It’s summer and if you are a parent of a baby or young child, or even if you are pregnant with your first, this is the time to seek out homeschool conventions and used curriculum sales, which tend to be held during this season.  There are many reasons you should attend a Christian homeschool convention – like you don’t want to wind up “reinventing the wheel” and the more you know about biblical homeschooling now, the more confident you will be as your child gets older. 

But you should get excited about used curriculum sales, too, even if your oldest is but a baby. These are sales that are either free standing or sometimes found at homeschool conventions.  (And, of course, if you cannot find any in your area, you can always buy used curriculum and books from various internet sites.  But, I find the best bargains are at the on site used curriculum sales.

I was so blessed to attend two used curriculum sales so far this season.  These were held in churches and had many vendors – almost all of them regular homeschool families with older children who were selling books and curriculum they no longer needed, often at rock bottom prices. 

As a mother of six, I was definitely seeking used curriculum.  But, I also was hunting for stock for my “generational library” – the at-home library my husband and I are creating that is filled with character and faith-building books. I was overjoyed to find many classic and hard-to-find books at fifty cents, a dollar, two dollars. 

After absorbing the influence of several veteran homeschoolers over the years, including attending the valuable, eye-opening seminars by Carole Joy Seid (who promotes a literature-based approach to home education), my husband and I felt very motivated to create our own library of character building books. 

Our “library” consists of several tall bookshelves in the living room that are not fully filled as of yet.  Like a sculpture that gradually takes shape as your vision becomes reality, so our library started with a lone book here and there and now contains many “gems” I could not imagine doing without. 

Our four oldest children visit our “library” every day, on their own, where they find much to read in our ever-expanding home library, in addition to the items we borrow weekly from our church’s library and the town’s library.  It so thrilling to see their interest piqued in the sublime. My husband also reads fine literature to the children every night. 

Recently I showed a young mother my at-home library and advised her to start creating one now.  Her oldest is but a baby.  My oldest is nine, and I sure wish I had started earlier. 

If you are parent of a baby, toddler or preschooler who is considering homeschooling, and you like the idea of a generational library, start gathering items when your children are very young.   Why? If you are on a very limited budget for materials like I am, it will take you a few years to cheaply acquire all the unique books a wealthier person could just buy outright.  If you start building a library early, you can spread the cost out over years.  And, there exist some magnificent books that cannot be found easily as they are out of print; it takes some work to secure a copy of such works. For example, I was blessed to find a used copy of the Tales of the Kingdom series by the Mains, a fascinating Christian allegory – there seems to be few copies of the originals (which have the better illustrations) available anymore. 

Why have your own library at home when you can just go to the public library? The answer is that many of the most well-written character building books are not available at the public library. In addition, a secular library is certainly not going to stock the best in Christian adventure books or classics when they can invest in the latest humanist fare and such modern “classics” as the Hannah Montana series!

I should point out that I just don’t put just any book in our at-home library. I only keep those books that cannot easily be obtained from other sources, both those that are unashamedly Christian such as The Light and the Glory and classics that display good writing and character such as The Little House on the Prairie collection.

As an example, I would not keep most books on animals as every public library has many of those. However, I recently found the interesting Christian Liberty Nature Readers in almost new condition, for 25 cents each, which is amazing. I also have the three volume Character Sketches by the Institute in Basic Life Principles.  I got mine at a discount on eBay and they are so worth it.  Each section feature exquisite color paintings of an animal or insect along with captivating scientific details – tying it all into a character quality that God wants us to have like “courage”.  Then, this character quality is illustrated in an example from Scripture.  They are very poignantly written; the kids love them and God has ministered to me as I read them to the children.  I don’t think any homeschool library should be without Character Sketches.

Garage sales are another opportunity that abounds during the summer months in most areas.  Our family, like most large homeschool families on one income, find themselves outfitting the kids and locating a lot of the curriculum at garage sales and thrift stores.  Why buy a shirt on sale at Wal-Mart for five dollars when you can get a decent one for fifty cents or even a quarter at a yard sale?  The same goes for great books. 

While a lot of garage sales feature “junk food” or dark books like boxes of discarded Dora the Explorers and old Harry Potters, there are more and more older Christian homeschool families selling their used books.  I have been blessed to encounter a few.  

I remember once standing in awe at the Lamplighter Publications table at our state homeschool convention.  I so wanted those quality-bound, biblical values reprinted books – covered in beautiful cloth and with selections found no where else.  But, I slunk dejectedly away, unable to afford even one.  But, God is so good..  A short time later, I was almost finished garage sale hopping one morning when of my children, who was with me, asked to go to just one more.  We did and it turned out that yard sale had a book table where everything was $1 a book.  And there on that table was stack of like new Lamplighter books – some had never even been read.  I know that because the man who sold them to me said so – he was a homeschool dad who was glad the books were being passed on to another Christian homeschooling family.  We have read those books over and over again and I often think when I see one about how the Lord Jesus always provides for His own. 

This summer as I walked into a used curriculum sale in my area, the very first thing I laid my eyes on was a box full of The American Adventure Series.  This is a historical fiction series that makes American history come alive through exciting story lines, and they are written from a Christian worldview.  My children had read two or three of these, but they were selling for about $4 each in the Christian bookstore; too expensive for my budget.  I asked the homeschool mom selling them how much she wanted for the whole set.  She said $20, and I was soon carting a big box out to my car.  Praise God.  And, I was able to find several classics in boxes marked “$1 a book.”   I got a whole stack of The Sower Series by Mott Media, featuring famous people from history like Louis Pasteur.  The stories are intriguing, have lots of important details and from a Christian perspective.

My point is that if you have given up half of the household income in order to stay home with your children like most homeschoolers have, you can still put together a outstanding, unique at-home library on a shoestring budget. Instead of going broke, trust God to show you where to find some great books for less.  I have even had several veteran homeschoolers donate materials to me, like one gave me the complete 1836 reprint of the McGuffey’s Readers. 

Yes, I long to fill our library with books that are near impossible to find used, like the G.A, Henty set (I know Vision Forum sells them new.) but I will just have to wait for now.  I am interested in finding out the titles of the best character building books, some of which are wonderful but not famous.

But what if you don’t know what books are worth getting?  There are many sources for that, for examples articles on the internet like Teaching History Using Literature by Carole Joy Seid and you can find families that list the books they have read and recommend like Books That Build Character and Christian Books for Christian Homes.

If you join Christian homeschooling groups and loops, you can ask older homeschoolers and also people will send you lists.  Here is a link that someone sent me recently for Christian classical homeschooling.

Then there are books that are list of good character-building books.   I have Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt and another book of books lists is Books Children Love by Wilson and Macaulay. 

I do not always agree with all other’s selections, and depending on your criteria and beliefs about reading materials, you may not either.  So, use your own discretion and always thoroughly review any book you include in your library. 

We call such a library a “generational library” because my husband and I hope to pass the library on to the children when they are grown, although I admit that since I only have a copy of one book of each title and because we have six children so far, this might cause some arguments someday. But, then maybe they can work out an interlibrary loan system amongst each other!  When we are grandparents, we will keep the library in our home, so that visiting grandchildren can benefit from reading its timeless selections.

So, think of this – the books you gather today for your children may one day influence your grandchildren and great grandchildren – how incredibly exciting! 

Just like your job as a parent is to make sure your little ones satisfy their hunger with wholesome food, you want to satisfy their reading hunger with wholesome literature that builds up their faith in Jesus Christ and reinforces the biblical values you are teaching them. 

But, I will say that as important as such a library is, you cannot rely on Christian curriculum and books to take the place of your Christian example.  If a child sees his parents mouthing Christian words, insisting on Christian materials, singing loudly in church – yet in their personal and business lives they are dishonest, etc. the hypocrisy will likely drive him from Christ.  The bottom line is that more is “caught than taught” as they say and we as parents need to really go before Jesus each day, and we need to really be deeply in the Word and we need to have truly repentant hearts so that we can be a “living generational library” to our children and subsequent generations. 

From Considering Homeschooling.   

I didn't forget; I just didn't have time to memorial it here yesterday.  But, yesterday was the anniversary of The Forgotten War or The Unknown War or Korean Conflict, in which millions lost their lives, including 36,516 American soldiers, marines, airman, and sailors.

Thank you for your sacrifice and valiant fight against Communism.

I have been struck lately by the overwhelming human effort that is required by litigation.  This month alone, Kathy and I have written over 340 pages of legal pleadings and declarations.  We have compiled over 4,000 pages of discovery.  Yet, despite the three years of pain our pursurers have brought upon our family with their lawyers and false claims, it cannot compare with the human struggle witnessed during those three long years of war between June 25, 1950 and July 27, 1953.

South Korea:
58,127 Dead
175,743 Wounded
80,000 MIA or POW

United States:
36,516 Dead
92,134 Wounded
8,176 MIA
7,245 POW

United Kingdom:
1,109 Dead
2,674 Wounded
1,060 MIA or POW

Turkey:
721 Dead
2,111 Wounded
168 MIA
216 POW

Canada:
516 Dead
1,042 Wounded

Australia:
339 Dead
1,200 Wounded

France:
300 KIA or MIA

Philippines:
112 KIA

South Africa:
28 KIA and 8 MIA

North Korean and Chinese:
1,577,000 Dead or Wounded

Civilians: 
Unknown number dead or wounded, perhaps millions.

Perspective helps, as Jesus says:

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

From Considering Homeschooling.

What's a 16-year-old public school girl supposed to do to find love?  That's right, get a 24-year-old homeless guy to impregnate you.  Well, everyone is doing it!

Evidently, everyone is doing it at Gloucester High School in Massachusetts.  Sixteen girls have confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and succeeded.

The local liberals want to distribute contraceptives at the high school without parental consent, to stem the tide of the four fold increase in teen pregnancy.  This is a ridiculous reaction, of course, considering the nature of the increase.

One teen parent put it succinctly, "they're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally."

Does anyone really think this type of nonsense would occur if these girls had been loved enough by their parents?  Seen the gospel of Jesus Christ lived out in the lives of the adults around them?  Protected from the absurdities of popular culture driven peer group influences by being homeschooled?

Here is the article from Time:

As summer vacation begins, 17 girls at Gloucester High School are expecting babies—more than four times the number of pregnancies the 1,200-student school had last year. Some adults dismissed the statistic as a blip. Others blamed hit movies like Juno and Knocked Up for glamorizing young unwed mothers. But principal Joseph Sullivan knows at least part of the reason there's been such a spike in teen pregnancies in this Massachusetts fishing town. School officials started looking into the matter as early as October after an unusual number of girls began filing into the school clinic to find out if they were pregnant. By May, several students had returned multiple times to get pregnancy tests, and on hearing the results, "some girls seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were," Sullivan says. All it took was a few simple questions before nearly half the expecting students, none older than 16, confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. Then the story got worse. "We found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy," the principal says, shaking his head.

The question of what to do next has divided this fiercely Catholic enclave. Even with national data showing a 3% rise in teen pregnancies in 2006—the first increase in 15 years—Gloucester isn't sure it wants to provide easier access to birth control. In any case, many residents worry that the problem goes much deeper. The past decade has been difficult for this mostly white, mostly blue-collar city (pop. 30,000). In Gloucester, perched on scenic Cape Ann, the economy has always depended on a strong fishing industry. But in recent years, such jobs have all but disappeared overseas, and with them much of the community's wherewithal. "Families are broken," says school superintendent Christopher Farmer. "Many of our young people are growing up directionless."

The girls who made the pregnancy pact—some of whom, according to Sullivan, reacted to the news that they were expecting with high fives and plans for baby showers—declined to be interviewed. So did their parents. But Amanda Ireland, who graduated from Gloucester High on June 8, thinks she knows why these girls wanted to get pregnant. Ireland, 18, gave birth her freshman year and says some of her now pregnant schoolmates regularly approached her in the hall, remarking how lucky she was to have a baby. "They're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally," Ireland says. "I try to explain it's hard to feel loved when an infant is screaming to be fed at 3 a.m."

The high school has done perhaps too good a job of embracing young mothers. Sex-ed classes end freshman year at Gloucester, where teen parents are encouraged to take their children to a free on-site day-care center. Strollers mingle seamlessly in school hallways among cheerleaders and junior ROTC. "We're proud to help the mothers stay in school," says Sue Todd, CEO of Pathways for Children, which runs the day-care center.

But by May, after nurse practitioner Kim Daly had administered some 150 pregnancy tests at Gloucester High's student clinic, she and the clinic's medical director, Dr. Brian Orr, a local pediatrician, began to advocate prescribing contraceptives regardless of parental consent, a practice at about 15 public high schools in Massachusetts. Currently Gloucester teens must travel about 20 miles (30 km) to reach the nearest women's health clinic; younger girls have to get a ride or take the train and walk. But the notion of a school handing out birth control pills has met with hostility. Says Mayor Carolyn Kirk: "Dr. Orr and Ms. Daly have no right to decide this for our children." The pair resigned in protest on May 30.

Gloucester's elected school committee plans to vote later this summer on whether to provide contraceptives. But that won't do much to solve the issue of teens wanting to get pregnant. Says rising junior Kacia Lowe, who is a classmate of the pactmakers': "No one's offered them a better option." And better options may be a tall order in a city so uncertain of its future.

From Considering Homeschooling.

On this day 64 years ago, 156,000 allied American, British, and Canadian troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France.  In the subsequent days and weeks their numbers would swell to nearly a million, supported by 6,900 ships and landing craft, 12,000 aircraft, 148,000 vehicles, 10,000 tons of bombs, and 570,000 tons of supplies.

Over 10,000 of these allied soldiers, sailors, and airman would lose their lives or be wounded.  But, their sacrifice doomed the Nazis stranglehold on Europe.  Their sacrifice gave millions a chance to live and to live free.

When I think of the individual men and their families, I weep for their sacrifice.  When I think of the nobleness of the cause that could move men on such a grand scale, I weep for the sacrifice of their generation. 

War is terrible.  I hope that my sons and daughters never see battle or wear its scars.  But I know that as long as sin abounds in this world, there will be war. 

So, as a homeschool father, I hope to teach my children two overriding principles concerning war.  The first is to know history.  To understand the history of war and warfare is to recognize inevitable approaching conflicts. 

It is no coincidence the Winston Churchill was the earliest and loudest siren against the rise of Nazism in Germany (for which he was ridiculed), he homeschooled himself in history and warfare from a very early age.  It is also no coincidence the Churchill was the best equipped to lead England as she stood alone against the German war machine.

The second principle I want my children to learn is to confront evil whenever and wherever they find it.  Tyrants grow from petty, selfish people.  Greed is something inherent to a child.  Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ has the ability and authority to overcome sin. 

We can go back to the "liberation" of Europe and see that the Soviets replaced the evil doctrines of Hitler with the evil doctrines of Marx and Lenin, and the people suffered for forty more years.  Only in the west did the Christian liberators bring liberty and self-determination to the people.

From Considering Homeschooling.

by Dr. Brian D. Ray

General Facts and Trends

Homeschooling may be the fastest-growing form of education in the United States (at 7% to 12% per year). Home-based education is also growing around the world in many nations.

There are about 2 million homeschool students in the United States. There were an estimated 1.9 to 2.4 million children (in grades K to 12) home educated during 2005-2006 in the United States.

Families engaged in home-based education are not dependent on public, tax-funded resources for their children's education. The finances associated with their homeschooling likely represent over $16 billion that taxpayers do not have to spend since these children are not in public schools.

Homeschooling is quickly growing in popularity among minorities. About 15% of homeschool families are non-white/non-Hispanic (i.e., not white/Anglo).

A demographically wide variety of people homeschool – these are atheists, Christians, and Mormons; conservatives, libertarians, and liberals; low-, middle-, and high-income families; black, Hispanic, and white; parents with Ph.D.s, GEDs, and no high-school diplomas.

Reasons for Home Educating

Most parents and youth decide to homeschool for more than one reason.

The most common reasons given for homeschooling are the following: teach a particular set of values, beliefs, and worldview, accomplish more academically than in schools, customize or individualize the curriculum and learning environment for each child, use pedagogical approaches other than those typical in institutional schools, enhance family relationships between children and parents and among siblings, provide guided and reasoned social interactions with youthful peers and adults, and provide a safer environment for children and youth, because of physical violence, drugs and alcohol, psychological abuse, and improper and unhealthy sexuality.

Academic Performance

The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests.

Homeschool students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents' level of formal education or their family's household income.

Whether homeschool parents were ever certified teachers is not related to their children's academic achievement.

Degree of state control and regulation of homeschooling is not related to academic achievement.

Home-educated students typically score above average on the SAT and ACT tests that colleges consider for admissions.

Homeschool students are increasingly being actively recruited by colleges.

Social, Emotional, and Psychological Development
 
The home-educated are doing well, typically above average, on measures of social, emotional, and psychological development. Research measures include peer interaction, self-concept, leadership skills, family cohesion, participation in community service, and self-esteem.

Homeschool students are regularly engaged in social and educational activities outside their homes and with people other than their nuclear-family members. They are commonly involved in activities such as field trips, scouting, 4-H, political drives, church ministry, sports teams, and community volunteer work.

Success in the "Real World" of Adulthood

The research base on adults who were home educated is growing; thus far it indicates that they:

participate in local community service more frequently than does the general population, vote and attend public meetings more frequently than the general population, and go to and succeed at college at an equal or higher rate than the general population.

General Interpretation of Research on Homeschool Success or Failure

It is possible that homeschooling causes the positive traits reported above. However, the research designs to date do not conclusively "prove" that homeschooling causes these things. At the same time, there is no evidence that homeschooling causes negative things compared to institutional schooling. Future research may better answer the question of causation.

Sources

The above findings are extensively documented in one or more of the following sources, all (except one) of which are available from NHERI:

A Homeschool Research Story, Brian. D. Ray, 2005, in Homeschooling in Full View: A Reader.

Home Educated and Now Adults: Their Community and Civic Involvement, Views About Homeschooling, and Other Traits, Brian D. Ray, 2004.

Home schooling: The Ameliorator of Negative Influences on Learning, Brian D. Ray, Peabody Journal of Education, 2000, v. 75 no. 1 & 2, pp. 71-106.

Homeschoolers on to College: What Research Shows Us, by Brian D. Ray, Journal of College Admission, 2004, No. 185, 5-11.

National Education Association. (2005). Rankings and estimates: A Report of School Statistics Update. Retrieved 7/10/06 online.

Worldwide Guide to Homeschooling, Brian D. Ray, 2005.

About the Author

Brian D. Ray, Ph.D. is an internationally known researcher, educator, speaker, and expert witness, and serves as president of the nonprofit National Home Education Research Institute. He has taught as a certified teacher in public and private schools and served as a professor at the graduate and undergraduate levels. His Ph.D. is in science education from Oregon State University. Dr. Ray has been studying the homeschool movement for about 22 years.

For more homeschool research and more in-depth interpretation of research, please contact: NHERI

Copyright 2006 by Brian D. Ray

From Considering Homeschooling.