May I ask you to take a trip with me? Think back to the first few weeks after you first decided to homeschool. You’d done the research. You’d talked to God and your family. And you decided to do it. A million questions flooded your mind. I want to zero in on a few of those questions. I’m not talking about the BIG questions, like high school transcripts and state requirements. I’m not even talking about the internal questions like, “What if he doesn’t learn enough?” I want to look at some much more basic questions. Let’s look at some questions new homeschoolers ask.
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What is a lapbook?
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Who was Charlotte Mason?
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How do I make a sensory bin?
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Do Classical homeschoolers really teach Latin?
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What in the world is unschooling?
Wherever you are on your homeschooling journey, I want to give you permission right now to ask the “obvious” questions. Homeschooling has its own vocabulary, and we need to make sure we don’t scare away families still weighing the option to homeschool by using lingo they’ve never heard before.
Let me briefly share my story. My story is just one small part of the testimony we all share as to the endless creativity of our God. I’m single, I don’t have children, and I wasn’t homeschooled. What I am is a child of God with a heart for His children and for writing who supports homeschooling 100%. But I never in my wildest dreams imagined that God was going to fulfill my dream of becoming a professional writer by opening the doors for me to write for a homeschooling company.
I won’t keep you by sharing all the details, but when I first volunteered to write for SchoolhouseTeachers.com, I had no idea what would happen. I thought I’d be writing short stories (I was familiar with writing those) or creating worksheets (that didn’t sound too hard). But copywork? Dictation? I had no idea who Charlotte Mason was.
Thankfully, with a lot of patient support from my coworkers and some research online, I found the answers to most of the questions that initially stumped me. But today, I want to do two things:
1) I want to tell you that you don’t have to have all the answers in order to start on this journey. My journey was writing. Perhaps your journey is homeschooling. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that we follow where God leads.
2) I’d like to make it easier for others to find a few of those answers. If you’re a homeschooler out there who can remember the “basic” questions that stumped you when you began, would you share in the comments? And if you’re a new homeschooler, you can look here on HomeschoolingFinds.com or on HomeschoolApp.com for help.
Bonnie Rose Hudson lives in central Pennsylvania. Along with spending time with her family and writing, making kids smile is her favorite thing to do. Her heart’s desire is for every child to feel the love of God and know how special they are to Him. Please stop by and meet the star of her children’s series at Exploring with Jake, or visit her at her author’s website at http://writebonnierose.com/.