A Wonderful Book for Homeschool Mamas {A Review}

Have you been seeking encouragement, perspective, or a chat with a veteran homeschooler?  You may enjoy God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn by Julie Polanco.

Julie is a homeschooling mom of four who has already graduated one child and is still in the trenches with her other children.  During her homeschool journey, she has learned to let God lead the way and has also taken to sharing the wisdom she has learned.

Her work has appeared in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, Home Education Magazine, and many trade publications.  She has also developed a high school botany course for www.schoolhouseteachers.com and, of course, written the book I have been blessed to read this past month - God Schooling.

In a nutshell, in God Schooling, Julie shares the struggles and soul searching she faced at the beginning of her homeschool journey and, then, moves on to elaborate upon the unschooling approach she chose to follow.  As she does, she offers stories, insights, and food for thought for homeschoolers of all kinds - unschoolers, relaxed homeschoolers, and traditional homeschoolers.  (Relaxes homeshcoolers and unschoolers, however, will likely appreciate the book the most.)

The book is divided into two parts:

• Part 1: Dispelling Myths
• Part 2: Practice

In Part 1 - which is two chapters long, Julie encourages you to help your children learn naturally, as "God intended"* and offers plenty of Scripture to support her point of view. 


In Part 2 - which is 7 chapter long, Julie dives into how to teach children under eight years old, those between the ages of eight and 12, and teens, attending to their development needs, building character, focusing on relationships, and guiding children to be who God calls them to be.

Julie also tells you how to get started on child-led, natural learning, addresses common questions and answers, and shares ideas for keeping records of non-traditional learning in a world that so often demands proof of academic progress.

At the end of each chapter are questions to help you further digest, reflect upon, and discuss the ideas in the book and how to apply them to your family's homeschool journey.
*I put as "God intended" in quotes, because, although I agree with many things Julie shares, I do not believe that God intends all homeschoolers to be unschoolers, and, I think that, at times, Julie writes in such a way that more traditional homeschoolers might miss some gems of wisdom while dismissing some things as "well, that works for her, but not for me and mine" or bristling about feeling that their more traditional homeschooling approach being considered not God's intention. 

That said, I do not think Julie is saying other approaches are wrong or that God might not have different plans for different people's approaches.  I just wonder if uber-structured homeschoolers might feel Julie does, and, therefore miss some of the wonderful gems of wisdom in the book - and, gems are aplenty!

My Thoughts on the Book

God Schooling encouraging you to put God at the center of your homeschooling endeavors and to ask Him to lead you to what works for your family.  It also reminds you to work on character and relationships before academics. 

From its earliest pages, the book offers food for thought.  For example:

"Curriculum can be a great tool as long as it doesn’t become our religion." (p. 6)

So often, at this time of year, decisions center around what curricula or curriculum activities will be done in the fall.  That makes it easy to lose sight of the WHY of our homeschooling journey while focusing on the what.  Those words brought me back to a truth I already knew.

"If God has prepared…works for your child to do, then won’t He make sure she is adequately prepared for them?" (p. 11)

All three of my children are in very different places with their learning styles and their actual skills. This can be challenging.  Even more challenging is the constant chatter in my brain that wonders if I am doing the right things right now to lead my children to the future God has prepared for them.

When I read the words above, I felt so encouraged, remembering that no matter what I do, God is in control, not me.  Yes, I need to do my part, but, in the end, He has a call for each of my children, and He will ensure they are ready to meet it.

"The one thing we can do and are admonished to do is to…train our children in righteousness." (p. 13)

Of course, the day I began reading the book was "one of those days" when I was feeling the tug between tasks that needed to be done at home, commitments we had with others, where my children are at with their skills, and what had overcome my children and turned them into less-than-virtuous young humans that day.

The words above - although not sharing a new concept with me - reminded me to just pause everything and work on character.  ALWAYS, guiding my children toward virtue should trump everything else.

This same idea was echoed later in the book, - and "needed" by me each time.

In fact, there were so many portion of the book that "spoke" to me, I believe God put God Schooling in my hands right now to help guide me toward guiding my oldest child' next phase of development.

You see, I've been in a place recently where I am debating what direction to go with homeschooling my three very different learners, and, especially, my oldest. 

A traditional curriculum-in-a-box approach has never worked for my children nor me.  So, through the years, we've leaned toward eclectic, with some inspiration from Montessori, Charlotte Mason, unschooling and more. 

To date, this has worked for us for the most part.  However, now my oldest is middle school age, and I have been praying and thinking about whether to gear up more with traditional curriculum-type learning for him, to embrace a Charlotte Mason approach more faithfully, or, to finally, just "let go and let God" by diving into true unschooling approach for him.

Truth be told, my son would love to be an unchooler, and my husband has said he thinks it might be the best approach for him.  I agree - to a point - but have reservations.  I am a former school teacher and a recovering Type A personality, so it is hard for me to to let go 100% from conventional approaches.  I am also running in a lot of directions with responsibilities to home, homeschool, work, and more, and, therefore, I admit I have a bit of fear that I won't have the time to unschool well.  I might not have time and focus to keep up with my son's child-led learning...

So, yep, I have a ways to go with my thoughts and have found God Schooling quit encouraging.  Reading it affirmed for me that if, indeed, God is calling me to unschool my oldest, it will be okay!

The book may have a different message for you. Read it and see.   It is well worth reading, and God will surely speak to you through parts of it!

Learn More

Read the first chapter of the book for free!

You can also get the e-book for 50% off through August 22. 

Follow Julie on social media:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juliepolancobooks/ @juliepolancobooks
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jpolancobooks/

Read what other Review Crew families thought about the book.

Read more reviews.

7 Words for This Week

H.I.I.F.

What, you do not know that acronym?

Don't worry.  I just made it up, because although I could say T.G.I.F, as in "Thank God it is Friday, (the week was so blessed!)

Instead, I find myself thinking, "How is it Friday?" as in, "Where did this week go?"  (Or, as the case may be now, H.I.I.S, since I began writing this on Friday, paused, and now find Saturday almost done!)

Truly, the week flew -- fast, fun and full of discovery! (Okay, there were moments of being frustrated, tired and whatnot, too, but let's focus on the more positive stuff!)

This past week there was...

~1~

Community

Sunday, we were blessed by spending time with part of our church collaborative community enjoying simple timelsss pastimes.  (More on that tomorrow!)

~2~

Tradition

Before I ever met Mike, I began going to Honeypot Hill with my brother, my sister and their families.  I would love it if we all could still go there together now that I have my own children, timing never works for that.  Thus, Mike, the kids and I simply continue the tradition on our own.

How we love climbing ladders to pick apples, feeding the animals, doing the mazes and appreciating the beautiful scenery! 

~3~

Animation

One thing I love about homeschooling is having time to learn alongside my children!  Part of that learning this week included the Outside the Box crew mentoring the kids and me in creating our first stop motion animation videos as a part of a DIY.org Animator badge work.

The children were so proud of their work (and I was pretty amazed by how relatively simple stop motion really is.)   

~4~

Butterflies

Nature study (insects and plants), physical education (hiking and jumping off rock walls) and faith (marveling at God's amazing creation) this week included a fabulous free monarch butterfly tagging program at Allen's Pond Wildlife Sanctuary, a place that makes me feel so lucky to live in the area I do.

Isn't it gorgeous?

~5~

Teeth

... or lack thereof!

Nina bravely pulled out another tooth this week and now has a 4-space gap that makes me laugh every time she smiles.  How she can articulate at all, I do not know, but her chatter and song have not slowed down!

In fact, Nina had her first church choir practice ever this week and came away from it beaming!  She's so excited to finally be old enough to join the church choir and has been telling me she wants to serve our church in every way she can as she grows.  Yay!

~6~

Geography

A geography club seed began germinating in my brain long ago.  It was more recently watered and fertilized by similar desires by my friend Dani and just this week grew into a seedling I am delighted by.  Children from five families got together for our inaugural meeting this week and had so much fun!

~7~

Forts

You might recall from one of the reasons I listed last week about why I am hesitant to call myself a homeschooler that my children have begin a completely self-initiated fort building project.  Well, it is not just their anymore.  

Luke recruited a friend to be in his army, using paperwork and all, and then, together with that friend, his siblings and the friend's little brother, worked happily away pounding nails, layering mud and bricks and fortifying their fort walls.

~Plus~

Mini-Lessons

Plus, of course, there were plenty of mini-lessons, including Nina choosing to create simple sentences, and...

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Jack combining Montessori Sandpaper Numbers with a favorite open-ended toy (the awesome MindWare Q-Ba-Maze ) to practice numbers.

What a week it's been!

Did your week fly, too?  What fun and learning have you been enjoying?

Sharing at Conversion Diary, Managing Your Blessings, Pebble Pond,  Weird Socialized Homeschoolers and Home to 4 Kiddos.

7 Reasons I Almost Hesistate to Call Myself A Homeschooler

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Another week of  homeschooling is winding down here.  As it does, I wonder why I call myself a "home"schooler at all.  We remain rarely at home.

Why?

~1~

Trees beckon!

 

While we were away on western PA visiting family, one of our neighbors trimmed the trees in the cul de sac near our home.  Nina was delighted and has wanted to play in the trees often since discovering how much easier they are to climb now.  

The boys have been equally delighted, grabbing hockey sticks and wiffle ball bats to be weapons as they perch in the trees to defend themselves from the British.

Physical education and dramatic play tied to Revolutionary War studies are schooling; they just aren't homeschooling!

~2~

D.I.Y. takes us o-u-t!

 

  

The kids are working on an animator badge a la DIY.org.  Of course, we could work on it at home (and have done so a bit), but it's so much fun to create and share with others.  So, we joined the Outside the Box homeschoolers for a joint lesson!

The kids made storyboards, watched clips about animation, planned their stop-motion animation scenes in teams and created animation studio boards.  (Nina and her teammate made their board quickly, as time was ticking, but were so pleased with what they did!)

Art, teamwork, sequencing and so much more explored, but again, not at home!

 

~3~

Mom says "yes", even first thing in the morning!

Almost every morning this week, the kids have asked first thing in the morning (before even getting out of jammies sometimes!), if they can run over to the cul de sac to see how their fort is doing.  I'm all for fresh air and purposeful heavy work in the morning, so I say, "yes".  

Some mornings, "seeing" turns to "working on".  The kids have been building their interpretation of a Revolutionary War fortification - a completely child-led activity.  So far, their fortification has bricks layered with mud mortar, a trench and a short wooden wall.  

Engineering, physical activity, history, teamwork... but, again, not happening in our home, or even our yard.

~4~

Field trips make what we read in books and hear on CD's come alive!

I'd love to say my children were actually settled in for a nap/quiet time in the photo above.  But, nope!  Not my kids.  They only nap if they are sick and ususally only settle for quiet time if I play new audio books for them.

What my children are actually doing in that snapshot is experiencing what it was like to bunk in a WW2 Destroyer.  For, although the kids are currently enamored with the Revolutionary War, we have listened to CD's and read about other wars in the past.  So, when a field trip to Battleship Cove came up on a local homeschool board, we signed up!

On the tour, we enjoyed a guided tour of a battleship, a submarine and a destroyer, as well as our own self-guided walk through a missile ship and past some PT boats.  In the afternoon, Luke, Nina and Jack gave friends who had been in another tour group a tour of what the friends had not yet seen.  It was so awesome to hear my kids teaching their friends what they had just learned!

History, exercise, public speaking.  All there.  At home?  Nope.

~5~

The weather is too good for indoor co-ops!

The children asked Daddy to teach a Flag Football class for homeschoolers this fall.  Their wish was our pleasure!  We put word out to our Little Way Home Educators group and have just finished up week two of a five week mini co-op where we spend some time playing Flag Football and some time doing a Trees class.  Then, of course, it's lunch and playground time!

This week, the mom leading the Trees class portion of our mini co-op could not come, so I threw together and led a plan that included building tree models out of train tracks to review the parts of the tree and to introduce the idea that water goes up from the roots and sunlight gets captured by the leaves and becomes food that goes back into the tree.  The kids loved this activity, which, in the photo, is just beginning.

Some science, some physical education, some socialization.  But, all in a park, not at home.

~6~

We love audio books!

When we were on our way back from PA recently, we began listening to George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved America.  Nina and Jack were non-plussed by it, but Luke got so into it, we had to finish it this week.

 
When it was done, we took Jack's request to listen to the "castle story" in the Brinkman Adventures and then tried out Jonathan Park: The Adventure Begins (Jonathan Park Radio Drama).  It captured the kids' attention right away with exciting adventures and has also brought up conversations about differing opinions on creation science vs. evolutionary science.

Although we listen to audios at home, I prefer to listen to new-to-us ones in the van where I can follow the stories, too (as opposed to hearing them as background "music" while I go about tasks at home.)  So, audio-learning and entertainment sometimes encourages us to be out and about!  Or, just makes the drives to and from places that much more purposeful and enjoyable.  History, science, faith, literature, even math all turn our minivan into a place for mini-lessons.

~7~

I'm often out, but still a homeschooler.

Lest you think we never stay at home or concentrate on learning when we are home, let me assure you that this is not the truth.  We just tend to tuck short, pointed lessons at home in between experiential learning outside of our home.

For example, when Nina was doing some Math the other day I noticed many of the numerals that she wrote were backwards.  So, I mixed mixed Montessori-inspiration with Nina's love for sensory experiences with a loose interpretation of an idea I gleaned from The Gift of Dyslexia, Revised and Expanded: Why Some of the Smartest People Can't Read...and How They Can Learn.  Then, Nina set to work with sandpaper letters and Thinking Putty.  

I loved her smile as she succeeded in building each number!

What do you think?  Should I really call myself a homeschooler?

Sharing at Conversion Diary, Managing Your Blessings, Pebble Pond,  Weird Socialized Homeschoolers and Home to 4 Kiddos.