Starting "School"

People often ask me if I plan on homeschooling Asher (and any other children that the Lord plans to send us.) I usually say something like, "Yeah, that's the plan." But I got to thinking about it and I realized that I already am homeschooling Asher. As it turns out, we've already begun.

You see, I believe that education is not something that begins when you are 5 and walk through the doors of kindergarten. It's not even something that begins when you are 3 and roll into Pre-K. The way I see it, education begins the day you take your first breath and it continues until you take your last. And since Asher will probably never enter either of those traditional schooling environments, it doesn't make sense to wait until an arbitrary age to begin "school."

After giving it some thought, I realized that I have already begun the homeschooling process. He is learning, I am teaching him, we are at home. There you have it.

Granted, I don't strap him in his high chair and pull out a chalkboard and begin working math problems in front of him. But I am constantly explaining this world to him (as much as I have grasped anyway.) We talk about things like where we are going, what we are doing, what color things are, and what sounds animals make. We read books and sing songs. We explore the world of physics by pushing and pulling and rolling and stacking his toys. We have great conversations in which we practice the cadence and rhythm of language. I try as hard as I can to make sure that I am helping him to interpret this new world he has entered so that he can become fluent in all that he encounters.

So my new answer to the "Do you plan on homeschooling?" question: Class is already in session. Of course, as he grows, so will our idea of what his education should look like. We will continue to homeschool (for various, even numerous reasons, which I'll save for another post) as he gets older and that will mean a little more structure and focus on curriculum and content, but it will be merely a continuation of what has been going on around our house for as a long as he can remember.