The Homeschool View
A Tailored Fit
By Hunter Fell

January 27, 2011

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___I received an email from a reader interested in the specifics of my mom's interview a couple of weeks ago saying, “I would like to know exactly what in your studies has been tailored to fit your Christian worldview. What has been handpicked, how, and why?” Since these questions are really for my mom, I’ve asked her to further explain her statements in this week’s ___Homeschool View. Take it away, mom…
___As stated in that interview, two of the primary reasons we homeschool are to hand-pick curriculum that fits our Christian worldview, and to tailor-fit curriculum toward the passions and learning styles of our boys. All curriculum, whether used in public, private, or home schools, is written with a worldview - a lens or filter through which it interprets life – and we want to teach using curriculum we agree with. As Christians, our worldview sees God as Creator and final authority, forming each of us with unique personality traits, passions, and talents. These beliefs guide us in choosing methods and materials to study - some chosen for its Christian content, some based entirely on the merit of its educational quality, Christian or not. Through our studies we do explore other worldviews and beliefs, just choose not to immerse our kids in curriculum that teaches “truths” which we do not hold to be true. I trust that explains the “why” of what we do; here are a few examples of the “how”:
___We daily study God’s character and His Word, building wisdom and faithfulness.
___Though we explore all scientific theory, our creationist-based beliefs and curriculum teach the harmony of science and theology through observation and experimentation.
___Our history curriculum is a study of God’s purposes and man’s actions intersecting on a horizontal time line with a beginning in creation and an eternal culmination. Believing that when God is discarded from His Story it becomes a meaningless cycle of events, driven by no power higher than man, God remains in our history curriculum.
___Though not all of our English course workbooks are Christian in nature, we recognize that God values language and use Bible texts for copy work; develop writing skills that communicate truth; encourage a love for reading quality literature, learning to analyze and interpret ideas aligned with our Christian worldview.
___Another force driving our choices comes from deciphering our boys’ unique God-given shapes – learning styles, talents, passions – and tailor-fitting curriculum to suit them. For example, we’ve built studies around film and drama for one son, sports and comics for another, and music and art for yet the third; and while language workbooks work well for our left-brained son; our right-brained son enjoys literature unit studies.
___As evidenced, this complex topic is not easily summarized in the space of this article; but hopefully I have answered more questions than I’ve left you with.
Thanks, mom; and thank you to my reader for writing in. If you or anyone else has additional questions or views you’d like to share, email me at dillsburgbanner@dillsburgbanner.net.