Applying Work, Study, & Service

 Applying the study, work, and service method of home education can require that a parent-teacher think outside of the box.  Most people think of schoolwork, textbooks, copywork, and the three R’s when they think of a home-school curriculum.  But, the development of the intellectual is only one facet of education.  When combined with work and service, the academic aspects of home-schooling become one-third of a whole.  In the beginning it takes effort and concentration to figure out exactly how to apply study, work and service.  It is generally recommended that each aspect receives equal time.  Planning purposefully to achieve this goal is essential, although there is room for an ebb and flow on scheduling.   Over time it becomes easier and how it is applied becomes natural and unique to each family.

A formula that works well for any homeschool where the whole child is being developed is:


100% study
100% work
100% service

Children should be encouraged to experience life purposefully. They should be encouraged to learn and given time and freedom to explore. They are to give it their all. If they are deep in a subject and interested, they should not asked to stop learning because their time is up.  Decide early on that it is a mistake to halt or stunt a child’s learning.

The children should be encouraged to work each day. Routine chores should happen daily and occur each morning and night teach children life skills. As the children grow older, study melds its way into gainful work as they apply their education to skills that earn them money during their teens. The dividing line becomes blurred. They should always be encouraged to do their best work.

The children should be encouraged to be compassionate and to always think of others. Service can be something done as a planned event, but mostly should become a way of life — thinking of  family members, friends, neighbors, and others around the world. It can be mixed with study (writing a note to a shut-in or drawing a picture for a sick child) — or service, by keeping a continuous prayer and praise journal during family devotionals each day — or work, in a grandparents or neighbors yard in an effort to serve them because they were not able to.

Each one of these traits blends with the other and together they create a whole. One some days, more time can be spent in study, while on others more time spent on work or service. During our homeschool years, I first kept notations in my plan book (study, work, or service) but over time, as it became a part of our life learning, it became organic and just happened because of habit and inculcation into the thinking of us all. It becomes easier over time. In the initial stages of applying the formula for study,work, and service, it is important to be purposeful about implementing all three aspects of the program.

Planning each segment of the whole creates a home-school where study, work, and service becomes an integral part of learning and the creation of the whole child

John Holt, Advocate of Home Education

 

John Holt (1923 – 1985) is best known as an educator and proponent of homeschooling. His views were considered radical and progressive. He once commented that “…the things I’m supposed to know so much about I never learned in schools”. During his lifetime, he studied children of all ages and worked as a fifth grade teacher. He found that babies and toddlers were bold and adventurous, but that by the time they reached ten years of age they became self-protecting, timid, and fearful. His research led him to believe that this was caused by fear, most of which was as a result of school experiences. He believed that children feared being ridiculed by their teacher and classmates and of having wrong answers to questions asked in school. He thought this trait was made worse by children being forced to study things that they had no interest in. It was his belief that the educational process be made much friendlier for children. He authored many books. His first, published in 1964, was called How Children Fail and it was very controversial. In it he said that he believed children failed academically because of schools, not despite of them. He believed that schools actually short circuited the learning process. His ideas about the educational process got many parents thinking and after some time families started to contact him, telling him that they were schooling their children at home. This started a relationship between him and the families of a budding homeschool movement. He started a newsletter called Growing Without Schooling in 1977 which focused on homeschooling. His philosophy of education is aptly voiced in his statement that “I don’t see homeschooling as some kind of answer to badness of schools. I think that the home is the proper base for the exploration of the world which we call learning or education. Home would be the best base no matter how good the schools were.” He was an advocate for educational reform until his death.

The Blessing of Family Worship

One of the most important ingredients in a happy Christian home is faithful attendance at the family altar. The Bible shows a consistent example of daily worship, morning and evening. In addition to having individual time with God each day, many Christian families make time for family worship as well. 

This practice of family worship is heavily encouraged by the Christian community. Books have been written. Sermons have been preached. Traditions have been handed down. And it’s no wonder either when we consider the world in which we live. Taking time with our children first thing in the morning encourages a spiritual start to the day as well as ending the day with a spiritual nightcap. 

Most families agree that having family worship is essential when children are young as this time can be an opportunity for daily lessons from the Bible as well as training them to spend time every day in prayer. But it seems that family worship sometimes begins to decrease when the children become teens. Perhaps this is because the teens have begun their own worship time, which is great! That would be evidence that the years of family worship prior to that have made a positive impact. Or maybe things just get a lot busier in the household as the children get older. Whatever the reason, I’d like to suggest that families make a special effort to hold on to family worship time for as long as their children are in the home. Here are some reasons to do that:

1. Family worship is a treasure that lasts only a few years. Even if the kids are not especially “into” it, they are still present and it is time that the family is connecting with each other. Likely, that practice is one they will continue with their children when the time comes.

2. Having family worship in the morning beats Satan to the punch! And who wants Satan punching on their teens? There is no doubt that Satan has plans for your children every day, just as he does for all of us. By meeting with God together at the family altar, you are getting a head start on Satan. Morning worship gives an opportunity to ask God’s protection from Satan as well as to ask for guidance on activities that will be happening that day in school and at work. But let’s get real. Mornings are rushed and it’s very hard to actually gather each family member at one time. Well, it doesn’t have to be lengthy at all. If you can just have breakfast together, you can use that time for a brief reading from a devotional book and a prayer. The point is not to see how much truly absorb whatever little nugget you can. Then in the evening worship, you may just want to review whatever that nugget was and if it applied to them through the day. 

3. Don’t expect every family worship time to be a spiritual high with your teens. If you do, you will probably be disappointed or discouraged. Just as with going to church, every sermon doesn’t change our lives. But if we aren’t present, the sermon that would change our lives will never be received. It’s the same with family worship. The call is to show up. The spiritual effects may not be realized until later. On the other hand, sometimes there will definitely be spiritual highs. 

4. Teens need family worship as much as younger children. We need to be careful not to assume that when our children have absorbed the stories of the Bible story books we’ve read to them through their younger years that there is no more purpose in family worship. It isn’t all about giving knowledge. During the teen years is when that knowledge has to be put into practice. So this family time can be used to discuss how the Bible stories apply to real life as they are going through some of the most difficult situations they will ever face in their lives. 

5. Try not to be a control freak when it comes to family worship. While a sense of reverence needs to be maintained, teens need to know they have a safe place to discuss honestly some questions or concerns they may be having regarding spiritual matters. So if you read one verse of the Bible and it ends up leading to a discussion that leaves no time to finish the passage, don’t worry about it. Put your family worships in God’s hands and allow the Holy Spirit to lead.

copyright@2010gwensimmons

A True Home

"A roof to keep out the rain. Four walls to keep out the wind. Floors to keep out the cold. Yes, but home is more than that. It is the laugh of a baby, the song of a mother, the strength of a father. Warmth of loving hearts, light from happy eyes, kindness, loyalty, comradeship. Home is first school...for the young ones where they learn what is right, what is good, and what is kind. Where they go for comfort when they are hurt or sick. Where joy is shared and sorrow eased. Where fathers and mothers are respected and loved. Where children are wanted. Where the simplest food is good enough for kings because it is earned. Where money is not so important as loving-kindness. Where even the teakettle sings from happiness. That is home."

Ernestine Schumann-Heink

Work as a Part of Education

It is possible for a high school student to be complete academic classwork with three or four hours a day of study.  When using a true study, work, and service method of homeschooling high school students, the same principles of time management apply as they do for elementary children.  School is life and lasts during every waking hour!

By the time children are high school students, work is an essential element of their education. Instead of applying it daily, it works best to break study, work, and service into a total amount for an entire week.  Some days work best if heavier in academics while others were weighed more on work or service.

At the high school level, it seems that when using work for a meaningful part of education, it should be meaningful to the student.  There is some work that is required simply because a student is part of the family (cleaning their room, filling the dishwasher, mowing the lawn, etc.).  It is the work that happens because they are part of a family team. Other meaningful work happens because the student sets a goal and then works as a means to achieve it.  Parents can assist with this goal setting, but the student should be the main force in this decision-making process.  Simply giving the child more chores each week so they can get their time in doesn’t seem to work too well for teenagers!  But, if they get a vision for work, and it becomes purposeful for them — they will willingly stick to it and become involved in the benefits of work.  It may be that they establish a small business of their own (bread baking, housecleaning for a neighbor, babysitting, building computers, mowing lawns) or that they become employees in the business of one of their parents (generally they are allowed by law to work at a younger age if it is a family business).  For some children it may mean taking a job in town (working at a fast food restaurant, as a grocery bag boy or girl, or a daycare worker).  Their goal may start out simply as a way to earn their own money, but over time they generally become enthusiastic and cheerful in using work as a part of their education.

Another facet of work that can benefit the home school student is for the parent to establish internships for their teen.   It can be very effective in giving children opportunities to learn new tasks and to see if they were interested in a variety of careers.  To establish an internship:  choose a place the student is interested in working, then write a letter to the business owner or supervisor, requesting an internship for your child.  Be sure to emphasize that this is a volunteer position and that your child does not expect to be paid for their work.  Outline a schedule of 40 hours of volunteer work that fits into the schedule of the employer and the student.  When the 40 hours are complete, write another letter to the employer, thanking them for the opportunity they gave your child.  Along with the letter, send a form that evaluates your child’s performance in the tasks they were assigned.  Ask them to assign a ‘letter grade’ to your child for the work they did.  If you are using this as a part of a unit study (work/academics combined), this becomes their grade unless you choose to add a written paper or some other form of evaluation to the grade.   In that case, combine the grades according to percentages you establish.  Forty hours of work-study is equivalent to 1/2 high school credit.

Providing teens opportunity to use work as a part of their school program gives them the opportunity to apply bits, facts, and facets of information learned and apply them to their daily life.  Learning to work as a teen creates adults that have a strong work ethic, a greater sense of self-worth, and have a sense of incentive.

A Child's Delight in God's Gifts

 There is no greater pleasure than bringing to the uncluttered, supple mind of a child the delight of knowing God and the many rich things He has given us to enjoy.

~ Gladys M. Hunt ~

True Education Begins on the Inside

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‘The popular method of filling the student’s mind with that which is not practical and hurrying him through a certain course, in order that he may obtain a diploma, is not true education. True education begins on the inside, at the core, with that which is practical.’

                                    Goodloe Harper Bell, Review December 26, 1882

The World, a Book

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”

~ Saint Augustine ~