The One Room School House

The original “home school” here in the U.S., or schooling at home,  consisted of a “blue backed” speller and the Bible.  With the advent of  the “public school” in the late 1800s, the one room school became increasingly popular, especially the farther west you went.  Depending on the home environment, the children would learn the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic.  If they lived in the country they also had life skills they picked up as they helped tend the farm.  In our home, we have come to embrace this biblical based approach to learning.

I have been homeschooling our children since October of 2005.  I am so grateful that a neighbor introduced me to Charlotte Mason and Ruth Beechick methods when we decided to school at home.  This placed me on the track of a literature-based approach to schooling.

For us, schooling will have a biblical foundation.  When deciding what subjects to include in our curriculum or which books to read I must be convicted that it will help to prepare our children for a future where their individual gifts will flourish and be useful, not only to themselves but to others as well.  Borrowing from Mark Twain, I believe we should never let “schooling” interfere with our education.

Please send me a note if you have any particular questions you would like  answered.  To see some of the resources we use you can visit the Mercantile.