How do you know they are learning?

This is a post that I've been processing for a little while now.  This question - or something like it - is one I get frequently.  Usually just after "is that legal?" and the dreaded "what about socialisation?"
It often comes in other forms like "are you a teacher then?", "does the government send you books?" or "how do you know what to teach?"  Behind it all is the disbelief that a lay-person, a non-expert, would take on the monumental task of educating a human being.

Believe me, we homeschoolers - by and large - feel the weight of that responsibility.  I'd argue that feeling that burden is a good sign that you respect the immensity of your child's education.  A great majority of homeschoolers I have spoken with have felt the anxiety, especially in the early years, of doing enough and doing it well enough.  On bad days we feel like it's all just an idealistic dream and we're ruining our children in this crazy experiment.


I recently had a conversation with a relatively new homeschooler.  We had only just met, and, as newly meeting homeschoolers tend to do, she asked me what curriculum I use.  The conversation turned to that common fear: is what we are teaching up to 'standard'?

It reminded me of another conversation that I had had with my dear friend who is a highschool teacher.  Before I realised that she was seriously considering homeschooling, we'd often do educational things with our children.  Her oldest is close in age to WS and they are kindred spirits, so if they had a day off they could often be found folded in to our school day.

One day we did a geography session.  All the children were seated around the dining table.  We had just recently learned a 'continents and oceans' song so we moved on to learning about a specific continent.  Starting at home, we read through some information about the countries of Australasia.  The children took turns reading a short passage about some key features, copywork of the country's name, and finding, cutting and pasting the flag.  It all went well, we finished up and shooed the kids off to play while we had a cuppa.  (cup of tea for you non-aussies!)

My friend turned to me and said - in perfect edu-speak! - "so how would you measure the learning outcomes for an activity like that?"  I looked at her like she had 3 heads for a moment while trying to translate what exactly she was on about.  My thoughts were like this:

• What?
• Are you serious?
• You were just here with me, weren't you?
• Didn't you see/hear what the kids were doing?
• Ooooh, you realise that they won't memorise every fact we read...
• I'm not going to test the kids on any of it...
• so you don't know what the point of the whole thing was.

My dear friend is an excellent teacher.  Excellent.  Her students are truly blessed to have her.  She loves her students so fiercely.  But this was just foreign to her, we were speaking different languages!

So I went back and explained to her why I chose this topic/activity and what my expectations were regarding it.  This wasn't memory work, I wasn't pushing mastery and recall of the material.  This was purely exposure, to ignite interest and generate thought and discussion.  We were making connections, wearing in synaptic pathways, so the next exposure will make it stronger!  We were discovering enormous butterflies and active volcanoes; we were imagining what life is like on a teeny tiny South Pacific island, practicing empathy and connecting with our fellow man.  We practiced educational things like group discussions, reading (and reading aloud) skills, listening skills, handwriting, fine-motor skills, atlas and research skills.  We reinforced the idea that learning is meaningful FUN!

What is my point?  Bear with me, I'm getting there!

After homeschooling for a few years now I can see why we were speaking different languages.  As a homeschooling parent, I am right. there. with my child as they are learning.  I see, in the very moment, whether they understand the material or not.  More than that, I can see how they are responding to the material.  It is a journey as much about getting to know my child as a whole person as it is a journey to the end of the books.  This is one of the biggest pros to homeschooling, there is no way it can be replicated in a classroom to the same extent.

Talking with my friend-the-excellent-highschool-teacher is so encouraging.  She has 'insider' knowledge and is honest with me.  I know that even the pieced-together ramshackle attempt at a Classical Education we strive for in this house is something special, something different, something truly worthy.  

As I walk down this homeschooling path I find myself more and more disconnected from caring about what schools are doing, what levels are the standard and what subjects 'should' be taught.  I care deeply about showing my children the depth, beauty, wisdom and heart in this world and helping them to respond to it.  I don't care about including a technology or sustainability component in every subject*, I don't care how well they outclass their peers in tests (or don't).

It is a blessed privilege to see my children be amazed by the world.  To fall in love with a classic book.  To wonder at a magnetized needle spinning to North.  To feel like life is an exciting place and that they are capable of living it!

So be encouraged, new homeschoolers.  It isn't easy, but it is real.  It isn't perfect, but it is good.  It isn't standardized - but then neither are my children!  How do I know they are learning?  Because every day I am so, unbelievably, blessed to be able to see a fresh world through their eyes.

*yes, this is a real requirement for classroom teachers in my state!