The Old Schoolhouse - March 2012

Survival Tools of a Foreign Homeschool Mom By Effie Damianidou Hill

1. Faith

Trust and be alert when the Lord speaks to you and your children. Just before officially beginning schooling at home, the Lord spoke this following Scripture to me from Psalm 92:12–15: “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, ‘The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him” (NIV). I sensed that the Lord was saying that as the children were planted in the good soil of the home, they would flourish like palm trees. We decided to study palm trees.

2. Humour (or Humor) There are many instances when a good sense of humor will overcome an obstacle. For instance, I was under the impression that I had lost most of my non-American accent—that is, until we did . . . spelling. Sometimes, one of the children would get a word wrong due to my pronunciation. I’m a little wiser now. I no longer use a curriculum where there are pre-tests. Better that the child sees the word first!

3. Be Willing to Learn With Your Kids

Some universal subjects, such as math, are often taught differently in other countries. I swallowed my angst and relearned the American way of adding fractions. No harm done, as long as the child can successfully do what is required in the end. In some cases it worked to our advantage, as I knew about a shortcut that was not in the American book.

Some subjects are not universal. I made this discovery quickly! Consider, for example, American history. We bought some books and checked some out from the library, and we had a special time just reading (and learning together) about how this country had been founded. I was pleasantly surprised to learn how rich and interesting it all was.

Then there was phonics. Although I had learned English at a young age, the phonics method had not been included in my education. I had visions of my older two children, who had been taught to read at the Christian school, of being Nobel Prize winners in Literature while the third child sat by, forlorn, because “he was homeschooled from the beginning and his mother never managed to teach him to read.”

I’ve traveled the world, I have a master’s degree in French literature, I’ve studied six languages (and am fluent in four), but . . . kindergarten phonics still left me weak in the knees. What on earth is the difference between a short and long vowel, I pondered?

I meticulously poured over the A Beka phonics teacher’s manual. It was easier than I thought it would be, but one thing caught me by surprise: how deeply, deeply satisfying it was to teach my child to read. My youngest son read his first sentence to me!

With phonics under my belt, I tackled teaching my son about money. I wondered why a nickel was actually worth less than a dime although a nickel was bigger in size. Thankfully, our first-grader did not question the logic of this discrepancy. Then there were all the Presidents on the money! I didn’t know who they were! Again, the teacher’s manual came to the rescue.

4. Embrace Your Own Culture

Having one or both parents from another culture can really add to the children’s homeschooling experience. There is great value in being exposed to the cultures of other countries. I reminded the children of places we had traveled and tied it in with their schooling. When we studied the ancient world, for example, I showed them the pictures of times when they had played among ancient Greek ruins, trying to guess what all of it was.

I also taught them some deeper spiritual truths. No matter where they live or where they were born (two here, one overseas) we have this in common: we are all descendants of Adam in need of redemption through Jesus’ sacrifice.

Finally, having come to the States in my twenties I could not base my decision to homeschool on how bad or good American public schools were. I had received a stellar public school education overseas. At my school, we began every day with a hymn, prayer, and reading from God’s Word. But it really comes down to a Biblical mandate—the issue is not really about how “good” or “bad” public schooling is as much as it is about this question: “Is it really the government’s (any government’s) job to educate my child?”

5. Focus on What Matters
I firmly believe that homeschooling is a
means to fulfill the message proclaimed
in Malachi 4:6: “He will turn the hearts
of the fathers to their children, and the
hearts of the children to their fathers”
(NIV). Above all, what I realized is that
whether, as a foreigner, I was tackling
the non-metric system, the faces of
Presidents on bills and coins, the twen-
tieth irregular phonics rule, or the per-
fect curriculum for spelling . . . it did
not really matter. Whether I picked the
perfect curriculum for spelling (and in
this country, there are almost as many
choices for this as there are choices
for cereal!) it did not matter. The very
process of teaching my children myself,
and the bonding of the hearts that takes
place, is what matters. Why? So that we
are all closer as a family? Well, that is a
nice benefit. But more than that, home-
schooling keeps the soil of our precious
children’s hearts more tender and ready
to receive the seeds of the Gospel and
of God’s Word that we impart to them.
May God give all of us grace to “receive
with meekness the implanted word,
which is able to save your souls” (James
1:21, ESV).