Homeschool – 5 Advantages of Small

When you count the blessings of home-style learning, you are not be intimidated by the GIGANTIC government school. You know the truth is:

. . . What the BIG school can do,

. . . . . . your LITTLE school can do better.

1. In the SMALL school, the benefit of reading INTERESTING books with inspiring IDEAS, books where right-is-might, books with cheerful hope, reverence for God, brotherly love, patriotism, etc. is invigorating to the soul of a Christian. The BIG school’s atheist-based curriculum is a slow drip, drip, drip of daily antagonism.
   
   
2. The SMALL school can easily make use of NARRATION. So basic (and valuable) a thing as a child telling in his own words what he is understanding (to someone who will listen) is unheard of in the BIG school. Yet, a student’s ability to narrate carries over beautifully to writing. The art of composition isn’t the result of workbook instruction – instruction resorted to when multiple choice is employed (en masse).
   
   
3. A refreshing ATMOSPHERE of peace (not pressure) is created when a home teacher matches her student’s pace.
   
   
4. The DISCIPLINE of short lessons (not classroom hours that drag) afford a WIDE scope of knowledge. Afternoons are for thinking-margin, chores, handicraft, outdoor observation/activity – more educational than proven-to-be-ineffective after-hours homework. BIG schools are big time-wasters.
   
   
5. In the impersonal BIG school, bored is the norm. Consequently, the class is constantly motivated and measured (en masse) by test scores. Pursuing individual interests is rarely an option. In the SMALL school, delving into interests keeps the love of knowledge alive. Within the parent-child RELATIONSHIP, educational FRUIT becomes evident. Boiling this fruit down to a test score seems absurd compared to witnessing UP CLOSE a child’s knowledge grow, seeing his skill, talent, and personality blossom. I am not a number. I am a person.

Karen Andreola homeschooled her three children K-12. She is best known for her book, A Charlotte Mason Companion, Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning.