By Marsha
I read with great interest stories of homeschooled or self-taught people, trying to find clues that would help me guide my children in a way that would result in them becoming self-directed. Probably even more important, I unconsciously modeled a love for reading and research, reading voraciously whenever I can find a moment, sometimes when I should be doing something else! ;-) I realized later that perhaps my reading, note-taking, conversation, and the resulting free-lance articles, were as valuable in developing a love of learning in my children as anything I learned during my research.
Did you know that 1/3 of our presidents were homeschooled? Let's start then, with these boys who grew up to be leaders of men.
• John Quincy Adams
• James Buchanan
• Grover Cleveland
• Millard Fillmore
• James Garfield
• William Henry Harrison
• Herbert Hoover
• Thomas Jefferson
• Andrew Johnson
• Abraham Lincoln
• James Madison
• James Monroe
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Zachary Taylor
• George Washington
• Woodrow Wilson
President John Quincy Adams had little early schooling, but at the age of 11 accompanied his father to France and kept a journal, which later developed into one of the most famous of diaries. As I contemplated what I could borrow from this scenario, I thought about what an enriching experience travel is. Even if you can't travel abroad, there are enough places right within driving distance of most of our homes, to keep us all busy for a few years. And if you can't take a two week or month-long vacation, don't despair. Day trips can be just as rewarding and educational! Whether you are driving the coast road, exploring the mountains in search of birds and wildflowers, or checking out historical markers, encourage your children to record their impressions! Find some nature journals at the library to use as examples. If they aren't writers, perhaps they are talkers and can dictate their thoughts and impressions to you or a tape player, or draw pictures which you can help them caption until the time comes that they can do it for themselves. Some homeschoolers have children who have become very talented videographers. Rather than focus on what they can't do or haven't learned, figure out how to help them use the skills they have now, and once they've developed some self-confidence, you can build on that. I figured that field trips with other homeschoolers, day trips on our own, and vacations like this one, provided perfect opportunities for learning to record what the kids have learned. We'll be putting together scrapbooks of our trip when we get home. You can help your child make portfolios or scrapbooks of his or her learning journey, too!
Andrew Johnson was poor; his family couldn't afford schooling and he never had a day's schooling in his life. He didn't learn to read until his wife taught him at the age of 18. However, though deprived of books and schooling, he frequented a tailor shop where public spirited people often came to the tailor shop where he worked to read to the tailors. Later he became an apprentice for that tailor shop, and impressed the other tailors with his eagerness to obtain an education. I pondered on what key factors to bring into our learning experience. I had the feeling that if my children were required to contribute to their own upkeep, so to speak, that they would acquire naturally a desire to be self-sufficient. Thus, we determined that certain expenses were not rights of being a child in our family, but that children were responsible for them. For instance, we covered family outings and certain expenses to do with entertainment, but anything that fell beyond that realm was the child's responsibility. This inspired them early on to figure out ways to earn their own money. We also helped them find safe jobs by providing positions within family businesses, and we chauffeured them to do lawn care and odd jobs for a number of years before they were able to drive themselves. While we expect the kids to share in normal weekly and daily maintenance as their privilege of being a member of our family, we do pay them for doing or helping with certain large unusual jobs of maintenance or repair around our house. While Andrew Johnson had to work out of sheer necessity, our kids have had life pretty easy, but are required to to work to do and have some of the things their peers have had handed to them. However, I can't count the times our peers have asked us, "What's your secret to growing such hard-working kids?" Even if we are very well-off financially, it's important for our children to be responsible for providing for themselves in some areas. Our kids know they have to purchase their own vehicle if they want one to drive. And pay for their own insurance and license. What an incentive plan to drive safely and carefully to keep those insurance rates down!. It's a tough lesson when a moment of irresponsibility ends up raising your insurance rates! I feel that we aren't doing kids any favor when we provide everything for them and don't teach them responsibility. A recent article in Reader's Digest backs me up. A couple of scenarios from this article, excerpted from Business Week into the RD Money column: Problem: Your kids get a generous allowance, but they still come to you for movie money and trendy clothing purchases. Solution: Establish expenses that your kids must cover. Another scenario: When you tell your kids to sink or swim with expenses, they sink. Solution: Advance them funds for overlooked essentials with a plan for repayment. But ignore pleas to underwrite the next ski trip. Good advice for anyone, this can also be part of your kids education. Whether they do some odd jobs for neighbors and acquaintances, or start their own business, the lessons they will learn will be indelible. I figured these life lessons would stand them in good stead, and so far, that has proven true. You can do the same!
Abraham Lincoln had less then two years of formal schooling, mostly hit or miss. He was an avid reader, though, sometimes walking miles to borrow a book, and reading by candle-light or firelight. While his ste-mother encouraged him and seemed to understand the value of education for Abe, with his inquiring mind, she didn't have a lot of resources at her disposal. I'm not sure she had much education herself, but she did, according to all we read, have a wealth of love and caring for the children. We don't have to provide a perfect environment for our kids to learn in, or have a degree, if we can provide a love for books and reading, and model a thirst for knowledge. Abe Lincoln would walk miles to borrow or return a book, and we, too, can teach our children the value of books and learning. We can model lifelong learning as we research homeschooling, educational methods, and things that intrigue us or our children. I try to model lifelong learning by indulging my love of books, reading out loud to my children early and often, having plenty of books available on subjects that interest them (and things I would like them to learn about), and visiting our library at least weekly. Often, when we travel, we either listen to books on tape, or I read out loud to everyone from books or magazines like Reader's Digest, Newsweek, Time, or "Your Old Boat". . You can do the same!
President Woodrow Wilson was taught at home by his father, who wasn't concerned when Woodrow didn't learn his letters and numbers as quickly as children who were in schools. Wilson himself once said, "What need was there to read, when I could spend hours listening to others read aloud?" His home was full of books, his parents spent time with him, and most of his youth was spent in the company of great minds. When thinking about Woodrow being a later reader, I re-read some of Dr. Raymond Moore's books, particularly "Better Late Than Early". (Dr. Moore's "Home-Grown Kids" was one of the first homeschooling books I read before we began this oddysey.) While pointing out that many kids aren't ready for intense academic instruction at an early age, he also suggests that children are ripe for learning at any age. Have you heard the term equivalent education? It simply means learning the same things in a different way. This is something homeschoolers can do to help their kids who experience later readiness levels; teach them the same things in a different way. Rather than using a beginning reader, perhaps you can play games with magnetic letters on the fridge, make up a "word box", label items around the house, play memory games, identify letters and numbers on billboards and signs along the road, help you child make their own flash cards, or simply spend more time reading out loud to him or her. Woodrow's parents spent time with him, and provided him with a rich learning environment and interaction with interesting people. I figured I could do that! You can, too!
It seems I am always learning of another famous person or meeting someone who was homeschooled; we can all learn much from what worked for them. But remember, although we can try to duplicate some of the common threads of the lives of famous homeschoolers, the most important lesson we can impart to our children is that it's important that they know who they are and develop who they are. It would be impossible to duplicate the experiences of homeschoolers from the past, or even the present. And even if it were possible, and there was a formula we could follow, do we want to? No. What we want to do is develop a personalized program of life and learning that works for our children, our family, and what works for me won't necessarily work for you, what works for you might not work for your neighbor, but we can all learn from each other, while we find the right path for ourselves and our loved ones.
A freelance writer, Marsha serves as a homeschool resource for her local library and has written articles for "Home Education Magazine" and a column for "Home Educator's Family Times." She has served on the planning committee for her local homeschool cooperative, taught creative writing, edited the newsletter, and been a member of the HUB (Homeschoolers United Building) advisory committee. Her book, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Homeschooling" was published in February 2001, and she has spoken at homeschool conferences and curriculum fairs in Texas, California, and Michigan. She also works part-time outside the home as an office manager for both the family business and at a local church.
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