Bethany Gardiner - Highlighting Homeschooling: Empowering Parents and Inspiring Children

Copyright 2010 by Bethany Gardiner

Distributed by Emerald Book Company

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Cover art: Lucas Gibson

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eBook ISBN: 978-0-9830420-1-3

To Dad, who taught me how to reach for the stars
while keeping my feet firmly planted on the ground.

Highlighting Homeschooling would not have been possible without the help of so many people that gave me their time, friendship, and support. I would like to thank all the intrepid homeschooling families that I have met. They have shared their stories, both the successes and failures, and have helped me follow in their footsteps. Without the support and guidance of fellow homeschoolers, I dont know how I could have continued on my own homeschooling journey. I would also like to thank my family. My children patiently allowed me to test out my theories on them and my wonderful husband was always there for me during the process of creating this book. In addition, my editors, Matt and Linda, and my graphic designer, Luke, have been instrumental in helping me take my ideas and turn them into this project. To everyone who helped turn this dream into a reality thanks.

Most of the available information about homeschooling deals with the educational aspect alone, but a complete discussion of homeschooling cant happen without considering the lifestyle of your family as a whole. This is a familiar concept to me both as a homeschooling mother and as a pediatrician, a profession that requires doctors to work with entire families to improve childrens health. Because homeschooling takes place in the home (in its broadest definition), which is the center of family life, to talk about it without considering the whole family is really an injustice.

No two children, families, or situations are exactly the same and because homeschoolers are so diverse, it isnt possible to cover every situation concerning homeschooling. However, there are many important aspects that are universally applicable and Ive selected some of these to discuss.

This book explores some of the choices available to homeschoolers and potential homeschoolers and lays out the benefits and pitfalls of the homeschooling lifestyle, all with two goals. First, I want to highlight some issues that often arent addressed adequately in the homeschooling community, such as socialization, planning, finding materials, and keeping your sanity while homeschooling. There are also issues that arise from having your children at home all the time that are hard to adjust to, such as how to get your house clean, run errands, and find time for yourself. Homeschooling parents need to figure out their inspirations and motivations for taking on this responsibility and learn how to continue to meet their own needs while simultaneously meeting those of their family. The successful homeschooling family needs to develop flexibility and adaptability while still focusing an uncompromising eye on their goals.

Second, I want to explore the benefits of individualized education. Modern education touts a homogenized, one-size-fits-all mentality that doesnt allow children to rise to their individual potentials. Homeschooling can help families move away from this narrow outlook both in education and in life, allowing for more varied experiences and expressions of individuality. Individuality is to be celebrated. Its what makes us human, capable of innovation and progress. Lets promote this from the outset with our children and our families.

The principles laid out in Highlighting Homeschooling are relevant for all families, no matter what the stage their children are at or where they are currently in the journey of homeschooling. Families with very small children, even infants, can incorporate these homeschooling principles into their life even before formal education begins. Families with school-age children that are investigating homeschooling or are partially supplementing their childrens education can incorporate the principles spelled out here. Families that are already homeschooling will benefit from a refresher and an influx of new ideas.

There is much to explore with homeschooling, from the educational aspects to lifestyle changes to the positive impacts on families. I hope to show you that homeschooling is relevant and appropriate for all children, whether in totality or a supplement.

When I started writing this book, the spellchecker on my computer didnt recognize homeschooling as a word. I added it to the computers lexicon, but not before I suffered a mini-crisis was it actually two words? Maybe with a hyphen? Or (horrors) maybe the computer was right and it wasnt a word at all.

Not long ago, I was flipping through a dictionary and helping my son with a lesson when I got the urge to look up homeschooling and settle the matter once and for all. I found it on page 683, right between homerun and homesick. Tiny as it is, this is the kind of sign that homeschoolers search for and celebrate, the kind that shows that homeschooling is becoming more popular. Parents of the estimated 2 million children that are currently being homeschooled in America still have to fight against entrenched ideas of institutionalized education to find whats right for our children; families that choose to homeschool their children are still a tiny minority compared to the approximately 50 million that are being traditionally schooled.

The definition that I was so excited to find in the dictionary sounded simple and straightforward: Homeschooling is the fact or process of teaching ones children in the home instead of sending them to a school. I laughed to myself after reading it things are never as easy as they sound.

Most species with babies that need to be nurtured after birth are taught the necessary survival skills by their parents. Without that parent-child teaching, the survival of the offspring is in serious danger. Western society, as it has become civilized and modern, has controverted this natural tendency in favor of segregating its smallest citizens into schools and outsourcing their teaching away from their parents. This process broadcasts the subconscious message that parents are either unable or unwilling to teach their children themselves. Homeschoolers resist this message and push on accepted norms, and in doing so carve out new niches for their families.

In todays society, where our life is technologically influenced to a great deal already, its even more important to stress this interdependence and integration at home. As much as it would soothe parents to be able to box up education and send it off for someone else to deal with between the hours of nine a.m. and three p.m., it doesnt happen that way. Education is intertwined with the rest of life in a confusing array, a multi-taskers paradise. But remember, by its very nature homeschooling integrates life into education and starts you down this road without any extra effort.