now spend up to four hours at a time there with no distractions, surrounded by a wealth of knowledge. The children have thrived. A few hours a day, a few days a week, allows them the environment to focus their attention and really learn pride for the work they can achieve when they really give their best effort.

What I have learned through this first year of homeschooling could fill a book. Everything we do—chores around the house, food shopping, going to the post office, etc.—teaches our children, if we take the time to explain the processes and steps we are following. Why do we fold our laundry? What size and price shows the best value? How does a letter we mail from Florida get to New Jersey? Conversations about life and the world around us abound in our family.

The learning adventure that our entire family has embarked upon has touched my soul. I see every new day as a chance to enrich our lives with experience and knowledge. As the summer months will surely force us to readjust our schedule once again, I remain attentive to our goals and the choices we have to reach them. What a blessing flexibility is to home educators! To think of our children in a rote learning environment with little regard for their strengths and weaknesses—notwithstanding tons of paper-proof achievement—gives me the shudders. The joy of our decision to homeschool is strengthened and affirmed. Whether we bend just a little or we bend quite a bit, our flexibility is truly a stepping stone to our success as home educating families.

Alisa Kolenc is a devoted wife and homeschool mother of three. The Kolencs are a military family who now reside in Gainsville, Florida.

This article was originally published in Homeschooling Today^® magazine. © S. Squared Productions, Inc. Reprinted with permission. Yearly subscriptions (6 issues) are available for $19.99 from Homeschooling Today^®, P.O. Box 1608, Fort Collins, CO 80522.

Rachel Wood summarizes Marilyn Howshall’s Homeschool Experience

Recently, my mom and I went to a homeschool mom’s retreat by Marilyn Howshall. She has homeschooled her 3 children, Noel, Kathryn, and John, and they are now serving the Lord with all of their hearts. Kathryn and John are still at home helping Mrs. Howshall to train the two newest additions to their family, Jennifer, Mrs. Howshall’s deceased brother’s daughter, and Jimmy, her step-brother.

Her testimony about her children is wonderful...they never once rebelled throughout their teenage years (their youngest, John, is 17) and are now very talented.

She says to let your children learn what they want to and what they are interested in—a delight-directed learning process. At the mom’s retreat, we could view notebooks the Howshall children had made when they were younger, with photos, drawings, and paragraphs about what they were interested in. Her point is to make learning fun and to develop the talents God gave them.

Rachel Wood turned 12 years old on August 29^th, and likes cattle (they have about 40) and animals a lot! She lives on a farm and likes to help out with farm things, such as irrigating (watering) the corn and moving the cows to a different pasture.