I have always been a big proponent of homeschooling using free Internet resources: audios, ebooks/.PDFs, YouTube videos, printables, and Web sites of all kinds. If you want to give your kids a well-rounded education, you can do it practically for free if you have a good Internet connection, a printer, and some free time to surf.
Here in Kenya, we no longer have an “unlimited” monthly Internet service. It’s pay-as-you-go, per MB of upload/download, and on a “missionary’s budget,” we’re pretty careful about our online time. Not only that, but the connection is hit-or-miss, and pretty slow as a rule, so it’s very rare that we are able to watch videos. We also don’t have a printer (due to having no electricity, only minimal solar), so all of those readily-available printables are no longer part of our daily routines.
Internet-free homeschooling
The past two years that we’ve been here in Kenya, part of the adjustment has been learning to homeschool without all of these wonderful online supplements. While I won’t say that I went through “withdrawals,” the process has not been without an occasional twinge of regret, moment of frustration, or passing doubt about the quality of our children’s education. We did bring a small “library” of books here to Kenya, but is it adequate? Are we doing enough with the minimal resources at our disposal?
Our homeschooling has become rather “bare bones.” We have math curricula for all the children, and a pretty set daily routine for language arts. Other than that, a lot of the educational process now depends on the books we have on the shelf. Of course, there are probably going to be some “gaps” here and there as a result, but I’m realizing that maybe it’s not all that important. My kids are learning about a whole new culture, geography, and language–great homeschooling in itself. They are learning to love and serve people in a way that they had not been able to in America, which is discipleship at its best (the primary reason why we are homeschooling in the first place). And, due to the increase in manual labor that we’ve experienced here, everyone is learning to roll up their sleeves and participate in meaningful and productive labor. Of course, this is something that we trained and encouraged in America, but it’s been taken to a whole new level here.
So there have been some trade-offs in our educational process these past two years. Less emphasis on technology and academics and more emphasis on life-skills and character building. No matter how different your circumstances are from mine, I think the homeschooling process is like that for all of us: different emphases in different seasons of life, inevitable shifts in skill development and academics. It is comforting for me to know that God knows this season of our life; He has plans for our future; and He certainly holds everything in His hands. Jesus said, for good reason, “‘Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own'” (Matthew 6:34).
Though it is good to have a long-term vision for your homeschooling and a broad view of the skills and learning that you want your children to accomplish over all, don’t get so hung up on it that you worry too much about “tomorrow.” Keep in mind not just your goals for homeschooling (or the world’s expectations for education), but the Lord’s purposes for this time in your children’s lives. Enjoy each day, do what you are able with the resources at your disposal, and trust God that His will can be accomplished through your efforts.
Thank you for sharing this! I sometimes wonder if we are under-utilizing the books and materials we already have because there is always something new online to use/do. I’m pretty sure we are. I remember when we first started 10 years ago the internet was slow and sparsely helpful for homeschoolers, we used the library and did a lot more with a lot less. Now I’m feeling nostalgic for those days with my current younger ones.
Thanks for sharing! Being our first year to homeschool, a first grader at that, I have relied heavily on free online resources to reinforce what I am teaching, or to educate ME to be able to teach. Now my husband says that he believes that God is leading us to ditch the internet to save money. My son and I are beside ourselves. We use it for school, gaming, television, etc. I realize that we have both become unhealthily dependent on technology. So maybe this is a good thing, a wise move. After all, our sole purpose on this planet is to further the kingdom of God, not to be entertained. Any prayers, advice or encouragement to offer would be appreciated. Again, Thanks for sharing. It is encouraging.
Even in America there are parents and grandparents, like me, who are tired of the plugged-in lifestyle. I want my grandson to experience the real world. We live on a farm with lots of woods, fields, and streams. To me, it is far more important that he learn to work with his hands in serving others than to master Algebra (and I’m an Algebra teacher!), There are many educational requirements that profit little in the long run. Most of my college classes were of no benefit to my current job. My grandson is in first grade and has ADHD. I have decided to stay home and teach him myself. I’m having difficulty finding a good homeschool program that does not use the internet.
I do not let my children use technology with our homeschooling. There is rarely a video to supplement an explenation, but that is about it. I have pieced together our curriculum from a variety of sources which are almost all book-based. I use The Good and the Beautiful by Jenny Phillips for language arts which is book/workbook/reading based, the McGuffey Reader series for reading, writing, and spelling (which has drastically improved reading level and vocabulary) which is a book series, Life of Fred for math, which are books as well (along with some supplemental real world and dollar store worksheets), and a woorkbook based science program called California Science, which can be free or very cheap. My person focus/goal of homeschooling is reading…reading…reading! Being able to read fluently and comprehend well are the foundational blocks of our homeschool program. Whatever gaps we have can be filled in when reading well is established.