Hello, from one homeschool mom to another. I finished my high school education in 2000 at Gateway High School and then studied CIS with the Institute of Chartered Secretaries in Zimbabwe via correspondence. I was working and studying at the same time, eventually ending up with a consulting practice and a handful of clients. When our first child was ready to enroll in Grade 1, I sensed the Lord calling us into an adventure of homeschooling. Initially, my husband was unsure about this, but after prayer and conversations with other homeschool families in Zimbabwe, we both felt a sense of peace to pursue this path.
I have been homeschooling my children since 2014. Pursuing this path of homeschooling was not to save money or to reinvent the wheel of education – but rather to embrace a life out of the ordinary and to teach our children how to grow in character through that. I have truly loved embracing this call as a mom to home-educate. My children include three boys, aged 14, 11 and 7 and our little girl of 5. Each year has brought growth and new ways of doing things, and we see God's grace and mercy intertwined in so much of our daily lives. This journey has been one which requires patience, endurance, perseverance, and hope.
When I look back over each year, I am able to look through different lenses to see what happened. There are times when we get tired, irritated, impatient, and sometimes want to throw the towel in – yet – we keep leaning into the Lord for His grace to face another day or another week. At the end of the year – we can look back and see what He pulled us through and the JOY and goodness we had – not the hard moments that come in between.
We have a saying we adopted in our family, 'Belong, believe, behave'. When we know each of us holds value, each of us is a person, each of us has strengths and weaknesses, and each of us has value to add, we can believe in cultivating good habits and growing in faith. Developing and growing in our belief enables us to behave as good family members towards God and each other. Much of what we have learnt has come largely through our precious community and studying a philosophy of education through Charlotte Mason.
There are five points that we as a homeschool family have come to value, cultivate, and grow in. I believe these five areas of our lives have helped us to fix our eyes on the prize/goal which calls us heavenward (Philippians 3:14).
Good Ideas
"Ideas are like seeds that grow and bear fruit in your child's life". Sonya Shafer.
A Child's mind digests ideas as his body digests food. As a parent, our job is to present appropriate good ideas to our children abundantly and regularly. Children don't learn just to know certain facts but to grow as persons.
We have found that building up ideas around facts enables our children to engage in a relationship with what they are learning. For example, in geography, learning facts about a country would start with first learning about the people, the culture, the language, the food types, the climate, and the landscapes. We can do this through pictures, living books, maps, and videos. Then when it comes to remembering facts, the child can easily recall information about a country because he has formed a relationship with the ideas generated when studying that country's culture.
Charlotte Mason aptly wrote: "An idea fitly put is taken in without effort, and once in, ideas behave like living creatures – they feed, grow, and multiply."
It is imperative to put before children a feast of ideas about knowledge and life in the form of good books, beneficial videos, nature studies, and ultimately God's Word. This feast will help them assimilate what is before them, helping them to grow in knowledge, putting together ideas that reshape their thinking, and enabling them to grow and act appropriately towards God, people, education, social atmospheres, and ultimately this earth.
Good Thoughts
Romans 12:2 says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (NKJV).
Right thoughts flow from the stimulus of an idea, and ideas, as shared above, are stored in the bible, books, pictures, movies, documentaries, and even social media. We find ideas in the lives of men and women and nations. These ideas instruct the conscience and stimulate the will, so man/child then chooses their response. I am learning that the role of the teacher is to afford the child a full reservoir of the right thoughts to draw from so that they can act upon good responses.
We need Wisdom for what we allow our thoughts to dwell on and what we choose to read and ponder (Phil 4:8).
This has been a big area I have personally had to pay attention to. For the right ideas and renewing of thoughts to happen in children, they must first happen within me. As much as teaching my children has been necessary for them to grow, I have learnt that they watch me and my interactions to ensure that I am also doing what I am encouraging. When studying the gospels, one can see that Jesus encouraged His disciples to do what He did, as He only did what He saw the Father doing. The same principle is still valuable today. Students learn best from teachers who do what they teach.
Romans 8:6 offers this wisdom – The mind governed by the Spirit is Life and Peace.
Good Food
Over the years, we, as a family, have had seasons of eating well and poorly. We have learnt this area of life requires discipline and habit training. What you put into your body influences how your body interacts with your energy levels and responds to external circumstances and relationships. Good eating habits (which look different for other families) help cultivate the ability to behave, choose wisely, exercise self-control, respond and NOT react, and have good brains and physical energy.
Inadequate nourishment leads to the depression in our body's reactions to situations, and we become easily swayed by feelings and emotions. We are cultivating a belief that good nourishment is necessary for our bodies, minds, and spirit. We act upon this belief by learning what good food works for our family to enable healthy eating habits and, ultimately, healthy bodies and minds. Breakfasts have played a massive role in ensuring we start the day right and balance our insulin levels for focus, concentration, and a positive learning environment. Reduce sugar! 😊 It is wisdom! Diets high in vegetables, protein and balanced fruit, with slow-releasing carbohydrates, enable healthy learning habits and good responses.
Good habits
Life becomes much easier when we embark on a journey to create good habits that pave the way for new decisions of our will behave. Helpful habits can be powerful allies in the 'Way of the Will'. Sonya Shafer, a homeschool mom and speaker in America specialising in the Charlotte Mason Method, said: "Helping our children develop good habits is like forming railroad tracks which help them to advance smoothly into their future."
As a family, we are reading through the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. This book has been an excellent resource for learning the benefits of developing good habits, creating them, and consistently keeping them. James says habits behave like the compound interest of self-improvement. Getting one percent better daily counts for a lot in the long run. Small changes often appear to make no difference, but consistency and endurance are essential – the most powerful outcomes of any compounding process are delayed. Patience in forming habits is a virtue. Habits are all about setting up systems or better ways of doing things so you achieve your goal. Habits are not about the goal – instead, they focus more on the process. So much of life is about the journey, not the destination.
It is good to pray and inquire of the Lord in forming habits. Prayer enables us to want to make the changes that will shape our identity and that of our child's identity, which ultimately leads to influencing our destinies. Who knows us better than our Heavenly Father? He is the one who can help us to be over-comers when learning new habits that enhance our character, and He can enable us to do all things through Christ, who strengthens us. We can form good habits, but character grows over time.
Good Memory
As we help our children to put meaningful things into their minds, we can also help them to remember and to call to memory these meaningful things when needed. Ideas are stored through knowledge AND experience. Experience is a great way to recall memory.
We have found that putting time and effort into verbal or written narration is an excellent tool to engage "The Act of Remembering". Narration is simply telling back what you have been taught, read or visualised in a lesson.
Journalling or drawing pictures is another great way to actively engage in recalling memory or experiences. These points, ideas, pictures, and experiences get locked into memory, and new memories form to create the beautiful puzzle picture or tapestry the Lord is helping each child to live out.
Reviewing narration or journalling memories helps keep things in a child's memory and enables them to build upon that memory as one builds precept upon precept. A good memory helps each child build up or grow in their beliefs and allows them to learn how to respond, rather than react, to their environment.
These five areas have become what we would consider our core beliefs in home education. They have helped the children and me to focus on what is good, virtuous, true and noble.
We recently relocated from Harare to Marondera to partner with the Lord in a work He is doing there. It was our first big move as a family of six after living in one place for 14 years. There have been times of feeling unsettled, overwhelmed, daunted, and learning to adapt to a new way of life. However, the things that have brought stability and helped us to feel held and grounded as a family have been praying together, being in the Word and getting back to basics in these five areas – It somehow brings calm to the family unit when we deploy simple things, breathing in life, and peace.
We are still in our homeschool journey and have much to learn and many adventures ahead. I pray that we may know that children are a blessing from God and bring hope, life, and goodness. They come with minds that we must awaken to truth and goodness. They, too, can teach us by taking the time to be with them and teaching them. They are people whose eyes are enlightened to see a beautiful world made by a Majestic Creator in whom our hope rests.
Ephesians 1:17-19
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of Wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
Blessings and Peace to you and your family as you continue to unfold the riches of education.
Hello, I am Tarryn Hall. I am married to Mark, my very best friend and partner in this crazy journey of life. We have four kids, aged 15, 12, 8 and 6. We love doing life outside the box, and even though it stretches us and makes for some interesting conversations, it has been a blessing to follow the Lord on the unique path He has called us to. I have been homeschooling my kids for nine years, and it's been a real privilege to grow alongside them and do life with them. God is our constant guide and companion in all we do, giving us peace, joy and hope for what's to come—blessings in Him.
So much to unpack here! I love your family saying, ‘Belong, Believe, Behave.’
Thank you Tarryn.