Character Education:
Goals for Your Home Schooling Child

There is a lot of talk these days about character education -- how we can develop integrity, responsibility, compassion and other virtues in our children. Just how do we help our children grow in character, anyway?

With home schooling, we have a chance to include character education in all sorts of ways in our home schooling. Some people use a book on character traits they want to see their child grow in and use it as a morning devotion over breakfast. That’s one thing we do. Other people use books, either as examples of morality or as conversation starters, and talk about the ethics involved in situations in the book. Still others simply talk about issues as they come up.

Regardless of what approach you take to character education in your home schooling family, thinking through what some of the goals are you have for your child’s character education will be a huge help to you. You see, the more you know where you are going, and how you’d like to get there, the better fit you can make with any home schooling curriculum you’ll use to get you there.

I'm going to list below a few examples that we can use to think through together. Many times, an answer won’t specifically point to a certain home school curriculum, because you can often adapt materials to how you want to use them. I have, however, included suggestions when it seemed appropriate. And, naturally, there are many different goals I haven't included here that you may have for your own family.

1. Becoming an independent learner...
   • is a goal I have for my children as they mature, but for now I enjoy learning with them.
   • is a goal I want for my children sooner rather than later. I think that one of the most effective ways of learning is through self-teaching, so I want to encourage my children to do this from an early age. (Check out Robinson Curriculum)
   • is more important in some areas than others. I want to guide and disciple my children in areas where my guidance can help them make better sense of their faith as it applies to life. Other than that, I want to encourage them to learn how to learn.

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2. Maturity and self-discipline...
   • come through working hard over time in academic areas. Thus I am willing to make academics an area that I am willing to do battle over because I believe children can learn self-discipline, perseverance, time management and many other character qualities through the habits made through their studies. In learning these skills through academics, kids gain a sense of accomplishment in what they have done and recognize that they are capable people. I believe the virtues and feelings of self-worth they gain from their academic studies will extend beyond what the actual subject is to influence many other areas of their lives. (You may want to look into a Classical home schooling curriculum like Tapestry of Grace .)

   • come through spending time with the parents doing real-life activities and through everyday situations such as chores and serving others. I would rather use situations and responsibilities that have natural consequences (such as chores) to teach my children diligence, perseverance, time-management and other virtues. I still value academics highly, but I believe that children who have developed the habits of obedience and responsibility can learn the academic material much easier and more quickly. Chores, not academics, are the means for developing my children’s character.

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3. Excellence...
   • is to be strived for in all areas as a means to glorify God with our minds and abilities.
   • may not look like what others with different values may think of as excellence.
   • is a process.

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4. Academic progress...
   • comes through the discipline developed through daily habits. Greater understanding comes after a foundation is built of skills and basic knowledge. (This approach is often found in Classical home school curriculums like Veritas Press Classical Home School Curriculum or Tapestry of Grace .)
   • comes in starts and spurts. While my child plays, reads or explores certain subjects, deeper understanding is percolating below the surface, ready to surface in unpredictable times.
   • can’t be measured, so why try, especially if it causes stress?

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5. Yearly testing...
   • is a good thing to help me track how my kids are doing and what weak areas I might need to help them with.
   • is an arbitrary assessment of what some people think is important to have memorized, rather than an accurate test of what has been learned. I want to avoid such external pressure and structure.

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6. Love of learning...
   • develops when a child realized he is capable of learning on his own. (See self-teaching home school curriculum options like Robinson Curriculum.)
   • thrives when a child is allowed to pursue his own interests.
   • flourishes when stories a child reads touches his heart and changes him.
   • grows as he sees the connection between what he’s learning to other things he has studied and to his own life.

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7. Compassion...
   • is a quality we want to promote in our family. We want to give our child a chance to serve practically and to learn about others through his curriculum, so he can understand people in the world unlike us.
   • is a very important character quality we want to promote in our family. While we encourage our child to serve others, it isn’t necessary to include books about it.

There are lots more character qualities that you will probably want to include in any kind of formal or informal character education portion of your home school. And there are probably lots of different home school curriculum that could be listed under each of these categories. I listed above just a few categories to get you started thinking about what sort of character goals you want to see your child develop, and different opinions about how to include these areas in your home schooling.

Personally, I think it is more important that you ask yourself these questions than that you answer them in some certain way. For instance, if you realize that, deep down inside, you really feel like academic progress comes in fits and starts rather than in a steady upward progression, you won’t be stressed if your child doesn’t seem like he is making headway on his math. You may not see his seeming inability to learn his times tables as less an issue to deal with for character education, and more an issue of maturity and interest.

Or, for another example, if you realize that you really would like the objective evaluation that yearly testing can provide, you will know you will want some kind of home school curriculum or materials that can fill that need. Character education through academic discipline is certainly an option many people have come to believe in.

Thinking through these issues ahead of time will give you a huge advantage as you think through what home school curriculum you will need or what kind of attitude you really want to take in thinking about developing character in your child.

To read more about how one home school curriculum provider approaches character education, see Reasons NOT to Buy From Sonlight. On that page, in number 19 of their reasons, they elaborate about their approach to character education. I think it is great that they articulate it so well that you can decide right away if it is a good match for you.

I hope these questions have been helpful for you to think through for your home schooling. As home educators we have a chance day-in-and-day-out to have a daily lesson in character education. I hope this page has been helpful for you in thinking though what character education looks like for your family. Please feel free to send me your comments through our Contact Us form.

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