A Peek into Our Family’s Homeschooling Lifestyle
Ours is an ordinary family made of ordinary people. Maybe these simple memories from our homeschooling days will encourage you as you homeschool your children today.
When our children were very young and my hair wasn’t gray, . . .
. . . at naptime, I would sit in the rocking chair that had once belonged to Ray’s granddaddy, hold a baby in my lap, and sing:
God loves John. The Bible tells me so.
God loves Bethany. The Bible tells me so.
God loves Mary Evelyn. The Bible tells me so.
I didn’t really realize completely what I was doing. I knew that I wanted my children to know that God loved them and that He loved our family. Now I know that when God prompted my heart to sit in that rocker and do that day after day, I was teaching my children’s hearts, souls, and minds.
I was teaching my babies’ hearts by holding them close and making them feel secure.
God loves Daddy. The Bible tells me so.
God loves Mommy. The Bible tells me so.
I was teaching my children that families are important.
God loves Grandmother. The Bible tells me so.
God loves Granddaddy. The Bible tells me so.
God loves Mema. The Bible tells me so.
God loves Granddaddy. The Bible tells me so.
I was teaching my children the importance of the generation that came before us.
Ray and I can’t take credit for laying out some grand education plan and then carrying it out with our children. Looking back I see God’s hand again and again. I guess what we really did was do a little planning and then just keep our hearts open to the opportunities God provided. I can see now that He was really the planner.
In time God taught us that homeschooling should be part of what Ray and I did for our children. Homeschooling was a blessing not only for our children but for Ray and me as well. It gave our children the gift of time—time to play, time to be alone, time to be with each other, and time with Ray and me—and it gave us the gift of time with our children. Because of this wonderful gift of time, we had countless opportunities to teach our children as we sat in our house, drove along the road, lay down in the evening, and rose up in the morning. Our daughter Bethany once told me that she learned so much from all the time we spent together.
We made day trips to historic sites and state parks. We also learned how to travel cheaply, and we went to amazing faraway places where we saw more historic sites and scenes of God’s wonderful creation. At home we watched the news and talked about it. We watched old movies. We read books together. We played Taboo® and Scattergories® and lots of charades. We entertained one another with silly skits.
During girl time, Bethany, Mary Evelyn, and I cooked and sewed and crafted together. We worked on Sunday School material together and on a children’s library at our church. During guy time, Ray and John studied the Bible together. They played ping pong and shot baskets in the backyard. They had long talks about really important things, speaking about spiritual issues and politics and whatever else John wanted to know or Ray wanted to share.
And yes, along the way, we studied grammar and literature and history and algebra and geometry and biology and things like that, but we learned that the gift of homeschooling is so much more than those things. It’s teaching hearts and souls, as well as minds.
Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!Â
And you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your strength.Â
These words, which I am commanding you today,
shall be on your heart.Â
And you shall repeat them diligently
to your sons and speak of them
when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road,
when you lie down, and when you get up.
Deuteronomy 6:4-7