June 25, 2025 – FREEDOM! It’s Why We Homeschool!

Roger Smith

Free to Learn

“Am I meeting the state’s standards as I educate my child?”

I hear fear or anxiety in the voice of mothers who ask this question. It tells of freedom at jeopardy in that home. So, I want to challenge moms and dads to let inner passion for their child, and for learning, be the driving force of home education, rather than pressure from the state.

It is “rare as hen’s teeth” to find a mother who achieves, or plans to achieve, less than the state standards. And it has been shown repeatedly that home-educated children perform as well as all others on average.

Relax!

Enjoy the journey of learning! Do something non-traditional, unconventional, and free!

Let your child plan the learning activity on certain days of the month, and observe which days have accomplishments that are important to your child and your family. 

Playful learning is most remembered. And forced “learning” is least remembered. With the vast gray area between those two extremes, surely you can find an approach that gives both you and your child freedom to love learning.

It’s scary to relax your control, but many have fought so you can have that freedom.

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About the author

Dr. Roger Smith is a family doctor in rural Louisiana, where he and his wife, Jan, raised four adventurous children who are all grown, making their own mark in the world. He speaks and writes on parenting issues and produces brief videos that can be found on Facebook @ParentingMattersNow.

Tales of Boldness and Faith: Step into faith-filled adventures with a timeless feel in this series of fictionalized biographies. Perfect for family read-aloud or for older kids on their own.
https://www.moodypublishers.com/tales-of-boldness-and-faith/

Todd Wilson

Shallow but Thankful

I’m not sure, but I think my patriotism is a little shallow. When I think of Independence Day, I mostly think of the 4th of July filled with flags, fireworks, and food. The whole family gathers for the big weekend. Even in Northern Indiana, the weather is hot . . . 4th of July hot, as grandpa pulls hot dogs and hamburgers from the grill and the kids shuck the corn.

Then there’s the big fireworks display. I’m not talking about the big ones that the local Jaycees put on, but the kinds that come in a package from a parking lot fireworks stand named “Crazy Joe’s.”

The cousins ‘aah and ooh’ while the aunts scold their husbands for allowing kids to light dangerous fuses, and we fall asleep to the sound of fireworks displays popping in the distance.

I’m half-ashamed at the shallowness of my patriotism. I hardly think about the incredible sacrifices made by so many men and women for the freedoms that I enjoy. I forget that the blood of hundreds of thousands of individuals paid for the flags displayed in every yard.

I take for granted the freedom of homeschooling and all the early homeschool pioneers that made homeschooling legal.

In a way, I guess that’s okay. Those heroes died and sacrificed so that I might enjoy corn on the cob on a hot, Indiana day, oblivious to the dangers that they faced. Those homeschool pioneers did brave things so I wouldn’t have to worry about keeping our kids home.

So today . . .  enjoy the sun, a cold slab of watermelon, your family, and the freedom to homeschool that we so richly enjoy in this great country, and may God continue to shed His grace on all of us.

Be Real,
Todd

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About the author

Todd Wilson is a dad, granddad, writer, conference speaker, and former pastor. Todd’s humor and down to earth realness have made him a favorite speaker at homeschool conventions, retreats, and churches across the country. As founder of Familyman Ministries and the Smiling Homeschooler, his passion and mission are to remind dads and moms of what’s most important through weekly e-mails, podcasts (The Familyman Show & The Smiling Homeschooler), seminars, and books and products that encourage parents. Todd, and his wife Debbie, still homeschool two of their eight children (six have graduated with four married) in northern Indiana. You can read more at www.familymanweb.com.

Danika Cooley

Tailor‑Made Education

When I first started homeschooling, we were using a literature-based history curriculum as our main teaching tool. I remember looking through the weekly schedules thinking, “I wish more of the biographies in this semester’s study highlighted the lives of Christians. I feel like that would really help my kids learn about living for Christ in difficult circumstances. Perhaps a weekly Christian biography would help my kids grow in their understanding of Christian character, too.”

As I made dinner that night, I decided that I could alter the reading selections as I saw fit. After all, I was their mom—and their homeschool teacher. With just a few swipes of my pencil, I could rearrange the curriculum a little.

For the next twelve years, I did exactly that. I added relevant Christian biographies to our studies. We went on field trips that enhanced our curriculum—or we visited fun exhibits that were in town. I swapped out books I couldn’t find for those that were available to us. I even wrote a Bible curriculum to use with my kids all the way through high school when I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted to use.

When it came to scheduling our week, we made space for things that were important to us, like a weekly trip to sort donations for foster children, daily walks, and Friday afternoon park days with other homeschool families. Honestly, those extracurricular trips are still some of my favorite memories. 

Homeschooling your children can be a wonderful experience. If you’re starting to feel hemmed in by your curriculum or by your schedule, get out your pencil. You’re the mom, and the teacher. Erase something, write a few things in, and shake up your plans. 

You have the freedom to tailor your children’s education to the goals, needs, and dreams of your family!

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About the author

Danika Cooley is an award-winning children’s author who blogs about Bible books, crafts, activities, and snacks at Thinking Kids. Her books include Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible, Bible Investigators: Creation, and the Who What Why series, a line of Christian history for 7–11-year-olds. Grab your free three-week sample of her popular Bible Road Trip™ curriculum here.

Adam and Dianne Riveiro

Freedom, Not Finger-Pointing

Freedom! It’s why we homeschool! We pick the curriculum we want. We choose the hours we school. We choose the days we school. We choose where we do school. We choose when we take off from school. Once you get that taste of freedom, you never want to go back!

But there’s an oft-ignored part of freedom that we don’t like to dwell on, but that I want to take a moment to remind you of: freedom for other homeschool families to do what they want to do. If freedom is good for the homeschooling goose, then it’s just as good for the homeschooling gander—although I’ll admit, I’ve never seen either a goose or a gander homeschool!

The homeschooling community, while growing by leaps and bounds, is still a small one. May I be blunt? We can’t afford to be broken into smaller segments by our differences in curriculums, styles, or any other issue. What God has led your family to do may not be what He’s led another family to do. And that’s okay! That’s what freedom is all about—the freedom to homeschool differently while still being supportive of one another without undue judgment or criticism.

Isn’t freedom great? Let’s remember that our fellow homeschool families enjoy the same freedom we do, and let’s extend them grace . . . even if we’d never homeschool the way they would.

-Adam

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About the author

Pastor Adam and Dianne Riveiro live in Easton, Massachusetts, where Adam serves as the pastor of Liberty Baptist Church. Together, they’ve authored several books, including their newest book Ministering to YOUR Children with Special Needs, published by Ready Scribe Publications. Parents to four amazing kids—Bethany, Kaylee, AJ, and Peyton—the Riveiros are deeply committed to helping special needs families discover joy and contentment through Christ.

What major event happened in AD 862? Who are the most prominent inventors, reformers, and missionaries in the United States? What is apartheid? In the Expansion, Independence, and War history course on SchoolhouseTeachers.com, students discover the answers to these questions along with many more historical facts. Each week explores a topic from history through a variety of reading, research, writing, and geography activities.