Computers and Homeschooling

"There is no mistake as great as the mistake of not going on" ~ William Blake

Seven years ago, we decided to purchase a computer. Being a homeschooling family, we justified the purchase by sitting down and listing all of the wonderful learning opportunities a computer--and the Internet--would provide. At the time, we didn't realize how right we would be. In fact, buying a computer totally changed the way we school and learn at home.

The first problem that came up was how to organize a schedule so that everyone got a fair share of time on the computer, including mom. The Internet turned out to offer an unbelievable amount of curriculum and learning materials. (I once printed out a full size King Cobra -in color-for Wren's jungle study class.)

I worked out a very intricate schedule so that everyone had one hour a day on the computer. At the time, we were still in our "following a schedule" days, and I had our learning day broken down into a series of one half-hour blocks-one subject per block. I decided that each child could have an hour to cover two of their subjects on the computer.

Given the fact that we knew nothing about computers at first, it's a wonder we managed. We bought several "educational software" programs for math and reading, and sort of "felt" our way into the world of computers.

The power of computers became apparent right away with my older son Elias, who was then ten years old. He was struggling with reading. Not struggling exactly-he just hated to read. He much preferred to have me read to him, as I had always done daily. He didn't see a need to read, and I was spending a lot of time worrying about it and trying to find different ways to entice him to read.

All of a sudden, he was reading, totally on his own, on the computer. He realized that the Internet was a vast library of knowledge about any topic he was interested in, and he was interested in a lot of things. So many, in fact, that before long he was complaining that one hour a day on the computer was not enough.

Around that time we were visiting the local Goodwill store--one of our favorite used item treasure houses. For the first time we noticed the store had an entire section of computer parts. I bought one for $3.00, and we went home and opened it up. Our learning has always been "hands on,"so it seemed the natural thing to do. Elias and I learned all about how a computer works, what hardware is involved, and how to keep them running.

After doing a little research on the Internet, we went back to the Goodwill and bought enough parts to put together an entire computer. We were surprised when it ran perfectly. True, it was older than our computer at home, but it ran the math and reading software fine.

After another year or two of learning on the computers, we found a wonderful used computer parts store and now, seven years later, we own and maintain 5 desktop computers and 6 laptops. My son and I do all of the maintenance, and in fact have been paid to repair and maintain other homeschooler's computers. I have taught a computer upgrade and maintenance class at the resource center, and next week I am teaching a group of homeschoolers and parents how to assemble their own computers.

We could not have afforded to use computers to the extent that we have without learning about how to take care of them. Paying someone to fix them was not an option. We repair our own stuff as much as possible, because I believe that if you own a thing, you should know a thing well enough to take care of it. And besides, I hate paying someone $70 per hour to fix anything.

Computers have made the single biggest impact on my family's homeschooling.

Elias, now 17 ½, has been programming for almost 4 years. He works with several different programming languages, including Visual Basic, Pearl, C, C++, and JavaScript. He is currently programming a 3D role playing game, and just recently completed a project using a computer serial port to control a circuit that he built. He is currently considering joining a team of programmers that are starting up a company to develop software, and has been paid many times to design and code personal Webpages. My daughter Mallory, writes everyday on the computer, and maintains a huge digital library of her artwork, as does Courtney. Wren, at 8 ½, is reading several years ahead of his age. Did I teach him to read? No.

The worry I hear from parents the most often is " How do I teach my child how to read?" There are people that have chosen not to homeschool because they feared they would not know how to teach their child to read. I'll let you in on a secret. I have never taught a single one of my children how to read-they learned themselves by using the computer. I simply bought computer programs and let them use them as they wanted.

Some people view computers as detrimental to education, but I feel that couldn't be further from the truth. Computers and the Internet, like much of the world's technology today, can be a double-edged sword, and will require constant parental supervision. But that should be a natural for homeschooling families. Our first computer sat in the middle of our schoolroom, and I was always present while the kids were on the Internet.

Now we have a computer "room" with five computers networked together, and we work on our various projects while talking back and forth about whatever is interesting. Our social studies for the past few years has been discussing what is happening in the world, based on the headlines at some of the major news sites.

Computers are the way of the future, and our homeschoolers need to feel comfortable with them and know how to use them. Computers literally put the world at our fingertips. My children have written letters to people on the other side of the planet and have been exposed to cultures they never would have been otherwise. I have had access to an amazing amount of homeschool support and curriculum resources-much of it free.

My work as an editor would not have happened without the Internet, nor would you be reading this column right now.

We are truly living in wondrous times, especially for homeschoolers.

I found a really great site for homeschoolers using computers. It has a great listing of educational software, as well as useful tools such as a free pre-algebra test generator that can be downloaded.

It's called Lytingale's Homeschooling and Education Website and

Resources:

http://www.openmindopenheart.org/EdWeb/Computer.html

I hope it will be the start of a new way of homeschooling for your family.