A Peek into Our Homeschool: Books
About ten years ago, I was scheduled to give two talks at a homeschool conference, one about teaching children’s hearts, souls, and minds and another about homeschooling for imperfect mothers. As part of my preparations, I asked our children to share their homeschool memories with me. Each of our children knows that I am abundantly qualified to share about being an imperfect mother, but each of them still had sweet things to say.
And speaking of imperfections, I encourage you not to be overwhelmed by your own. Every single human has to get up everyday and try again. And praise God that He offers repentance, and He offers forgiveness through Jesus.
I was touched by my children’s responses to my request for memories. They reminded me of many things we did when they were growing up. And they blessed their mother’s heart with their kind words. They said:
“ Here are some of the blessings I remember.”
“I had a great childhood. Thank you.”
“Here are some of the things I remember from the wonderful homeschooling experience you and Dad gave me. THANK YOU, MOM!! IT WAS FANTASTIC! I enjoyed remembering . . .” and
“Thanks for all the wonderful memories, Ma.”
While preparing for the “Teaching Children’s Hearts, Souls, and Minds” talk, I used what our children shared with me and filled in details. Today I would like to relate some of our memories about the role of books in our homeschool.
When Ray and I made our original list of objectives for our homeschool, one of those objectives was that our children love to read. When we wrote those objectives down, two of our children already loved to read, but our other child was not there yet — really not even close. This child (whose gender I’ll keep hidden to protect the innocent) was about to go into sixth grade and did not particularly like to read. I confess that it bothered me greatly.
One day I went to the public library, as I did so often in those homeschool days, and stood in front of a shelf in the children’s department thinking, “What can I get _______ to read?” My eyes fell on one of the original A.A. Milne Winnie-the-Pooh books. I decided to give it a try. Our child devoured it. Before long, this child who didn’t enjoy reading had finished Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner and Now We are Six and When We Were Very Young.
“What?” I thought. “There are only four?”
But four was enough. This is what did it for this child — a mama who stood in front of a shelf at the library and wondered, “What can I get this child to read?” and God answering my longing. Our child reading Winnie-the-Pooh for the first time continues to be a precious gift to our child who is now a devoted and creative homeschooling parent.
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
James 1:17
Our children are thankful that we helped them to learn to enjoy reading. We surrounded them with books. We gave them books. They watched us read books. Books Ray and I had collected over the years surrounded them.
We gave our children lots of time to read, and we guided their reading so that they would fill their minds with thoughts that were pure and lovely.
I had read picture books to our children when they were little, but once they learned to read on their own, I had stopped. When we began homeschooling, I started reading to the kids again. The first year we homeschooled, we went to the library often. Our Urbana, Illinois, library had a fabulous children’s department where we could find many wholesome books, including many classics. It saddens me that finding such treasures in public libraries is not so easy as it was then. That year I hung a construction paper train engine on the wall in our den. We slowly added a car for each book one of the children read, and they watched the train grow all around the den.
When our children grew older, I read Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt. I don’t agree with every book Mrs. Hunt recommended, but I love what she says about a family reading aloud. That book was life-changing for us. Because of what I learned in it, Ray began to read aloud to our family. Reading aloud became one of our most precious family activities. He read many books to us and these inspired important conversations. Characters and quotes from Ray’s read-alouds became part of our family vocabulary.
Though our family didn’t homeschool year round, I did require the children to read a certain number of books over the summer. I remember another mother feeling sorry for our children because of that, but I know they are grateful that I did.
When our children were teenagers, a beloved Sunday school teacher at our church died suddenly in his late fifties. His widow decided to start a church children’s library in his memory. Our girls and I enjoyed creating that library with funds donated by his widow and by others. By the time Bethany was in her last years of high school, she was serving as its librarian. She cataloged books and videos and toys, kept the library decorated with beautiful bulletin boards, and conducted a summer reading program. Mr. Paul’s Children’s Library became a bustle of activity after church. Bethany learned so much, and she enjoyed the interaction with the children and their parents.
You can imagine our joy today when we hear our son say, “I just read so and so to the boys” and hear our daughters’ children tell us what book their mama is reading to them.
The desire of my heart is that this peek into our homeschool will encourage you in your own homeschooling journey. Since there are not any perfect homeschooling experiences to learn from, I hope you can learn from ours.
Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.
Proverbs 4:23