A New Name For Notebooking

We've been "notebooking" almost as long as we've been homeschooling, yet it was only a couple of years ago that I realized it had a name. But I've got to be honest with you: I really don't like the name. While "notebooking" is technically a good description for what we do, it's only a good description if you already know what you are doing. You can't just walk up to someone and say "Yes, we use notebooking in our home education" without expecting a few questions. Which is why I've been trying to find something better. I haven't come up with anything stellar, but I think that the term "journaling" might be pretty good. After all, education happens during the daily adventures of life (some that happen naturally and some that are created by the "teacher") and a journal is a great place to write about adventures!

If something exciting happens, you naturally want to share it with someone else. And learning is a very exciting thing. Writing a short summary of things that have been read, stories that have been listened to, or field trips and activities that have been experienced is a great way to "review" learning and make sure those memories don't get lost. It's also makes it easier to share those memories with others. Maps and illustrations can also be drawn or copied and pasted into your journal. "Lapbooking" can be time and money intensive, but an occasional mini-book is a great addition to an educational journal and adds an interactive element to it. Photographs and small keepsakes from projects and field trips are also nice additions to a journal. Hands-on activities are a great way to make learning personal to your child and like other important events, they should be well documented. Just like any other journal, the contents of an educational journal will vary according to the personality of the writer- your creativity is the only limit.

So, there you have it: Educational Journaling. You heard it here first! ;o)

It's Not About The Test Scores

Our time has come, the pressure is on. We look back and remember how many times our mothers told us that we needed to do a little bit better, try a little bit harder and behave ourselves in public because we were home schoolers and we had to prove ourselves to the world. And we have! Home schooled children have consistently done better on achievement tests and have excelled in all areas, including the infamous area of "socialization". But now it's our turn to be the teachers, and here we are still trying to prove ourselves. If our parents could do such a great job when they had absolutely no idea what they were doing then we, as veteran homeschoolers, should be able to do so much better!

And so we do all those things we think our parents should have done. We avoid all those mistakes we think they made and we make our own mistakes. No one is perfect, after all. But no matter how many mistakes we make we know that there is no one who can teach our children better than we can. So we keep on. We are the second generation and we are here to show that it can be done . . . again.

But with all the pressure and with all our determination to do things right is there something we have forgotten? Are we here for the sole purpose of educating our children or is there something more? We have certainly impressed the world with our academics, with our well behaved and well adjusted children. And though we still hear the "socialization" issue being raised, we who were home schooled in the early years know that it is no longer as great an issue as it once was. We have gained our converts and the number of homeschoolers has increased, but this new crowd doesn't seem to be quite the same. We have dazzled them with our education and they have missed the whole point.

But what is the is the point if it's not education? It's why our parents began home schooling in the first place: because they understood that they were responsible before God for the training and upbringing of their own children. It isn't about excellence in education, except as it relates to Colossians 3:23-24. It isn't education for the sake of education (knowledge which puffs up). This education is a means to an end: to bring the hearts and minds of the children in line with those of the parents. Discipleship! We are not simply teaching our children, we are sharing our lives with them.

And it is no wonder the newcomers don't "get it". It is no wonder the world can't see it, when we for so long have been caught up in trying to impress them and have forgotten it ourselves. We have won the respect of the crowd and have lost the hearts and souls of our children. What a great loss!

Finally, it dawns on us what a great task our parents have taken on and suddenly we feel inadequate. We quaver at the possibility of ruining our children's lives. But as hard as we shake we know that we cannot give this task to someone else. This is our duty and we must prove faithful.