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                                                    A Homeschooling Grandmother's Testimony

Originally Published in Homeschooling Today's e-magazine

by Gail Busby

In 1976, when we began to homeschool our two children, I never would have thought that in 1997 I would be homeschooling our grandson. The family, the workplace, and homeschooling are very different now than they were then.

When we started homeschooling in Dallas, Texas, it was not the safe place to homeschool that it is today, so we moved into the country. My husband was a pastor of a Dallas church, and we still had to drive the 80 miles back and forth. The sacrifice was worth whatever arrangements we had to make.

It was during this time that I took two reading workshops from Romalda Spalding, author of The Writing Road to Reading. When homeschool parents in our area learned that I had that training, they would call to ask me to teach them. This evolved into teaching an entire class at a time. In 1985, we moved to southern California, and over the years, my son and daughter tutored reading and our family started a homeschool choir.

When we moved to northern California in 1990, I continued to teach my children as well as others. While there, I was a homeschool coordinator for a homeschool extended campus program. We completed our own children’s home studies in 1993, and they both attended college and eventually married.

Was I done with homeschooling? No, I continued to teach classes in my home. A mom would tell me that her children needed a geography or history class the following year and would ask me to teach it. So, most of my classes were multi-level with siblings in the class.

When my daughter found herself a single mom and had to go to work, it was the most logical thing for me to teach our grandson. We started a class for three-year-olds and their moms, beginning with Bible, reading, and math.

I had dealt with multiple issues with my son, who had mild dyslexic problems. Since I taught in public school for a number of years, I knew that the school would have put him into a special education class. He had difficulty writing with a pencil, but he was reading at age three.

My grandson, who is seven years old now, reminds me of the struggles we had when my son was home. He is very active and has to work on paying attention. If he were in school, he would probably bear the label of an ADD child. However, by working with him at home, we have seen success without that stigma attached to him. He is learning to pay attention, and he is above grade level in his work.

As I age, it gets harder to teach. I do not have as much energy as I once did, and it is harder to be as consistent as I want to be. When I think ahead, I can feel intimidated. Can I handle a teen boy? Then I remind myself that the Lord gave me this mission to teach my grandson. That thought keeps me going, even when I want to slow down. It is my job “as unto the Lord.” He is there for me and for my grandson, now and in the future.

I have met many grandparents and even some great-grandparents at homeschool conventions who are planning to homeschool their grandchildren. Some are excited about it, but others are needlessly apprehensive. There is so much material and many good resources available. A grandparent can make use of all the things that are available now that were not even written when I began home teaching my own children. There is help and encouragement from local, state, and national organizations and others who have experience in homeschooling.

I would encourage grandparents, given the opportunity, to homeschool their grandchildren. They are our heritage and our future. What a wonderful opportunity to pass down a rich Christian family heritage by providing God-honoring training for your grandchildren. The legacy of this mission to teach them, when their own parents can’t do so, will continue long after they have finished their studies with you.

Gail Busby has a degree in elementary education from Texas Women's University. She has over 30 years of public, private, and homeschool teaching experience. Co-author of Latin in the Christian Trivium, Gail presently teaches homeschool support classes in Latin, math, composition, and history and, of course, teaches her grandson Joseph. Gail's husband Doug is a pastor in Redding, California.