Christian Homeschooling
Christian Homeschooling
Homeschool Review Crew
Can you homeschool as a Christian? Is there such a thing as Christian homeschooling? I think there is. And I think that there are different ways to view it. Recently I’ve read for review a book called God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn by Julie Polanco.
About the Book
The author has four children of her own with one graduated from being homeschooled. She has tried different curriculums, but it wasn’t until she truly let go and let God speak to her about what her school should look like that school became a pleasant experience.
Her book is here to encourage moms as well as show them what she has learned over the years in regards to homeschooling in a God honoring way. As an approach she’d be an unschooler letting her children choose what interests them and going from there.
There are two parts to her book about Christian homeschooling or more accurately Christian unschooling.
Part One: Dispelling Myths. In part one there are only two chapters.
- Biblical Support for Natural Learning
- Motivation and Excellence
Part Two: Practice. This is the part I was wanting to read the most. Part one was good, but I was hoping for some great wisdom in part two. This section has 7 chapters plus concluding remarks
- Thoughts on Teaching Children Under Age Eight
- Thoughts on Teaching Children Aged Eight To Twelve
- Giving Teens the Wings to Fly
- Spreading the Banquet
- Getting Started
- Some Q and A
- Record-Keeping and Structure
- Concluding Remarks
The book is a total of 163 pages long. This includes a short about the author and bibliography at the end. There also is a nice how to use this book section at the beginning of this Christian homeschooling help book.
My Thoughts
As I read through this book I was struck by how similar we are in some approaches and how vastly different in others. But it’s the way we got to those decisions that is the same!
I agreed with internal motivators versus external. There are so many times I see people (and I’ve definitely been guilty myself) of bribing their children to do good. While doing it once might not seem like a huge deal, doing it repeatedly creates problems. Children are wanting the reward but if there is no reward they are not motivated to do the task. This is very true in our house in regards to chores. Chores are a part of life on a farm and a part of life as a family. We feel it’s preparing them to grow up and be adults someday. Some of my children just do not want to do their assigned chores. But they are still their chores. We don’t bribe them. They must do their chores. If chores aren’t done then free time is spent working on them.
I personally have favored an unschooling approach for years. But with our individual family circumstances this year we’re using a “boxed” type curriculum. Where I have lesson plans made out for me. Will be divert from it? You betcha! But I also knew that personally I couldn’t handle making sure we still covered the subjects needed for our state while also having a baby and dealing with a newborn.
The part that has always scared me the most is record keeping. Julia Polanco does have a full chapter in her book about record keeping which is excellent. I recommend the book. While I don’t feel I gleaned or learned anything new, it did cement the directions we as a family are led to for schooling. Definitely a book I wish had been available when my children were younger!
Learn More
Check out the other reviews of this book linked up on the Main Post over on the Homeschool Review Crew blog. You can also find Julie Polanco on facebook and pinterest. I do want to note that these have been my personal thoughts and reflections on the book and everyone is going to read and glean differently. Definitely read other reviews to get a better feel for whether this book would interest you or not.
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