Q&A with Veteran Homeschooling Mothers: Part 11
/As discussed in the previous post, we hear once again about the benefits of including "extras" in schooling. Laura gives us a peek into what her family included in their home school. Tailor your child's learning to his gifts, and follow the Lord's leading for your family.
In addition to math and language arts, is it a good use of time to include regular studies on science, history, art, music, and/or foreign language for my elementary aged children? Why or Why not?
"Adding science, history, art, music, and/or foreign language for the elementary years depends upon what you and your husband decide is valuable, what your family interests are, and where you see God gifting your children. For our family, that was history and music. We loved studying history together and reading all the wonderful children's historical fiction and biographies! We were blessed to be able to travel quite a bit, so we greatly enjoyed seeing the historical sights and seeing in person the places that we had studied. Music was important to me and we saw music as our daughter's gifting, so we included music. Some of that included lessons, but also listening to various genres of music and singing to start our day. We did not do a true science curriculum in the elementary years, more nature study and fun experiments. They didn't love science until they reached high school and were exposed to more of an apologetics bent to science. But some families love science and spend lots of time in it as we did in other areas. I taught some art early on, as in drawing. My husband was not concerned that I teach art appreciation or go any further with art training. We did not see a need to include foreign language, but if we saw that our family, for example, would be taking mission trips to Mexico, we would have included learning Spanish. A few years after graduation, my daughter did go through the whole Rosetta Stone curriculum to learn German on her own, as we took a trip to Germany and Austria. So I would suggest discussing with your husband and together deciding what is best for your family in these areas based on interests and how you see God gifting your children. Giving them the tools and desire to be life-long learners is more important than trying to squeeze in everything you or others may think essential."
In case you've missed past Q&A's, click below to hear from the other veteran homeschool mothers:
Q&A with Veteran Homeschool Mothers: Part 1
Q&A with Veteran Homeschool Mothers: Part 2
Q&A with Veteran Homeschool Mothers: Part 3
Q&A with Veteran Homeschool Mothers: Part 4
Q&A with Veteran Homeschool Mothers: Part 5
Q&A with Veteran Homeschool Mothers: Part 6
Q&A with Veteran Homeschool Mothers: Part 7
Q&A with Veteran Homeschool Mothers: Part 8
Laura has homeschooled for 15 years and completed her homeschool journey in 2010. She has 2 children; Emily was homeschooled 1st - 12th grade. Daniel was homeschooled Pre-K - 12th grade. Laura has homeschooled in both Texas and Kansas.