What do Longbowmen have to do with Homeschooling?
I’ve heard it said that it takes four generations to create a longbowman. The explanation was that because it takes so much skill and physical ability to become a truly great longbowman, you spend years learning from your father, your grandfather, and your great grandfather before you truly master the skill.
I don’t know if this is true or not. But the logic behind this theory makes sense.
At the very least, the idea that standing on your parents’ and your grandparents’ shoulders to give yourself a boost in life is absolutely true!
Hi! I’m Charlene from Hess Un-Academy and I’m excited to share with you our family’s take on Lifeschooling!
Standing on the Shoulders of Those Who Came Before Us
I’m sure you’re familiar with people who are proud to be the “first” in their families. First to graduate high school. First to graduate from college. And so on.
These people and these families are following this same philosophy. Standing on the shoulders of those who came before us allows us to, in a way, pick up where they left off. And our lives will be all the better for it.
Additionally, our children get to stand upon our shoulders and learn from our knowledge and experiences. They get to jump off and go farther than we ever could have dreamed possible!
Where are You in Your Family’s Homeschooling “Longbowmanship” Journey?
Are you a first-generation? The first one to graduate high school, or the first one to graduate college? The first one to open your own business? The first one to find the truth about God and His love for you?
Whether you are a “first” in your family, or a “third” or a “fourth” it is imperative that you become more than the generation before you, and that you set up your children to be more than you will be.
This is why we homeschool. To give our kids the best shot at being a longbowman.
You may or may not be familiar with some of our other posts (such as this one and this one). On our blog, we talk a lot about how we measure success. We measure our success level by how much we have given to the world around us.
We measure our success level by how much we have given to the world around us. Tweet This!
Encourage them to dream big.
Interestingly Enough the Very Act of Giving Creates a Flip-Coin Effect of Getting.
For Example:
If we give the world curiosity then the world gives us back knowledge. If we give the world amazement then the world gives us entertainment. If we give the world wonder then the world gives us understanding. So being open to getting is as important as giving, as they are two sides of the same coin.
We encourage our kids to dream big and to think nothing is impossible. They know that they are an important part of a bigger-than-just-them life. This eliminates pointless questions such as, “Can this be done?” and, “Is this too big for me to accomplish?“
Instead, the kids are asking questions like,
- “How can it be done?”
- “What sciences do I need to learn to make this happen?”
- “Who do I need to communicate with to get the information or skills I need?”
- “Why has nobody utilized this technology to create a better world?”
- Etc., etc., etc.
Are their heads in the clouds? Absolutely! They are standing on the shoulders of previous generations! The clouds are exactly where we want their heads to be!
So how do we encourage our kids to think in this way? How do we school the way we do?
It’s simple, really!
Child Entrepreneurs
In order to Graduate from Hess Un-Academy, You Must Run a Successful Business.
The type of business or service or product is totally up to each individual child. We want our kids to figure out what they want to give to the world and then give it in such abundance that the world will give back to them.
We talk about this goal with our kids often, and they understand the value of starting their own businesses.
Because they are already planning on starting their own business, now knowing what and how to teach our children is the easy part!
Our kids understand that they need to know how to read so they can research and learn about their future business concepts. They understand they are going to need to know certain math skills for accounting and budgeting.
We have one kid who loves screens. He is looking at going into computers. Now that he is good at reading and basic math, he is ready to start taking some coding classes and see where his love of screens takes him.
He is already working on projects and ideas that he can build to better the world.
One of our daughters is crazy about horses and has been her whole life. She is probably going to open a business that has something to do with horses.
She has finally mastered reading and is now working on mastering basic math. At that point, we will start branching out of what I can teach her personally and start looking at what the community (online and offline) can teach her about life working with horses.
In addition to reading, math, and their specific specialized skills, we teach our children other things they will need to know in order to run a successful business.
Things like:
- Geography and World Cultures – the better to understand their target customers and how to serve and market to them.
- Writing and Typing – communication with customers and suppliers is a must for any successful business!
- Leadership and Interpersonal Skills – the best business owners have some pretty killer interpersonal skills!
- Science and History – understanding the world around you helps you to understand how best to create a business that can truly improve peoples’ lives.
Our children often come to us and ask if they can do more schooling than we have assigned for the day.
Why?
They are not Learning to KNOW more – They are Learning to BE more.
Our kids want those big dreams and ideas to come true, and by golly, if they have to read a book to do it, then that book is going to be read!
I never wonder if my children are going to make positive impacts in the communities they live in because if they come across a problem, those magical questions start kicking in.
- “How can we fix this?”
- “What is causing this problem? Can it be avoided?”
- “What can I do to make this right?”
- “What do I need to learn to create a solution?”
We want to give our kids success skills early on in their lives, along with lots of opportunities to fail and learn and fail and learn – over and over again.
The problems of the world all have solutions, but we must allow our children to stand on our shoulders and see just a bit further down the line.
That way, when they come across new challenges that we never even dreamed of, they will overcome and be the best that the world has to offer.
Dream Boards and the Importance of Dreaming
Ask any successful businessperson (or any successful anybody) and they will tell you they could not have gotten to where they are without a clear vision of the future and where they wanted to be. Teaching kids how to dream while they are young will go a long way in setting them up for success in their lives.
There are lots of ways to dream and lots of ways to compile and envision those dreams. But our family’s favorite way is through vision boards or dream boards.
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3 Comments
Thanks for the article and the ebook on how to make a dream board for my kids. It will help us get moving in the right direction.
You’re so welcome! I hope you enjoy it!
Besides the Bible, we love to read various Christian based magazines. Kids love Focus on the Family Club magazine.