Curriculum doesn’t have to be expensive to be excellent. In fact, using video and blog posts packed with meaty information I intend to show you how you can homeschool for cheap or free.
I’m not kidding, folks!
Most of modern education is not excellent. Public education doesn’t have the time or freedom to be excellent. Even private and home instruction tends to follow the same patterns which have brought us to this dismal place where graduates are being flanked and flummoxed by a society that has lost its mind.
This is because fluff and bore have taken over.
What is “fluff and bore,” you ask? It is facts overlaid with lies covered up with loads of sugar coating. Sort of like eating boiled liver (the most awful food in the world) covered with icing.
Kids can smell it, and, if they had a choice, they would chuck it. But we don’t allow that, do we? We tell them it’s really good, and good for you, and it will help you in the long run, and on and on. Then we threaten and moralize until they push any of their natural desires to learn way, way down and choose to play video games instead.
HOWEVER…
There is a better way, and it barely costs a thing (compared to all the colorful frosted liver out there). Here is the deal:
TRUTH is delicious all on its own.
It’s like watermelon on a hot day. It’s like bread fresh from the oven. It’s like a steaming hot bowl of soup when you come inside from a storm.
It doesn’t need frosting or sprinkles. It stands on its own deliciousness, and a child will gulp it down like a glass of cold water after a long bike ride (and there is no belly-ache afterwards).
This is because it feeds a need within all of us to be as close to God as we can get (it takes a lot of sin and conditioning to cut this out of us, but young children are still sensitive to it). There is a great satisfaction in this type of learning that goes to the heart of a person and cannot be duplicated by any fake.
Unfortunately, what our society has done is to try and teach children about life and the universe without ever mentioning the Giver of life and the Creator of the universe. No matter how many 10-dollar words are thrown into cradle-to-grave collegiate intellectualism, without the fear of God it is empty garbage. (This is the stuff I gladly gave up once I became re-educated by homeschooling.)
“Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges. It should allow you to find values which will be your road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important, how to live and how to die.”
John Taylor Gatto
Contrarily, when something answers questions such as:
- “Where did I come from?”
- “Why am I here?”
- “Where did the world (universe) come from?”
- “Is there a plan to human history?”
- “How do things work?”
- “How should I live?”
then children want to learn. They don’t need to be poked with a prod so they will file into convenient chutes headed for slaughter (meaning the dystopian utopia of political double-speak where one group of people is enslaved for the benefit of another). They only need direction and encouragement.
Actually, I often feel as though I am one of those sample ladies as Sam’s Club. I hand out just a taste of something delicious, then my children clamor to eat through the entire inventory!
This post goes along with the first few videos in a series I am doing on YouTube on the same subject. I will leave those links below, but first I thought I’d share a number of books and some posts by Yours Truly you may enjoy that will help you investigate this subject further (I do benefit if you click through the Amazon links and make a purchase).
7 Hacks for Excellent Homeschooling from a Laid-back Mom of 15
The Underground History of American Education, John Taylor Gatto
The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook, Dr. Raymond Moore
A Biblical Home Education: Building Your Homeschool on the Foundation of God’s Word, Ruth Beechick
How to Homeschool for Cheap or Free pt. 1 Philosophy
How to Homeschool for Cheap or Free pt 2 Lists
How to homeschool for Cheap or Free pt 3 Give ’em Steak
Next up:
Look for an amazing large post FILLED TO OVERFLOWING with links and lists for homeschooling for cheap or free!
AND
printables!
I’ve loved these videos! I’ve been homeschooling for 20 years and still have 5 at home. I love reading things that encourage me to continue on and give me fresh enthusiasm! I just bought Ruh Beechicks book A Biblical Education and am loving the practical idea that just make sense to me. How freeing! I love that we are free to raise and teach our families with confidence that God has equipped us for this job. He is our teacher! I look forward to seeing your resources. Thank you so much for sharing.
You are so welcome! I agree that it is so freeing to realize just how refreshing education can become if we look at it from God’s point of view. Bless you for taking the time to comment 🙂
I just ordered the Ruth Beechick book as well. Can’t wait to read it! Thanks Sherry!
Hi! We’ve been homeschooling for 21 years and I am always learning. Thank you for your posts and videos. Your heart for the Lord shines through. I’ve really enjoyed your recent series on school materials and resources on a limited budget.
At the start of the year you did a post on casting a vision for your family. It was perfectly worded. I had become rather hopeless in prayer for one grown child. We were planning a huge family trip at the time I read your post and just like I was imagining sites we would see, I began to play a scene in my mind of my child joyfully telling me that they had made their heart right with God. I took that vision to prayer. It gave birth to faith and revived my prayer life for them. I never commented back then but wanted you to know what a blessing that was (and still is) to me.
Wow–thank you for that amazing testimony! I am rejoicing with you in the return of your child to Jesus 🙂
Thanks Mrs Sherry for all your hard work. I appreciate that you give us the option to print free from home or buy in bind form, thanks a lot for your wisdom.
You are so welcome, Darlene. Thank you for taking the time to leave such a sweet comment 🙂
A while back, maybe even a couple of years ago, you made available some note booking pages to be used with literature. The ones that had the squares for drawing pictures of the characters and a box to check to if you liked the story or not. My daughter loved them and is asking for them again 🙂 Is it possible for you to share those?
Thanks for all your help and encouragement!
Absolutely! Look for the link in the next post…you are very welcome 🙂
Love this post! There is a very good series of books we have recently been reading called the Tuttle Twins. One book in particular, The Tuttle Twins and the Education Vacation, is based on John Taylor Gatto’s The Underground History of American Education. It is written so that even young children can understand it.
Wow–I had heard so much about these, but did not even have an idea of the Gatto one–good for them! Thanks, Jill! 🙂
What is the comprehensive book set you mentioned? The ones with stories and art and poems etc. ☺
Melody
There are actually a number of them, but I think the ones you are looking for are mentioned in this post: Homeschool for Cheap or Free Mega Post With Loads of Links and Printables