Heritage

A few months ago, I was making schnitzel with my daughter and son. It's not a family recipe for, although I am almost half German and my husband almost all, somehow schnitzel was a recipe that got lost through the generations of make-do housewives in the South Dakota and Minnesota families during the Depression era.

People often have the misconception that homeschool involves 8 hours of teaching your children from books. While books play a part, especially as your homeschooler grows older, one of the main advantages to homeschooling is that anything you do as part of your daily life can become part of schooling. This became especially important when God blessed us with a daughter who has multiple special needs. She sits for about 5-10 minutes at a time, so her performance in a traditional school would probably be markedly poor. But put her to work hammering schnitzel, and you can fit all kinds of lessons in.

Count aloud while you hammer, Amy. How many times did you hit that piece? (Aha - math!)

Let's learn about the trinity. Eggs are the perfect example. White, yolk and shell are all parts of the egg and the egg wouldn't be the egg without any one of those parts. Just like Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit. (Aha - Bible Studies!)

See how the egg sticks to the meat? That's because there is protein in the egg, and protein has long chains of little tiny molecules, so it doesn't slide off the meat like the milk does. (Aha - chemistry!)
 

Remember the wheat in the field, Amy? That's what this flour is made up. First they pound the wheat to get rid of the chaff. Then they grind it and get rid of the hard outer kernel. Then they bleach it to make it white. Isn't that amazing? (Aha! Agriculture.)

Most of all, homeschooling allows young children to be near their parents, who hold within themselves all of their heritage, everything they've read and seen and experienced. Oftentimes, neither the child nor the parent realizes what is being passed on in these moments, like the busy hour before dinner time.

Call it an art or a skill, homeschooling is one of the most natural things in the world. It's an organic way of transmuting information into age appropriate ideas and concepts just the right size for the child to digest. Pair it with the work of real life, and your child will always remember.