By Karen O’Connor

 

Have you been thinking about homeschooling your children but aren’t sure it’s right for you?  Perhaps Julie Bogart can help.  Julie is the creator of the innovative Brave Writer Writing and Language Arts Curriculum and mother of five children (my grandchildren) whom she homeschooled for 17 years.

I asked Julie to share more details about her personal experience of homeschooling and what it has meant to her family and the hundreds of families she’s helped.

 

Q: What drew you to homeschool your children?

A: True confession: I signed on the dotted line to homeschool my as-yet unborn children when I got engaged to my kids’ dad. One of his best friends rolled out a brief, persuasive argument for why I ought to resist the invasive, government-controlled system of education as a committed Christian, and that sold me! 

Over the years, I read books about homeschooling and it matched my feeling about family—time together, shared learning, the opportunity to witness all those “firsts” (reading, writing, discovering history, learning the times tables). Homeschooling felt like a continuation of my family values—being the primary role model and influence on my children so they would grow into responsible, educated, happy, values-centered people. 

 

Q: What are some of the benefits of homeschooling for Christian families? 

A: One of the biggest benefits to homeschooling as a person of faith is that you get to live your faith openly, full-time, with your children. One year, for instance, I read the Old Testament to my kids each day before we read our “read-aloud” novel. That reading provoked many questions about faith, God, and how to understand the story of Christianity in the context of the Jewish faith. In addition, Christian families have more time for acts of service to the community, prayer, and the joy of celebrating Christian holidays as a part of their homeschool experience.

 

Q: Are there any downsides?

A: The most challenging aspect of homeschooling when you come from a specific religious point of view is providing your children with a range of ideas and people that are different from your own. Parents can limit this potentially negative effect of homeschooling by traveling with their children, doing community service together, watching a variety of television shows, reading widely, and joining homeschool co-ops that welcome a range of participants.

 

Q: What advice do you have for young families who are faced with the decision of whether or not to homeschool?

A: Homeschooling is an enormous commitment because you spend 24/7 in the company of your children. You must like them and want to be home with them. The good news is that you love your children more than anyone else in the world! You have the capacity to learn how to teach them at a pace that corresponds with their rate of growth and learning. You can create the culture you want, and you can discover what works for everyone—one year at a time. You don’t have to know the end at the beginning. 

 

Q: What prompted you to start your online business, BraveWriter.com?

A: I worked as a freelance writer and editor while my children were young. I participated in the many online homeschooling communities of the late 1990s and discovered quickly that writing presented many challenges to parents. As I offered writing advice, it became clear that my professional background gave me a different perspective about what it takes to create a healthy, satisfying partnership between parent and child in the task of writing. 

I started Brave Writer in response to a need. I saw that the missing link in writing instruction was teaching parents how to be effective writing coaches and allies to their children, not just providing writing assignments and explanations of formats.

 

Q: You talk about something you call “The Brave Writer Life-style.” Please share what that means to you and the families you serve. 

A: The Brave Writer Lifestyle is the name I give to a way of educating that goes beyond strict reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. It’s my contention that writing thrives in a literature-rich context, supported by immersing kids in poetry, Shakespeare, art, music, nature, film, and word play. We encourage parents to enjoy education, not just to “get through it.” We provide resources on the website that facilitate these practices so that they become a natural part of the homeschooling routine. The Brave Writer lifestyle requires a shift in thinking. The idea is that your home education thrives on creating emotionally safe, intimate relationships in the family while nurturing a love for the arts, sciences, and literature through action (not just textbooks).

 

Q: How do you encourage homeschooling parents and kids to keep going when they meet obstacles and challenges? Some parents may feel like failures if they opt out after a season. 

A: The most important part of homeschooling is the sense of well-being that infuses the home and supports the homeschooling parent. Curriculum never takes precedence over well-being. Children respond to the environment their parents create. The parent who home educates needs to be physically healthy. Of course there are periods of illness and morning sickness, and so on, but for the most part you can withstand these setbacks and still carry on with homeschooling. 

The parent who home educates must also feel supported and free to pursue her (or his) vision. The family needs to feel that what they are doing together is leading toward deeper relationships and progress in learning. Both parents must share the homeschooling vision, even if only one of them does the majority of the work.

When any of these is missing, homeschooling becomes a shadow of what it could or should be. At that time, it’s important to evaluate how to get it back on track or to consider other options (like co-ops, tutoring, online classes, or even traditional schooling). The biggest challenge for many parents is the feeling that they will fail their children if they hand off the responsibility to educate their children to someone else. Yet how much worse would it be to fail to educate your children due to depression or marital conflict or chronic illness?

The best way to avoid making a poor decision is to focus on well-being rather than principles. Parents successfully rear children in every kind of schooling—and parents can fail in any one context too. The difference is in how the children experience their home life. Is it enriching, stimulating, consistently peaceful and happy? These matter. Follow your conscience and do what leads to peace and progress.

 

Q: What do your children say about their homeschooling experience now that each of them has graduated from home study?

A: I have five kids with five opinions! The longer they are out in the world the more they see the value of their home education. They’re aware that we were able to give depth and attention to subjects they may never have appreciated in traditional school. They also value the intimacy they feel with each other—the inside jokes, the shared learning, the memories, the outings, the hours of reading and playing games, the cozy winter teatimes, the long hikes in the woods, the uncountable trips to the art museums. They all say that they are glad they were home educated. Three of the five went to traditional public high school and have appreciated that experience as well. 

 

Q: Do you have any closing thoughts?

A: I tell parents that home educators are the hippies of the 21^st century. They want to take risks for the sake of making a difference and preserving their belief systems against what they perceive as a hostile educational environment. They may appear more conservative in their political and theological positions than the hippies of the 1960s, but they share a similar passion for challenging the status quo.

The little known secret about home education is that parents enter their own education renaissance once they start teaching their children, and they become passionate learners in their own right. That produces a world of good in their homes and in their larger communities. I’m a fan of anyone who homeschools.

 

Karen O’Connor is a freelance writer in Watsonville, California. www.karenoconnor.com

 

Teach Your Child Values at Home

These resources will guide your discussions with your kids, whether or not you choose homeschooling.

For Kids

I Want to Teach My Child About Media

by Kirsetin Morello 

(Standard Publishing, 2005) 

Item 42091

 

I Want to Teach My Child About Fitness

by Shawn McMullen 

(Standard Publishing, 2005) 

Item 42089

 

I Want to Teach My Child About Sex 

by Dr. Karl and Shannon Wendt

(Standard Publishing, 2005) 

Item 42086

 

I Want to Teach My Child About Values

by Marcy W. Bryan 

(Standard Publishing, 2005) 

Item 42088

 

I Want to Teach My Child About Manners

by Jennie Bishop 

(Standard Publishing, 2005) 

Item 42092

 

I Want to Teach My Child About Money 

By Kathie Rechkemmer

(Standard Publishing, 2005)

Item 42087

 

For Teens

I Want to Talk with My Teen About Love, Sex and Dating 

by Dr. Karl and Shannon Wendt 

(Standard Publishing, 2006) 

Item 24308

 

I Want to Talk with My Teen About Money Management

by Lisa Crayton 

(Standard Publishing, 2006) 

Item 24307

 

I Want to Talk with My Teen About Girl Stuff

by Heather Flies 

(Standard Publishing, 2006) 

Item 24305

 

I Want to Talk with My Teen About Addictions

by Megan Hutchinson 

(Standard Publishing, 2006) 

Item 24306

 

I Want to Talk with My Teen About Movies, Music and More

by Walt Mueller 

(Standard Publishing, 2006) 

Item 24309

 

I Want to Talk with My Teen About Guy Stuff

by David Olshine 

(Standard Publishing, 2006) 

Item 24304