Well, first ... hello, J, and welcome to the group!

I really appreciate what you're raising here ... if you delve into the history of it, you'll find that the *essential* question you are raising has driven people nuts for literally hundreds of years! :-) For instance: there's a wonderful new book which came out recently about Isaac Newton. (It's written by Michael White.) Newton's *coded* journals ... very extensive ... have finally been decoded, so tremendous new insights into his life are now available ... he coded them for several reasons, one of them being that he held views which could get a person in *deep* trouble back then! Anyway, when Newton attended Cambridge in the mid-1660's, he was *required* to study a curriculum which had been being taught for over 300 years! He came very close to flunking out, as that "curriculum" was nothing to do with *him*! They decided to keep him ... and make him a professor ... despite his abject disinterest in "their" curriculum, since they noticed he was a little good at math ... :-)

The most essential question you'll need to answer, I respectfully suggest, involves the issue of what a curriculum *is* ... and, in the process, you will have to deeply consider what you *really* consider to be "basic" with regard to the education of each of your children. If you are truly analytical, you'll *first* need an *organizing principle* which will allow you to address the question in an *effective* way. As teachers, perhaps the worst thing we can be (short of being abusive) is *pedantic*. I would *not* want my children to see me as a pedantic teacher. "Pedantic," of course, is in the eye of the beholder. Why might a home schooled student see her parent or his parent as pedantic ... as, for example, dull, uninspiring, and overly reliant on book learning?

If you're really going to take on the home schooling domain in a powerful way (and *especially* if you truly value an analytical approach), I'd recommend that you read three books. First ... the one which is a *must*, even if you only read about the first twenty-one pages, which are enough to get the essence of what he's saying ... is *Dumbing Us Down: the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling*, by John Taylor Gatto, a former New York State Teacher of the Year. That book will begin to disabuse you of the notion that a one-size-fits-all curriculum should be imposed upon more or less all children.

Second, read Rushdoony's *The Messianic Character of American Education*. It will tell you in *great* detail what the *agenda* has been, historically speaking, on the part of those who established what the (more or less) "standard" curriculum was to be (and remains) in this country. It is a *terribly* disturbing book ... you will *not* see the issue of "curriculum" in the same way after you've finished reading even the first fifty or 100 pages.

Third, read Howard Gardner's book, *Multiple Intelligences*. It addressed the issue of the extent to which the curricular needs of each child vary deeply from one child to another. Gardner is a professor in the department of education at Harvard, and he provides tremendous insight into the domain of "curricula." You will find yourself well described in his pages, by the way, J ... :-) ... he talks about, for example, what it takes to teach someone who has "logical-mathematical" intelligence, versus what it takes to be effective in educating a child who has "bodily-kinesthetic" intelligence, or "linguistic" intelligence," or "spatial" intelligence, or "interpersonal" intelligence, or "intrapersonal" intelligence, or "musical" intelligence ... or, Gardner now allows, perhaps "spiritual" intelligence. (Note: these categories are *not* merely "learning styles" or "working styles" ... the latter are also important, but Gardner is addressing something much more fundamental.)

Once your notions about the efficacy of "standard" curricula and "scopes and sequences" have been effectively trashed ... :-) ... you will no doubt want something to *replace* those absurd and profoundly ineffective approaches. You have suggested, in the post quoted above, as well as in other posts, that the alternative to standard curricula would be "chaos." I can well understand why you feel this way. (Incidentally, as an aside: it's almost certainly true that you were *trained* to feel that way ... it's been one of the severe shortcomings of our "system of education" that individuals have been utterly disempowered, as though only "professional educators" know what is best when it comes to saying what children should learn.) Home schooling is a *radical* movement, which is *leading* in providing alternatives to the "standard" approaches. This next century will *not* be dominated by the old ideas. But to be effective in this leadership role, we've got to have a *much* more powerful "organizing principle" than "one size (more or less) fits all." I suggest the following as a better organizing principle for educating our children.

Chaos? Well ... it would be a little difficult, wouldn't it, to walk into the new Barnes and Noble which our family frequents, and select the "right" books from the 150,000 or so on the shelves. Such an approach would be enough to make *anyone* crazy ... especially if one felt that her or his children's future might somehow rise or fall upon the choices made! This is a *tough* issue, not a "beginner's" issue!

To be *effective* in participating in the education of *any* child, I respectfully suggest that *the* fundamental question which a person must answer, is: "Do you believe in God?" In this newsgroup, in particular, it is perhaps even silly to ask such a thing. But consider: if one *does* believe in God, does it not *absolutely* follow that each child is sent here with a *purpose*? One *must* answer that question for herself or himself. At the end of His time on earth, Jesus said that He had completed the work His Father sent Him to do. If you consider that *your* children are also God's children, the *first* thing which must be discerned ... and I mean about *each* child, as an individual ... is: toward what purpose is your child *here*??? (In some respects, the best "hint" may be that your child was put with *you*!!!)

One of our daughters (Polly turned 17 yesterday!) is *passionate* about photography. In retrospect, it seems to me that there were *many* clues about this, early-on in her life. She has had a life-long desire to go to India (*why*, I don't know, but a desire that deep, in my view, can only come from God). By God's grace, circumstances have emerged which have provided the opportunity for her to go and live in India for a good part of a year. She will be traveling all over, and will of course be pursuing her photography there. (Aside: we're in the process of developing a web page ... it will be good to share some of her extraordinary photography with you!) Her *academic* interest in photography only emerged ... at least in such a way that we could all *see* it ... about three years ago ... she has since been studyng *very* hard with a master photographer/artist. And, more recently, she has been *avidly* studying Hindi with a wonderful woman from India who is, among other things, a superb poet. It is my experience that, if we discern a child's *calling* ... it becomes possible to educate *that*. Should Polly be studying calculus-based physics? I seriously doubt it, in the long term. Should she be practicing a musical instrument? Calculus-based physics and music are wonderful things, gifts to us from God. The study of such things can be part of a *wonderful* curriculum for *some* children. If a child is *called* to study such things, then of *course* ... as a parent ... one wants to do absolutely *everything* possible to support such studies. Our Lord *will* add all things necessary to our children which are required for the fulfillment of each child's purpose.

I have had the experience, with *each* of our five children, of walking into *their* "room" ... the domain of *their* calling ... and suggesting (to Polly, for instance) that they might want to study a particular thing, since it is valuable to what *they* are here to do. With such an approach, Polly has become quite interested in science, for example ... because it is "to do with" what *she* is passionate about. I am *not* saying to her, "Polly, please stop your photography and go over there and do some science." The latter approach is *always* going to be experienced as pedantic by a child who is not *called* to such a pursuit, as well it should be! Even a *brilliant* teacher will seem dull and uninteresting to a child who has a calling outside that teacher's domain ... unless, of course, that teacher takes the time to show why her or his discipline is vital to *that* individual child's domain! I sometimes imagine what it would have been like for Jesus to attend one of our "standard" public schools ... "I *know*, sweetie, your father wants you to attend to some things for him, miracles and salvation and all, and you can *do* that ... but *after* you do the math worksheets!" [Of course, in the public schools, it would be "inappropriate" for the teacher to speak in capital letters for "Father," "Him," or "You" ... and I suppose "Sweetie" should be added to the list, in this case! :-)] (A personal aside: as I was "proofreading" this, I suddenly imagined what it would have been like to hold Jesus when he was a tiny baby, just to rock Him back and forth, and maybe to use a word like "Sweetheart" in speaking to Him ... the thought arrived suddenly, and it was so moving that I literally started to cry ... how similar that moment was to the experience of holding our own infants in our arms ... what a treasure our Father has provided us in allowing us to be parents!)

You have to watch for what *totally* "lights your child up" ... as opposed to what merely "interests" your child, since the latter can be just about *anything* with us humans ... :-) ... what domain, and what "subject matter," engages the very fibers of each of our children's souls??? It seems to me that the *first* job of the home schooling parent is to watch for a *light* going on in our children's eyes. (I've written about this in more detail, in a piece I first posted about four years ago .... it's called "HOME*schooling and Your Child's PURPOSE.")

As a parent, you can totally trust our Lord to not only lead you to discern your child's calling, but also to lead you to each next thing which will be most *forwarding*, in the "curricular" sense, of that calling. Frankly, I would be *far* more trusting of a parent who went into a bookstore blindfolded and *prayed* for guidance about what to teach her child, or his child, instead of purchasing a traditional scope and sequence. :-) Of course, it is certainly possible that our Lord will actually *move* you to take a "standard" approach for some period of time, and I *totally* respect that when it happens. Similarly, I *totally* respect it when our Lord moves us to put our children (or perhaps one of them) into a public or private school, or etc. We home school our oldest daughter, and felt moved to have her attend the public schools as part of her "home schooling homework" ... she's now close to graduation at a public university. Polly's homework also included attendance, until she was twelve, at public schools, after which time we moved into the current approach, mentioned above. As to our oldest son, whose family we met on the internet (he came to live with us from Azerbaijan, the predominantly-Muslim former Soviet Republic, now independent, which is on the other side of the world) ... we home school him, also, of course ... we were first moved to have him attend a public school, and he's about to graduate from a private Christian high school ... he has, btw, become a Christian in the process, praise God. Our two youngest sons have been "home" schooled in a way which has not required participation with either the primary or secondary levels of the public schools ... each is an extraordinary musician, and *all* their major teachers ... and by that I mean those teachers who have been their leaders in the domain of their calling ... in addition to Jean and myself, of course ... have been at university since each of the boys turned six years old.
[As you will perhaps have gathered, we define "home" in the phrase "home schooling" as a reference to two things: first, "home" as God's *purpose* for each child; and, second, to locate in our *home* (and in us as parents) the *primary* *responsibility* for each child's education. To us, "home schooling" has *nothing* to do with "where" education occurs ... the "where" portions, as well as certain aspects of the "what" portions, can be *delegated* by us to teachers who we hold accountable for teaching in a manner profoundly consistent with the *spiritual* guidance which it is our responsibility ... and privilege (!) ... to provide.]

J, I suggest (again, respectfully) that the *only* *serious* alternative to "chaos" on the curricular side is to follow our Lord's leading with regard to *each* of our children. You mentioned that the "chaos" notion makes you crazy.
Think about it ... the "standard" curricular approaches have been making people crazy for *years*!!! That's why so many children, for example, need to be drugged into submission to that horrendous, ungodly system. Their very spirits call them elsewhere, but "conformity" is valued, not paying attention to God's purpose for each child!

Over time, it has been my observation that a great many home schoolers *begin* by attempting to somehow emulate the government school system, out of a quite strong and irrational fear that they will otherwise risk "failing" their children. As time passes, though, and we begin to notice how quickly and *deeply* our children learn when they are allowed the space to pursue what shows up as truly and profoundly *vital* in their respective universes, we begin to *lead* with what's vital, and allow other things to "fall into place" in an *organic* way, instead of a *forced* way. It is no accident that our schools have developed around the notion that children should serve a curriculum. Our "system" was adopted, in large measure, from a Prussian model which wanted good little tykes who would obediently follow "leadership" in life. (That reference is, of course, to *human* leadership, not our *Lord's* leadership!) The industrial age generated similar preferences, for workers who would, as a primary principle in life, follow "leadership." In fact, a curriculum should serve a *child*, not the reverse, and *only* toward the purpose of that child serving God and man, per the first instruction to us humans in Scripture! J, I hope you will come to trust yourself on a deeper and deeper level as the parent of your children. Inside you, you *know* what each of your children is called to do, and what *you* are called to do on their behalf in raising them up ... which, of course, includes the making of *wonderful* choices about their education!

Ask yourself: when your children are old, how will they look back on you? Will they see you as someone who did everything in his power (and *His* power!) to discern their calling, pursuant to the most deeply extraordinary and satisfying life they could *possibly* have had here? Or will they see you as the pedant who enforced upon them study of things which were nothing to do with their respective souls? I know that, at first glance, it may seem to ask a great deal of you to pursue the former, which will require you to swim against the prevailing tides ... but the tides are changing, and our Lord will see you though it. And, of course, as your Brothers and Sisters, we will also do everything *we* can to support you in a manner consistent with our Lord's purpose for your children ... and for *you*!

You'll have to learn to trust yourself more and more as the process unfolds, but that will of course be a function of your increasing trust in *Him* ... He *will* lead you, and *not* into chaos! Of course, in whatever measure you feel "you" must be "in control" ... which is, after all, something our government schools have tried *hard* to inculcate into American males ... with *devastating* results ... you'll have to "give it up." If you *truly* value "being in control" (from a "human" point of view), you will find that your life is *about* *resisting* being "out of control" ... and you're no doubt aware of sayings like "you get what you resist" (or, to say it in a more Scriptural fashion, you reap what you sow). There are people here ... Joi, as one excellent example ... who really do *know* about the experience of having our Lord be the *Pilot* in our lives. It will serve you well to *listen* to such people! But first things first ... listen to our Lord, spend *lots* of time in Scripture and in prayer with regard to the "curriculum" for each of your children. That'll get you a *lot* farther than spending lots of time with somebody's good ideas about "scopes and sequences" as such things apply to "children generally" ... :-)

With our family's love to you and yours,

John