Life Lessons: Tailor-Making An Older Child's Education

Written by Julie A. Druck of York, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. - Used by permission

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Note from Lois : Julie has been homeschooling her three sons and sharing her experiences in an e-mail newsletter through the years.  Whether homeschooling or not, we can all learn from Julie.  I certainly have!  It's interesting how we "met."  My Aunt Marian was her mentor in MOPS years ago, and told Julie about the Heart to Heart Newsletter that I send.  Julie subscribed, and we have been communicating through e-mail for quite some time.  A year receiving the Heart to Heart Newsletter, Julie decided to send her own newsletter, and I've been so blessed by each edition!

 

In the last issue of “Life Lessons,” I wrote about how our family developed its philo-sophy of education – determining what objectives and goals we desired for our children regarding their futures. I shared that in their early years, we gave the boys a broad overview of lots of different subjects to whet their appetites for learning. (You’ll find specific examples of how we did that in “The Learning Journal”) As they grew, and their talents, gifts, and interests began to emerge, we began designing their course of study to meet their individual needs. I thought that this month it might be helpful to share how we set out to tailor Ben’s homeschooling in relation to Ben and his needs. And his needs being, to develop his gifts, abilities, interests, future career path, character, and personality – all that Ben is and will be.

Benjamin is our oldest son – he will be 18 in January. This is his last year of homeschooling, and he plans to attend Thaddeus Stevens’ College of Technology. He’ll be taking their two-year Electronics course for an Associates Degree.

      
Ben has always been a thinker – logical, analytical, always trying to figure everything out. When he was a little boy, he was constantly asking how things worked and taking things apart. He was his daddy’s shadow and watched as Marty fixed various things around the house. It wasn’t long before we began encouraging him to do simple repair jobs on his own. From yard sales I would often bring home inexpensive items for Ben to take apart and see how they worked – computers, VCRs, an old recording machine, tape players, etc.

      
Benjamin was especially fascinated by electronics equipment, and as Marty works in the field, he would teach him simple things such as the names of electronics parts and their purpose. To foster his electronics fascination, one year for Christmas we gave Ben a kit called Electronic Snap Circuits with 60 basic electronics parts and directions to assemble them in various applications.
      
Ben also became interested in computers early on as well. And so, to foster that, I would often bring home from used book sales various computer manuals for him to read (like novels!) and mess with on an old computer in his room. We also purchased a computer science curriculum for him when he was 12. He still works on that from time to time even now – adding to and updating projects he did when he was younger. Ben quickly became the “go-to guy” in our family whenever a computer issue came up.

      
Not a surprise, Benjamin has always gravitated towards the maths and sciences. And so, that’s where he’s camped out in his high school years. Along with having him learn communication skills, a large chunk of history and Creation science, and a solid foundation of economics principles, most of his time has been spent in the math and science arenas. Marty gave him several of the textbooks he had in tech school – and so Ben has learned physics, electronics concepts and higher math. Actually, he’s taken math farther than we required – he felt that learning trigonometry and calculus might be helpful in the electronics world and so has been tackling them this year.

      
Enjoying sports as he does, Ben began joining in on the once-a-month softball games that Marty’s company has for fun. From the various managers getting to know Ben through this activity, a summer job opportunity opened up for him at the company this past summer. That opportunity expanded into a part-time job through the school year – working two days a week, doing school three days a week. This, of course, has been an incredibly practical, hands-on way for Ben to be introduced to the electronics world and to see if it is the field in which he wants to spend his working days.

      
My purpose in sharing a bit about Ben’s interests and talents is to show that Ben’s future career path grew out of his hobbies and pastimes – he didn’t decide to go into the electronics field when he was 5. We simply watched where his interests and talents were and chose to foster them through providing resources and opportunities in the area of his interests. By providing these things, as well as time to pursue them, it gave Ben opportunity to experience a possible career path and decide if such a career would be of continued interest.

      
Equally important, we wanted to allow Ben the opportunity to decide if such a career was not of interest. Though we made provisions for his focus and encouraged him in those interests, we also made sure not to tie Ben down to eating, sleeping and breathing any one thing. We desired him to be a well-rounded individual – with time and opportunity to pursue other directions. Our ultimate goal for Ben is to encourage and help him to become the man whom God has designed him to be.

      
Whether you have younger or older children, I would encourage you to be a student of your child. Watch what they gravitate to, what grabs their interest – and provide them with books, resources, etc., to foster those interests. Be looking (and teach them to look) for opportunities, mentoring relationships and ways in which they can enhance their bent in life. And then watch as God uses those things to lead and guide their future.