Latest / 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids. / Benefits of Homeschooling with guest Kris Cox

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Benefits of Homeschooling with guest Kris Cox · 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids.

• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to another episode of Five Minute Parenting.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Today we have a special guest on our podcast, Chris Cox.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: She's a veteran homeschool mom with a Bachelor of Science in Social Work and 17 plus years of experience home educating their four children.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: She also has 10 years experience as a homeschool consultant, blogger, writer, and speaker.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome, Chris.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: So glad you had to come on today.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Sandra.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm happy to be here.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I know with the school systems and everything that's happening in the educational area, that a lot of parents do not want to send their kids to back to traditional schools.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I think a lot may be considering homeschooling.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm so glad you're here to kind of demystify what homeschooling is.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so tell us a little more about homeschooling and how many homeschoolers are now in the US.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm excited to be able to share that with your listeners.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Homeschooling is basically parent-led home-based education.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, it's it's been around since the beginning of the United States and even before in other countries.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: But public education was started in 1837 as a tax-supported experiment.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And homeschooling is just a return to the educational system that made our nation great.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, and what's exciting about that is that it's growing, especially since the pandemic and all that went on with that.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: We had about 2.3 million home educated students in 2019, and the number has almost doubled to 4.3 million now who are home educated in the US.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, so it's exciting to see that growth, and uh people are enjoying it and sticking with it, not just doing it because they had to for a little while.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I know you're going to share some of the benefits of homeschooling with us today.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'd love to do that.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the things that I think people don't realize is that homeschooled students actually do quite well academically.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's one of the big benefits, is academic success.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, there's an organization called the National Home Education Research Institute, and they have statistics about that they've gathered about homeschool students, and they found that homeschool students average about 15 to 30 percent higher than public school students' average score on academic achievement tests.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: So they're scoring in the 65th to the 80th percentile on standardized achievement tests, where the average for the public school student is at the 50th percentile.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that's speaks for itself that home education works.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: They are doing a new study to update it, but I I see this a lot that homeschool students do quite well academically.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's great.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and I think the reason they're academically successful is because there's this opportunity to do one-on-one teaching.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that really is beneficial for any child.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: As a parent, we're more aware of our child's progress and if they're mastering something or if they need to work a little, have a little more time to work on something.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, that low stress environment really frees the student from the fear of failure.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that can lead to a real love for learning as well.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: We can also, you know, individualize the curriculum with homeschooling and make it to fit our family and our child best.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we can even determine what our child's learning style preferences are and tailor their curriculum a little bit to help them be more successful in their learning.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: So that's beneficial as well.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think even children with um learning difficulties.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: I know my daughter had ADHD, and um I homeschooled her in the second grade.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: She went to first grade and did fine because she had a very flexible teacher that let her move around, set on the floor when she needed to.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's just, you know, and then she went to second grade, and the teacher was so just very strict, wouldn't let her get all the seats.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: She she just started going to school and didn't want to go to school and had stomach aches.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: And that's tough.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's when I decided to homeschool her.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, even though I was a teacher, it's a challenge to start something new, but you know, it was so good because I could meet her individual needs.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: And um and we got involved in in other homeschool groups.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: We met for social activities and moms just took turns.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a great benefit.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So there are some wonderful cooperative opportunities out there that help your kids get to be with other children too, right?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, I think actually homeschooling is one of the best methods for educating kids with learning struggles in some ways, because you can really tailor their education.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And especially kids that struggle with a lot of sensory issues, the big classroom can be a little overwhelming.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Another benefit I I've seen too is that we as believers get to transfer our faith and values to our kids as we teach them, you know, their science and their history and so on.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that that's a really valuable thing.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's less confusing for the child when there's a consistency of their beliefs of their teacher and what they're learning at home.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, absolutely.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: I love that about homeschooling.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And also another benefit that maybe you saw too is that you can work on building godly character when you're with them all the time.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, there's more time to just focus in on that.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: You can make it a goal to work on various character qualities, but you can also see when they need to grow in a certain area.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: I did find that it also worked on my character as well.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if you felt that too.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's it.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: My patience, my character.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was so worth it.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good thing, though.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's all good.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's we need to be growing in those areas too.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So it's so hard for kids who go to school and they hear so much contradictory information, values and God.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so I mean, more and more it's becoming like that.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: So more and more.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it's becoming a little bit of a scary place.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, that's one of the other uh benefits that I see is that we provide a really safe and and and a challenging learning environment as homeschoolers.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's safe because I know there's bullying and there's a lot of negative peer pressure, and now there's the agenda that's getting introduced with all the sexual orientation in the schools.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a it's a little bit of a scary place, and I I'm thankful for homeschooling being an option for parents today.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe that it's a challenging learning environment too.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I know a lot of parents fear that they couldn't do it well enough and give their child a good enough education, but that's not what I've seen.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, kids really excel because they're allowed to just really grow in the areas they have strengths in.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: And there's so many more resources today, even from when I homeschooled my daughter.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, she's in her 30s now.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm just amazed at what's out there.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I agree.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: So many opportunities too, really, for and even for homeschool students.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And in our state, we offer where you you can take in Minnesota, is where I am, um, children who are in high school from I shouldn't say children, they're students, uh teens, they're uh it's from 11th to 12th grade, they can take college-level courses.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And of course they could do that from the public school too, but just so many great resources as you investigate for students to really grow in in their interests and excel academically.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I don't know.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Another benefit that we see, I saw anyway, is there's a lot of flexibility in the schedule, your schedule as you home educate.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you want, you can take breaks when you need it.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: If your husband's traveling, you can travel with him.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a beautiful benefit.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, just having that you can school when you want to.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: If your kids don't get up till 10 a.m., you can start then if you want to.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's really a beautiful opportunity to go with what works for your family according to your schedules.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: And we also saw that our family got really close as we home educated too.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Our kids are still really good friends.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: So that's another benefit.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Were you going to say something?
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, I was just agreeing with you.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: Ah, good, good.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, one of the other benefits that I mentioned I have on the list there is that I really believe homeschooling is actually one of the best places to learn socialization.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that may sound really crazy to a lot of people, but because people are really concerned that homeschooling will be um really isolating.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, socialization is defined as the process of learning how to behave in a way that's acceptable to society.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe parents are actually more qualified than than a big group classroom of peers to teach what's proper and acceptable in society.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times a classroom full of peers will be teaching things like self-centeredness and bullying and materialism, and you know what I'm saying?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: So as parents, we can really give more of a positive socialization experience.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: And definitely we want our kids to be with other kids, but I think eight hours a day, five days a week is more than they have to have in order to experience being with their peers myself.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: So that's and like you, you know, there's just so many opportunities for kids, you know, to intermingle and go to groups.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I see in my area all kinds of classes and groups and you know, homeschooling that can meet during the week.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, that's socialization with other homeschooling kids.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, exactly.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of opportunities.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the National Home Education Research Institute did a study of home educated adults, you know, once they were adults and saw that they were typically above average as far as social, emotional, and psychological development.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they were interacting well with their peers, they had leadership skills and so on.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: They participated in community service and had a good self-esteem.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's it's definitely something not to worry about as far as socialization goes.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think so too.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, those are kind of the benefits that I've seen.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: There's more, but that's the main ones.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, those are really crucial.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: And um I wanted to let our listeners know that next week you'll be doing part two on tips to help you succeed in your homeschooling journey.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I wanted to encourage uh listeners to go to the notes because Chris has a lot of information there.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: And she has a contact information where if you have questions or want to learn more about homeschooling than she has time to do on this podcast, you can contact her.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: I know she does a lot of workshops and she does a lot of one-on-one.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: So she's a really great resource for homeschooling.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to put in a plug for her book, Growing the Fruit of the Spirit, a Bible-based unit study.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: I have this book, and you don't have to be homeschooling to use it.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: You could use it in family devotions.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you could use it, it covers every fruit of the spirit, and there's all kinds of worksheets and activities and lessons and scripture memory.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: It would just be a great family devotional to use.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I highly recommend that.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Sandra.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you, Chris, for being with us today, and we look forward to the next uh session that when you're with us.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Sandra.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: It was a pleasure to be with you.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: You too.