Is God Schooling for You? {A Review}
After arriving in the mail, the book God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn by Julie Polanco, got carelessly tossed on my desk waiting for my attention for this review. It was there that my thirteen year old, intrigued by the title, picked it up. She flipped through to a chapter called “Giving Teens the Wings to Fly,” and began to read.
“Mom!” she later exclaimed, “This is a great book! You have to read it.”
A bit taken aback that she had been reading it, I asked, “What makes it a great book? Why did you like it?”
She told me about the author’s son Hawk, and how he was grateful for his homeschool experience through high school because it gave him more opportunities to learn about those things he was passionate about. She also related to some of the negative experiences he had with friends who believed that homeschoolers couldn’t be successful if they didn’t attend an actual high school. The chapter simply resonated with her and gave her some peace of mind that being homeschooled through high school will provide her with more valuable experiences, not less.
For this experience alone, this book was worth having. I liked it even before I read it for the light-bulb moment it gave my young teen.
My Thoughts
The book begins with the author explaining how the Lord directed her to unschooling, why she feels it is biblical in nature, and dispelling some stereotypes surrounding the unschooling approach.
We do not unschool our children, nor did this book make me want to jump on the unschooling bandwagon. However, because I believe that as a mother I can receive personal revelation for what is best for my children, I firmly believe that God called this mother to unschool her children because that was what was best for them. And it’s okay that it isn’t what is best for us.
When I first began homeschooling, I studied out all the different philosophy’s trying to find my niche. Were we Classical Educators or did we lean more toward Charlotte Mason or a Thomas Jefferson Education? What I found was that in each one there were desirable traits and aspects that I liked and wanted to incorporate. The same is true for an unschooling approach.
While I may not have agreed with everything I read, there were aspects that I did agree with. And there were points she made which I felt were valid. I appreciated her chapter on the types of learners as she compared them to different types of eaters. It was a well thought out analogy. I was able to see which of my children fell into the different categories and how I may better help to broaden their learning experience.Overall, I think whether you unschool or not this is a book worth reading.
And as always, don’t forget to check out the reviews by other Crew members.
