The question that plagues modern homeschoolers, in the same way that men and women in the middle ages wondered if the world was flat, is:
"Are we making any progress and are my kids really learning anything?"
I say 'modern homeschoolers' because I don't think the pioneer homeschoolers asked that question.
For them, it wasn't about whether their children knew enough, but about 'what' they knew. They used God's standard in the Bible as their standard. In the last couple of decades, we've changed that standard.
Now the standard used is the level of academics a boy or girl should be at by age 8, 12, or 17. We look towards the "experts" who say a child should be reading chapter books by age seven, doing algebra by 9th grade, and taking Chemistry in 11th grade.
"Says who?"
It certainly isn't God. The truth is that some children don't read until they're ten, struggle to learn algebra, or never make it to Chemistry. And that's OK!
Our children are learning! They will be well prepared for whatever it is God created them. That gives us grace to enjoy our children at whatever level they are.
"Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid." - Albert Einstein
I couldn't have said it better... |
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
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