God schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn

by Julie Polanco

The most frequently asked question on home school forums is, “How do I do this?” and the number one complaint is, “David won’t do (fill in the blank). How can I get him to do it?” God Schooling answers these questions and more. Parents gain the insight and confidence to teach their own children as they learn from experts, Biblical references, and the author’s own experiences from nearly fifteen years of homeschooling.

Genres: Nonfiction

212 pages, Paperback

Published September 4, 2018

About the author

Julie Polanco writes for healthcare trade journals and parenting magazines in addition to her own books and short stories.

When she isn't dreaming up new stories to write, studying the latest healthcare trends, or digging into Bible truth, you might find her sipping Thai iced tea. Or, getting lost in the woods.

Sign up at her website, www.julienaturally.com, to get the first chapter of "God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn" and other goodies each month.

Reviews

[Jessica Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

While reading God Schooling-How God Intended Children to Learn, I had many ah ha moments. The first ah ha moment was when the author, Julie Polanco explains about how children need intrinsic motivation instead of external reward systems. My two daughters attended public school for the first few years, then a private school, until I broke my leg and could not work for 6 months, so we decided to try homeschooling. I went ahead and ordered online classes and a full package curriculum, and things were not going all that well for us. What this book showed me was that children need to be motivated to learn, and when they are motivated to learn something, they will go out of their way to learn it. Then it hit me. I knew nothing about homeschooling. I knew nothing about unschooling, but here I was, trying to learn about it through blogs, books, etc. I had a reason to learn, so I could teach my children and make it better for them instead of them giving me fights about "doing school" everyday. So if my kids have a reason, they will excel in their learning and research as well. Out of all the blogs and websites I have visited, this book really brought everything together for me in how I should approach homeschool with my kids. The author points out how kids should have a say in what they learn, and then they will be more motivated to learn. I really liked how the author used her own experiences to show readers how homeschool/unschooling looked for her family as her own children grew up, from young children all the way through teens/high school. She gave her kids code names for safety, which I must admit confused me at times to keep the code names straight to remember which kid she was referring to since the names were Tiger, Hawk, Butterfly, and Mouse. I figured it out though by marking the first page where she lists the "oldest daughter" as Tiger, and so on.
I liked how the author made a section for organization and planning. She points out that even though you may not be using a traditional school approach, or traditional school books or curriculum, you should still have a plan and organization in place. Having blocks of time labeled for specific tasks and subjects can help. I'm glad she included this section in the book because that was an area that was also confusing to me as a new homeschooler.
Another ah ha for me with this book is that the author points out that our plan may be different from what God has planned for us and for our children. We need to listen to Him and trust in Him.
I received this book from the author. I did not receive any compensation for this review and I was not required to leave a review. I wanted to review this book to let other homeschooling families know about this wonderful book and how it might be able to help them in their journey and let God lead the way for their homeschool.
Jessica D. Adams, Author

[April G · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wonderful regardless of it your new to homeschooling or not. It really feels like your listening to a dear friend tell you all she's learned and what's worked for her family and why. It could be a great deal of encouragement for someone struggling or wonderful wisdom for parents with children at any age. I really enjoyed reading about high school
& beyond. This book is biblical and a must read for any homeschool parent.

[Sarah Behan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

So challenging, encouraging, and life-changing. Very thankful for this book. People wonder if Christians can unschool, and this book so clearly shows that yes, children have the freedom in Christ to learn naturally and at their own pace.

[Destiny · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

Now, 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 points that 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 and 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.

[Jessica Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is challenging to those of us who were public schooled or traditionally schooled. I thoroughly enjoyed Julie’s story. The information on stages of development were fantastic and so intriguing and helpful to know. I enjoyed hearing about how this played out in her own family’s life and it is inspiring to see her faithfully follow her convictions in how to educate her children. It all makes so much sense, but some aspects are much more challenging to consider than others when we are so conditioned to think school and learning means checking boxes, ticking off curriculum, etc…. Thank you for writing this, Julie. Education is so much bigger than what I’ve thought it was and this has been convicting, inspiring and challenging to me. You certainly have impacted how I am thinking of education for our four boys and have given me more confidence in training them for the Lord and to be wise in the right things, the others absolutely will follow when they’re ready. The application and how to info was great as well. This way of learning and educating of course is not one size fits all, no method will be. It’s absolutely worth reading and soaking the material in and deciding how to use it (or perhaps it’s not quite your fit), for your own family.

[Kira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads First Read

I am not Christian or highly religious but I liked the premise behind this book. I was almost two years younger then my peers growing up but education came very easily to me and I was bored most my academic career. When I got to college I struggled a bit because I did not some basic things like how to study or work with teams (I was in a lot of accelerated course and due to the lack of accelerated students group work hardly ever occurred and I had to rely solely on myself). Knowing all this about my own education I do not want my kids to be faced with the same problems. This book brought up many ideas for educating children that do not involve standardized testing and school methods that I can apply with my children. I probably will not have the ability to just home school my children but I can help them during the times I am around to learn in different ways.

[Megan Childres · Rating 5 out of 5]

so much good info!

I absolutely loved this book! I learned so much from it and can’t wait to start implementing some of her tips