By mid-September students everywhere have returned to classrooms and if it were marketed simply as “reading, writing, and arithmetic”, most would scoff. They would wonder where the STEM programs were and what computer programs were being utilized. It tends to be easy in our modern era to deride anything that is more than a few years old as antiquated and by implication, “less than”. I get that! I spent 15 years of my life teaching in a public educational setting in the 1980’s and early 1990’s and was blessed to have one of Apple’s first computers in my special education classroom. That is nearly 30 years ago and behind the times in many ways by 2017 standards.
My education did not start that way as a child. I had the rare privilege of spending grades one and two in rural Ohio in a one-room school where eight grade levels managed to be taught by one teacher with fairly amazing results. (For many homeschool mothers today that would not be surprising.) I confess that I learned a great deal by overhearing the lessons of students in older grades.
The school I attended was the same one my father had attended years before me, but the curriculum had changed by the time I entered first grade at age five. My father’s class used the famed McGuffey readers and other texts authored by McGuffey as well as Ray’s arithmetic books, texts that educated and trained thousands of students in the late 
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I cherish a few copies of those very books that I have on my bookshelves that belonged to my dad and his sisters.
Few except homeschoolers would consider using these texts today since they went beyond basic academic subject matter. Stories in reading texts were meant not only to teach reading, but also a set of moral principles and values, love of country, and respect for parents.
When I review the contents of these books on my shelves, I see words and concepts that might cause some contemporary students to stumble not only due to vocabulary words that are no longer common but also due to the level of thinking and maturity evidenced.
That old fashioned generation without smartphones, high tech computers and scientific calculators managed to build the economic engine of the United States. They did so by 
grounding it on moral, biblical, ethical values and principles as a sure foundation along with academic standards we all now benefit from and take for granted or even shun.
Perhaps we have gone too far, however, in this modernization and started to see something was lost in the process. Homeschooling seems to be one response to an educational system that set aside the very values we all once cherished. Many ridiculed this movement when it started but despite the critics, students who are homeschooled are standing tall in their accomplishments equaling and often exceeding the academic performance of their public school peers. The subjects taught them are quite inclusive and include things like rhetoric and dialectic skills as well as numerous languages, math, sciences, history, geography, music, and arts. Many are taught in various co-op formats where students have spirited interaction around subject matter taught by highly educated mothers (and sometimes dads).
As I reflect on the return to studies by millions of children around the world, I am especially grateful for mothers (and sometimes dads) who are investing time, skills, and numerous resources to homeschool their children. These parents are unsung heroes who sacrifice a great deal in an effort to hold a high standard of academic performance as well as skills such as thinking, evaluating, organizing, time management and more. In the mix they base everything on moral principles that respect God, country, family values, and authority. They are not wimpy followers who are socially inept, but leaders who have been challenged to consider consequences and take responsibility for not only learning material, but also their own behavior and choices.
How do I know this? Our daughter and daughter-in-law have homeschooled all six of our grandchildren in Maryland and Tennessee. Our oldest granddaughter earned a scholarship and graduated with honors from an excellent university with a BSN this spring. Our oldest grandson earned a trustee scholarship to a highly ranked private college in a pre-medical program and is studying abroad in Chile this semester as a college junior. Another grandson is hard at work in his freshman year of college looking at how he can use his creativity and marketing to help make the world a better place. The remaining three grandchildren are able to hold their own in discussing nearly any subject that comes up as seventh, ninth, and eleventh graders. The oldest of these takes AP courses and writes a column in an online student newspaper.
These six have played on basketball, soccer, and swim teams. The one who played high school basketball was on a top nationally ranked team. Among them we have singers, thespians, pianists, a drummer, a violinist, and a cellist. None of them are socially inept or backward. All have held various jobs and completed internships with more to come.
Today I salute my daughter and daughter-in-law for equipping the next generation with the academic skills and moral fiber to make a difference in the world and for eternity. I am so proud of both of you.
Perhaps the admonition in Proverbs 4:7 ESV says it best:
“The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.”
I really wish I would of home schooled my kids, but at the time it was new and I had no idea how to go about it. I strongly recommend home schooling if at all possible. After having kids in the public school system I have seen how r things just get worse and worse every day.
Thanks for sharing at LMM Link up, hope to see you again next week.
Have a great week.
Connie
I hear you loud and clear, Connie! There are not many public schools that would be considered to be excellent academically and the social norms being taught do not align with our Christian values as well. I’ll be back to sign on again! Thanks for your encouragement!😊
I really admire parents who homeschool. It must take a lot of commitment and patience to get through. I work full time and I have no way to do otherwise, so it was something that I never considered. Also, in Portugal, it’s not common at all to homeschool and I really have no idea how things could even work out. But I’m so glad it worked for your grandchildren. Thank you for joining The Really Crafty Link Party this week.
It takes a great deal of commitment, creativity, research, and patience and certainly is not for everyone. I have talked with a very few whom I thought likely should not have done so. I have been blessed to have a daughter and daughter-in-law who researched a lot of curriculum and state mandates, etc. and our grandchildren have excelled. I would love to know more about Portugal and what it is like there! Our oldest grandson is currently studying in Chile for a semester abroad.😊
What a sweet tribute to your family! I appreciate these reflections- especially on teaching more than just the basic subject!
Thanks so much!!💕
I was just looking at an old, like 1887, English Grammar Primer my mom has in her classic bookshelf – and was amazed at how clearly it explained sentence structure. It would help so many students today… we have gotten too fancy I think in some of the teaching procedures.
How true, Marissa! I have noticed that as well as I have looked at some of the older books of my dad’s. “New and improved” isn’t really always better or even best!🙂
What a great article. Many of us who are not involved with education cannot fully appreciate the scope of homeschooling. Every day I’m thankful for my parents & the lessons learned at St. Joseph School.
Thanks! I’m sure you are! They were seeking only the best for you and your sibs!!🌺
Strong essay, mom! Thanks for the shout out…. but for the grace of God. 🙂 Love you.
Hi Pam! Home schooling is represented in my family. My brother and his wife home schooled 8 of their 10 children through high school, allowing the last two to attend high school. What a commitment! But they have Notre Dame grads, sons who dedicated part of their lives to military service…its amazing.
We all learn in different places and in different environments. How lovely that your family has found what works for them! You have so much to be proud of ( and it doesn’t come from nothing you know…I think your influence is all over this!).
Blessings,
Ceil
Hi Ceil! That’s a great story to hear!! I think sometimes it relates to the student’s needs and sometimes the school systems available. I am indeed proud of this group! I also am experiencing it firsthand this week as our daughter is visiting our oldest grandson in Chile while he is there for a semester abroad and I am doing homeschool with our 12, 14, and 16 year olds!!🙂
This was the perfect encouraging read as I am about to start my school day! Thanks.
So glad, Helene! I have a fresh appreciation for this process as I stepped in to cover homeschool for our daughter with her 12, 14, and 16 year olds while she and our son-in-law went to Chile for the week to visit their 20 year old who is there for a semester abroad🙂
Thanks for your encouragement mom! None might be more surprised by our educational choice than Julie and I, but as my husband and I see the fruit of our academic, social, and moral training… with our 20 year old, navigating a foreign language and country with formidable skill… we wouldn’t go back and change a thing… save slow down the time!
Very proud of the incredible job you both have done!!🌹
Good encouragement for this mum’s heart that just soldiered through a geometry lesson at the dining room table!
I have a much clearer view of that at the moment🙂 I have one here working on algebra, another on German, and the third is practicing violin. By noon, two of the will be out to a musical theater class. Soccer and piano lessons end the late afternoon with SAT prep at 7PM. In between there are other classes and homework I am still sorting out with my second cup of coffee🙂
What would we do without coffee? And written schedules?