“I just want to give my kids good education.”
We hear this quite too often.
As parents, we will work hard and earn a living to make sure we provide the best education for our kids.
But what do we really mean when we say education?
What is good for one family may be different from another.
For some, it may mean learning to read and write. For others, getting good grades and graduating top of the class. Some would be glad to just get a diploma for their kids. Other families will want to add the arts and sports. For some, it should have character and morals.
You see, we define “good education” subjectively depending on our perceptions, past experience, the way we were brought up and what we think is valuable.
When we talk to couples wanting to homeschool their children, we ask them these questions before we give them a rundown of the homeschool process. First, we address the “what” then the “how”.
- What is your goal as a family?
- What is important to you?
- What are the knowledge, skills and habits you want for your children to learn?
- Where do you seem them excelling?
- What are you training them for?
EDUCATION DEFINED
Noah Webster defines education so well.
Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline, which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations
"to enlighten the understanding"...
Of its associative meaning to academics, it does not say "to memorize countless meaningless and irrelevant facts". Information and knowledge was meant to enlighten the understanding.
"to correct the temper, form the manners & habits of youth.."
Of his four definitions, only 1/4 speaks of academic and the intellectual pursuit. Seventy-five percent speak of character, habits and manners, and fitting them for usefulness in their future station in life.
There is no doubt that schools are doing a good job at academics but can they really make a good input on today's child by generalizations and uniform methods of teaching? When we say each child is unique, are we catering to his unique needs?
"fit for usefulness in their future station in life."
Are we preparing our children to be useful members of society in the future? Are they taught the values of responsibility, manners, coming in on time, turning in an excellent work? In school, are they taught to be respectful of others, able to manage their time, money and talent... the list goes on.
You don't have to be an Education degree holder to educate your kids. It starts by pointing and leading them the way towards an understanding of what the world is all about and what it is for, who it is for and how he can become a light in the world he lives in.
It's been ten years since I started homeschooling. Everyday, I wake up with a sense of expectation and excitement of what new things we will learn... what new thing "I" will learn from my kids.
I have learned over the years that I am not the lid that will cover and limit their ability to learn but instead, I am the guide that can usher them to the vast myriads of wisdom and knowledge God has to offer.
It's been ten years since I started homeschooling. Everyday, I wake up with a sense of expectation and excitement of what new things we will learn... what new thing "I" will learn from my kids.
