Fall 2001 • Volume 1, Number 1

www.brownbaginteractive.com/homeschool

Starting Somewhere is the Key

This editorial originally appeared in the February 2001 newsletter of the Anderson Home School Association.

START WHERE YOU ARE. Do what you can now. Great things start out small.

It is a message we have all heard before. It is one I heard again this morning.

This came while sitting at breakfast with a dear friend, brother and now elder in our church (though he is middle-aged), who encouraged me to figure out what I can do now to begin building my dream, that dream being to develop a daily Web-based news site from a Christian worldview called "NEWS Interactive." We talked about seasons of life, which my wife (and AHSA's president) reminds me of often: That we are raising children now, and when they are grown, we can then join the local orchestra or participate in some local plays or build virtual news organizations.

But dreams start somewhere, and I feel compelled—and am encouraged—to start mine while in this season of raising our children. A large part of that raising, of course, involves home schooling. And there, too, I am starting out small, but at least doing something.

In February we will have our annual men-only AHSA, and hear a challenging, inspiring, and encouraging speech from [a home school father]. Last year we were blessed by the example and words of [of another home school father]. These are men who most of us agree "have it together." Frankly, I cannot say I do, at least where home schooling is concerned, or life in general.

But I am doing what I can now by helping my wife in several ways:

• Encouraging her and praising her in her day-to-day, week-to-week tasks of lesson-planning and teaching our children to be "imitators of God, therefore" (Ephesians 5:1, NIV)
• Listening to her trials and tribulations of trying to teach fractions to a precocious and overly-logical daughter
• Reviewing her lesson plans or a book she bought on fractions, when she asks me to
• Allowing her to go to one or two home schooling conferences a year (as [a home school father] encouraged us to), which means I watch the kids and give her the gas, car, and money to go
• Going with her to a spring conference to pick out books together and be reminded through speakers why we, together, home school our children
• Allowing her to go to regular meetings, get-togethers with fellow moms, friends, etc., so that she can be encouraged and get a break from the kids
• Helping with a project now and then, and looking at how I can do more, including teaching a subject
• Freeing up money for association membership for meeting legal requirements, support, and encouragement, such as AHSA, HEART, and HSLDA [Home School Legal Defense Association, www.hslda.org]

So while we are called to do more and to a higher standard by these great men of example, at least do what you can now, and strive to involve yourself more and more for the sake of your wife and children.

It is easy to say, "Oh, I'm not like these fathers, I just don't know how to do it, I just can't find the time," and not do anything. However, you can do something, even if it is just giving reassurances to your household that you fully support home schooling spiritually, emotionally, financially, and in every which way. Let your wife and children know, without a doubt, that "we are a home schooling family."

All great home schooling families started there, and so can you.

Vincent Alex Brown
vince@brownbaginteractive.com

America's Greatest Heroes

This editorial is excerpted from HSLDA President J. Michael Smith’s column, “President’s Page,” in HSLDA’s The Home School Court Report, Sept./Oct. 2001: www.hslda.org/courtreport/V17N5/V17N508.asp

WHO ARE AMERICA'S GREATEST HEROES in this day and age? I submit that they are America's home schooling mothers.

While social watchdogs lament the lack of positive role models, I ask you, "What better role model exists than a home schooling mom?" Even though we home school dads live with these powerful examples, I suspect that some of us do not fully appreciate the magnitude of the responsibility a wife assumes when she agrees to home school the children. On a day when my wife was feeling the weight of the responsibility she had undertaken, she shared with me in no uncertain terms some of the unique pressures home school moms experience.

She told me that home school mothers enjoy the presence of their children morning, noon, and night. In essence, they are with their children 24/7...home school moms feel the full responsibility for making sure their children are making appropriate academic progress...home school moms are aware that they should respond properly and patiently to their children at all times...

In what ways can we as husbands alleviate some of the pressures our wives are experiencing? Understanding that these suggestions are not exhaustive, I submit the following:

• Being a loving husband and father is the greatest support for your wife...
• Simply hugging your wife can express your concern about her situation and affirm to her that she is doing a good job...
• Providing regular opportunities for your wife to take a break from the rigors of her daily responsibilities is essential as well...
• In the area of home schooling support, a father should assume the role of principal of his home school...
• Most home school moms would love for their husband to become more involved in the actual teaching portion of the home school program.
• Additionally, he is responsible for maintaining and establishing discipline and order in the home...
• An aspect of the principal's role which is especially important to us at Home School Legal Defense Association, is that he is responsible for the protection of his home school...

Home school moms, we want you to know that HSLDA is giving you a standing ovation. More importantly, your efforts are not going unnoticed in the heavenlies. Our prayer is that we husbands, fathers, and children will be sensitive to the pressures that you face as America's greatest heroes.

Home Schoolers Continue to Score Higher on SAT

News taken from HSLDA Web site: www.hslda.org/docs/news/hslda/200109044.asp

ON AUGUST 28, [2001] THE COLLEGE BOARD released new Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) data for 1.3 million seniors who took the test and planned to graduate in 2001. Home schoolers, 5,847 of whom took the SAT this spring, scored well above the national average on both the verbal and math test. "We were not surprised," said Caleb Kershner, HSLDA's Manager of Federal Policy and Research. "Home schoolers had higher scores than the national average in 1999 and 2000."

This year's national average of 506 in verbal, 514 in math, and 1020 overall fell short of home schoolers scores. The national average SAT scores of home schoolers were 567 in verbal, 525 in math, and a whopping 1092 overall. "Home schoolers are raising the bar for academic excellence nationwide," said Tom Washburne, Director for the National Center for Home Education. "With 3 years of superior scores, colleges are sitting up and taking a serious look at what parent-educated students are achieving."

HSLDA congratulates the home schooled seniors on a job well done. We wish you success and blessing as you enter college this fall.

Scripturally Speaking

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9, NIV

This first issue of Homeschool Principals is published by Brown Bag Interactive LLC to help dads be the supportive husbands and home school principals their wives need. Like it? Want more? Comments, questions, suggestions? Write vince@brownbaginteractive.com or visit www.brownbaginteractive.com/homeschool.