Our Home School Philosophy

Every Homeschooler develops their own philosophy that usually evolves with their family over time. It starts with learning about the popular philosophies and deciding which ones fit your family. Over time you create a vision for what you are trying to accomplish and how to take pieces of the popular methods and curriculums to meet that need. Every family is different, so their vision statement and philosophy will be too. Here you can find ours to help you see where I am coming from in my recommendations, values and thought process. Yours will definitely be made to suit your goals and family dynamic but if it helps you get a starting point on framing your child's education then go for it! Feel free to use this as a template.

Our Vision Statement: 
Cultivating Driven Disciples of Christ

Our Mission Statement:
We insight creative problem solving and curiosity while instilling good character.

Statement of Values:

We value Liberty to study what is interesting in a way that works best for you.

We value Work and self regulation to accomplish what needs to be done for a quality well rounded education.

We value Character, the most important thing you can be in this life is kind. The more you love God and yourself the more you can love others and see them the way He does. If you learn nothing else but to be be a honest, kind, hard working person then that is enough.

Our favorite popular philosophies:

• Montessori for when they are young since children learn best through play and self discovery. 
• Unit Studies as a way to see how different subjects are interconnected and get a through understanding of what sparks our passion and what shapes our world. 
• Classical Education for the trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Learning the rules so you can learn how to think and then express those ideas is a dying art. I also love Latin because it is the base of so much of our language that knowing it is a great tool for decoding the world of science and literature.
• Go Schooling. As a home school family we are in a unique position to go and experience things hands on (like field trips) as often as we plan it. The best way to learn is to do and these are the experiences that will leave a lasting impression the rest of their lives.
• TJED in the sense that we see great value in being self motivated, having personal responsibility, and cultivating leadership.

Each philosophy has its place and its age range in our home. Montessori for Pre-K to 1st grade as we focus on learning the foundations of reading, writing, and math in an active physical way. Unit studies, Go School and Classical education 2nd-7th grade, and Classical education for 8-10th grade with all the tracking they may need for college applications. Ultimately I hope to be done with their high school education by 10th grade, so that they can focus the last two years on getting a leg up over their competition by either working their trade under a mentor/ going to trade school, preparing for or attending college, or running and hopefully failing at several small businesses (since one of our parenting philosophies is to let them make mistakes while the price tags are small). This is the age where the TJED self led meets the rhetoric stage to create articulate adults who master their field and teach/ inspire others.

We also decided to come up with home school name and mascot for field trips, friendly competitions, and in the silly cases where you need to sound like a legitimate school in order to get the educator discounts.

Our Home School Name:

Oak River Academy
We came up with this name because we like the duality of  the hard wood tree that can not only withstand strong winds but is strengthened by them and has deep reaching roots. Against the flowing river that changes things in its path through persistence and see's the world as it journeys bringing life wherever it wanders.

Our Mascot:
A Bull Moose
This is just fun because 1. Bull Moose are beautiful majestic delicious creatures and 2. With a House full of boys coming from parents that grew up in the mountains of Utah and the wilderness of Alaska it seemed like the only logical option.

The Heart of a Doer..

Today I met two of the most interesting people I have ever encountered in my life. One is a full time sailor from Seward, Alaska and the other a bush pilot from northern Canada. Together they sailed the northwest passage last year. My husband knew him from some seasonal slope work he had done before embarking on this epic voyage. We met his wife for the first time today. She had happen to land in the same small Canadian town on the same day he pulled in to do some repairs at the beginning of this trip, then joined him for the rest of the adventure.

She had flown over this area many times but loved seeing it from the sea for the first time. She described the beauty of Greenland as they traveled through the outlying islands in their way to Iceland to pick up the sail boat we were now sitting on as Heber checked out the engine room James looked at maps and chased their cat and Dodge happily played with sockets in the hull.

She told me about the previous owners of the sailboat, which were a family with 3 kids who sailed the Carribean in an 800 sqft boat for years. Small evidences of children were quietly echoed with the pink bed skirts on the bunks and the marker under the map table. What stories they must have had to tell.

As we visited he showed us pictures of a small cabin he had built outside Seward last fall with his high school aged son to each him discipline and the value of work. They plan on staying docked there until he graduates, teaching sailing and scuba lessons and fixing engines, so he can see more of his Son.

Eventually after sailing Antarctica they hope to homestead in Idaho and live completely off the grid. 

At this point we had a lot to talk about, different investments and land options, professional outfitting and horseback riding. The value of raising boys in the country. The enthusiasm reverberated between us growing with each pass. We actually have a lot in common.

The conversation ended with how neither of us plan much more than 3 years ahead because so much can change between now and then for "doers" or "livers of life".

Up until this point I had felt a little intimidated by these true adventures and modern explorers. What in the world could a stay at home mom who has never been further east than Minneapolis for a work trip say to them?!

Yet whenever I picture my perfect life they are exactly the type of people I imagine having over for dinner parties. Interesting dynamic unique individuals with stories to tell and life battered wisdom to impart. Only every time I slip into this fantasy I am slapped back to reality with "What would people like that be doing in rural Idaho at a farmhouse dinner table?" and "What would interest them to sit at yours?"I sit perplexed.

I think deeply but rarely get into philosophical discussions. I paint amateurishly. I read mostly books about how to better educate my children and not burn the chicken. As interesting and well traveled as I'd like to be, I've spent my last 4 years pregnant, nursing, dreaming and posting hilarious toddler quotes on Facebook. The thing is though, I'm not ashamed of it. There will be years of home school adventures and outdoor trips and exotic travel. My life may seem ordinary and expected from the outside but inside it is full of wonder and richness that can only come from high quality ingredients given time to simmer together. And doers will see that, because it's not WHAT you do that makes you a liver of life, it's the heart and energy you put into it that draws like minded and similar spirited people to you.

One of my favorite pages to follow on Facebook is "Humans of New York" because the author of this group has an amazing talent of running into ordinary people on the street and pulling out extraordinary, thought provoking, or touching stories from their lives and perspectives. He sees meeting people as a grand adventure and presents his work to us in such a way that leaves us hopeful and curious about humanity. Its not that the people are that wonderful it's just that we see things through his lens that is.

This is how doers view life as something to engage in. Its a lens that makes everything curious, interesting, thrilling. This is how some people have the gift to see the divinity in others. They are not only what is there but can be or was.

I remember reading "How to Win Friends and Influence People" for a college persuasion class. One of the key principles is to be genuinely interested in their lives. A doer is always interested and because of this learns things and gains associations that others may over look. And in the end, that's what makes them interesting.

Who is the most interesting person you've ever met? What drew you to them?