Interview with TheHomeSchoolMom
Since many of you are homeschoolers I wanted to introduce to you my cyber friend Mary Ann Kelley, a.k.a. The Homeschool Mom.com.
I first discovered TheHomeSchoolMom.com website when I was first planning and designing my website. I was immediately impressed with Mary Ann's design and organization. I had questions about webhosting and webdesign so I contacted her. She responded right away and was very friendly and helpful. Since then we have had the opportunity to help each other many times.
Her website is an excellent homeschooling resource. After reading her interview be sure to visit her website!
KF: Mary Ann, tell us about yourself and your family.
MK: Who is TheHomeSchoolMom? Well, I am probably a lot like you. I homeschool, I like to do crafts, I try to cook a well-balanced meal every night, and I stay busy running to PE, Brownies, and various errands. I try to do it all and often find out that I can't, and I sometimes wonder if it is worth it. I always come back to the fact that God called me to homeschool and He will strengthen me to do it.
I am a stay at home mom with a husband, two daughters, one hound, and three cats. I homeschool my oldest child who is six, and I do damage control with my youngest, who is three. I love to knit, cook, and I am an online junkie. I sew when I have time (not often!), and I try to keep up with my scrapbooking, but I am years behind. I have way too much going for the number of hours in a day, but I can't find anything that I am willing to give up.
KF: What made you (or why did you) decide to homeschool?
MK: I wasn't sold on homeschooling in the beginning... not because I didn't think it was a good idea, but because I didn't think it was for me. I had a baby and a preschooler and I was tired. I was looking forward to sending them to school and having several hours a day to do what I wanted to do. I was commonly heard to say, I will do it if God tells me to, but it isn't in *my* plans! A homeschooling mom began loaning me books and tapes that helped me to realize that homeschooling was the best option for our family. Among the resources that swayed me were 'Homeschooling: The Right Choice' by Christopher Klicka, several of the homeschooling seminar tape series by Gregg Harris, and 'You're Going to Do What?!' by LauraJean Downs.
While reading the books and listening to the tapes, I began to realize that I couldn't instill the biblical worldview that I wanted my children to have by sending them to an establishment for 8 hours each day where at best they were taught the irrelevance of God, and at worst they were taught that He didn't exist. If the fear of God is the beginning of true wisdom, what kind of wisdom has at its center the denial of God? The answers to these ponderings left me realizing that homeschooling was really the only option for our family. My husband was not as convinced as I was, but he wasn't opposed, either. We decided to try it for a year... after all, how badly can you mess up Kindergarten?
Halfway into the year, we both began to see positive results in our school-aged daughter. Although we did see academic progress that pleased us, the best fruit was the God-centered worldview that was taking shape in the mind of the Kindergartener, along with her natural love for learning. The defining moment for me was when she looked at me with stars in her eyes and said, Mom, I read it! I read a whole book! I do not want a school teacher to be the one to share those kinds of moments with my children. Since then, we have committed to homeschooling for the long haul.
KF: What is your philosophy on homeschooling?
MK:I have laughingly said that I am an unschooler in denial, to which one of my online friends replied, Well, they say that denial is a comfy residence! Eclectic would best describe our homeschool. We do stick to a structure with the 3 R's, but beyond that, our homeschool uses a hodgepodge of styles. We love unit studies and use Five In A Row off and on, but I frequently supplement with units that I have put together from online resources. We often change course when an interest is sparked by current events, holidays, or even a movie we've seen. The Internet has revolutionized education, and with all of the free quality resources just a mouse click away, I can change our curriculum easily without the expense of buying new materials.
Our lifestyle is one of learning, with opportunities for teaching found throughout the day in the most unlikely of places. An explanation of Passover is prompted when my daughter asks about the Kosher aisle at the grocery store, a discussion about Jacob and Joseph springs from a discussion of a movie where a father favored one child over the others, and an explanation of how a bank account works naturally flows when a child comments that we can just go to the bank to get more money. Moments like these take place throughout the day, and could not be manufactured for the benefit of an academic schedule. Sometimes, we just allow the children to explore and learn on their own. It is my opinion that younger children do not have enough time to just be kids, using their imaginations while exploring their world. Between this practice and that lesson, with school all day, kids have their schedules planned out from sun up to sun down with little time for dreaming. Time to play is the fertile soil where dreams take root and are nourished with encouragement and love.
KF: What is the purpose of your website?
MK: When I first started homeschooling, I was on a wonderful e-mail support group where people shared great sites and free stuff to go with the curriculum we were using at the time. I realized after awhile that no one was saving the information, other than in the site archive which was limited to members of the group, so I decided to put it all together on a website for homeschoolers to access. Because I never make a decision with doing online research first, I knew how to quickly find information online. Realizing that not all homeschoolers have the time and/or the knowledge to search out the information that I had saved in my extensive favorites files, I thought I would share my research with them. Taking the great sites that were shared through the e-mail group and adding to it my own research on homeschooling and curriculum, my site was born. Because I earn income by selling ad space, the site and the newsletter have allowed me to bless homeschooling families at no cost to them while still earning income by working at home.
KF: How do you find the time to do a website and homeschool?
MK: It isn't easy! I am early to bed and early to rise, so I try to work on the site in the morning while the children are sleeping or watching PBS. In the beginning, putting together the website was labor intensive and my husband blessed me by taking the children to see their grandma for the weekend two different times. That allowed me the uninterrupted time to get the website up and running. We have an unusual schedule because my husband works rotating shift work which tends to throw our schoolwork off schedule. We can often be found working on math or grammar at night after dinner when dad is at work, which frees up time in the morning to work on my website and newsletter. My husband's schedule also allows him to teach the children,which he enjoys.
Working at home is not like working outside of the home, in that each task is interrupted by thousands of requests. One thing that I remind myself is that if life gets in the way, the world is not going to end if I do not work on the site. I try to keep my priorities straight without allowing the tyranny of the urgent to overtake the things of true importance. I do not always succeed, but I am getting better at it.
KF: Anything else you want to add?
MK: I would like to encourage those who are considering homeschooling to spend time with homeschoolers, do some research online, and read books and listen to tapes by successful homeschoolers. In a society where our children are exposed to everything from drugs to guns, homeschooling's benefits to the individual and the family are immeasurable. The things that are worrisome to those considering homeschooling are usually the very things that do require extra work, but the advantages of teaching your children will outweigh the new challenges it presents.
It has never been easier to homeschool, with laws allowing it in all 50 states and on all overseas U.S. military bases. Unlike the lack of curriculum choices faced by the homeschooling pioneers 20-30 years ago, homeschoolers can now choose from multiple curricula choices for every teaching style imaginable. And with the proliferation of online learning, those on a tight budget can find almost everything that they need to put together a curriculum for any grade for free. Homeschooling is a natural extension of the nurturing that takes place in the preschool years and is a return to the method of education that produced thousands of successful adults in the days prior to public education.
For more information on homeschooling, visit TheHomeSchoolMom's Homeschooling Basics page.
First printing in Natural Family Home Newsletter. Used by permission.