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A huge thanks to Michelle Eichhorn from Apologia for leading the discussion this week. Michelle has been homeschooling for many years and blogs personally at Greek Roots in American Soil. When she expressed interested in leading a chapter, I offered chapter 2 to her. She accepted, but then once she looked at the chapter, she realized what a perfect fit it was for her.
The topic of Chapter 2 in Educating the WholeHearted Child is one that personally appeals to me. The Clarksons address our confidence in the decision to homeschool and handling criticism of our decision. …
***Keep reading Michelle's summary and story over at Greek Roots in American Soil and then come back!***
Isn't this the perfect chapter for Michelle to lead? Here are the questions that Michelle asked in response to the material in this chapter.
1. How are you making your home a living and learning center for your family?
2. Are you willing to learn right alongside your children? If not, what is stopping you–time? Desire?
3. How are you prepared to answer the critics? You may want to sit down with your spouse and discuss your united response to the critics.
4. What is a positive story about your family's homeschooling that you can share with a critic?
5. The Clarksons share how they try to make their home a haven for their children. They believed in family style entertainment–where they made their home a fun place to be. What are you doing to make your home a fun haven where your family enjoys time together?
We do our best to show our boys that learning is a priority. For me that comes fairly easily because learning is one of my top strengths according to the Strengths Finder test. My boys see me reading and researching constantly. I always have a book or a magazine or my iPad in my hand reading about something. This has already rubbed off on Jonathan. He's an early reader and loves to read before bed. This past week, when Jacob's screaming woke him up at 3am and he couldn't go back to sleep right away, Josh found the boy with his little bed light on reading a book.
We have not encountered many critics. Our family has been supportive. We live in an area where there are many homeschoolers. Moms like Michelle have gone before us and made homeschooling a more acceptable option for educating our children. Homeschooling in North Carolina is relatively easy compared to some states; we have very few requirements that are easy to follow. I'm so thankful for all of those things. I've been home full-time with Jonathan for a year. After one year of preschool at home with me, he has gone from not reading to reading at about a 3rd grade level. Now, those are not common results. The typical 4 year old doesn't read like that, but it is definitely a story that would squash the critics!
Movie nights are a big thing in our home. Josh's family watches lots of movies {and quotes lots of movie lines} so it has been a natural tradition that we watch a lot of movies. At least once a week we have a movie night often with homemade gluten-free cheese-less pizza. {Don't feel sorry for us; it's actually quite good and we've grown to really like it.} We also like watching older TV shows. We're in the process of watching The Cosby Show on Netlifx right now. Jonathan thinks it is hilarious and loves dancing with the intro to the show. {He showed off some of his moves last month at Auntie Corrie's wedding in California.} We enjoy just spending time with each other, just being together. We cuddle and read. We play with trains and cars. We make being home a priority. We are very intentional to make sure that we are not running somewhere every night of the week and will continue to do so as the boys get older.
It's your turn! Please feel free to share a link to your blog where you have written about this chapter or share your thoughts in the comments area.
