We know that recently there has been a great increase in interest in home schooling. During the Covid-19 pandemic, parents were forced to supervise their children’s schoolwork at home for long periods. The silver lining in the pandemic cloud was that parents became aware of exactly what their children were being taught. No doubt many parents suddenly realized that home schooling might be more possible than they had previously imagined. In 2021 Zondervan Books published a book called The 4-Hour School Day—How You and Your Kids Can Thrive in the Homeschool Life.  The book was written by Durenda Wilson, a mother with 25 years of homeschooling experience, who home schooled all eight of her children. Durenda gives other reasons for concern over public schools—​too many children in each classroom, bullies, a deficit of respect and discipline, drug use, and an increase in suicide. The “socialization” opportunities provided in public schools may have more negative effects than positive. She passes on a very sobering thought: God has entrusted you with the care of your children. When you send them off to school, you are responsible for the kind of influence the school has on your children.

The author acknowledges that one of the biggest impediments to home schooling is fear. She explains early on why parents may actually be much better qualified than any teacher in a traditional school. No one other than parents knows their children inside out and has as much invested in them. One of the encouragements she gives for teaching at home is that although it was necessary to sit down with the children while they learned to read and write, after that phase they just knew how many pages to complete in each workbook. She was just available to help, when needed.  She states that math is the most feared subject for teaching at home. But she says that there are not many new concepts added each year and that there are lots of good math programs to make teaching it easier.

Durenda provides some examples of parents who managed to home school despite seemingly insurmountable circumstances. She cites the story of a woman named Kelli, who found herself divorced yet not wanting to give up on homeschooling. Kelli decided to care for three outside children in order to support her own children, and she acquired curriculum by borrowing it or by purchasing used curriculum.

Durenda also explains why homeschooling is really a great deal more efficient than learning in a classroom and can save a lot of time. Though not the case with all of her children, her son Jake was able to start college at age 16. She believes that in today’s school system there are many gifted teachers who have been a blessing, but the system in which they are working creates some need for concern. On page 29 she writes: “For example, if we consider the logistics of a traditional classroom, how much learning time actually happens in a classroom of twenty-five to thirty kids on any given day? I can imagine that only a fraction of the time might be spent learning and a much larger portion of the time dealing with crowd control and interruptions.” She tells of a brief experience with enrolling one of their children in nursery school. She suddenly realized that learning could not progress any faster than the actions of the worst-behaved child in the class would permit.

This is not just a book of cold, hard facts and unsubstantiated tips. Its pages are filled with conversational style conveying personal experience stories. She tells how her second son, Ben, was a delayed reader. Since they allowed him to focus on his passion for history, he turned out to be their most passionate reader. They did not pressure him to go to college, and she tells of the job he loves that has afforded him opportunity to learn all kinds of new skills. Another son, Silas, required open heart surgery when he was three days old. He needs to learn at a slower pace, so he would not have done nearly so well in a traditional school.

The  author gives the three most important ingredients for good education, and she states that home schooling is better at providing those ingredients:

• Low ratio of students to teachers
• Quality curriculum
• Methods of teaching and learning that suit the child

She also provides some interesting statistics. One is that homeschoolers have higher test scores “regardless of household income or their parents’ level of education.” I thought that was pretty amazing evidence for the value of homeschooling.

It seems like a theme of this book is having as relaxed a schedule as possible and doing things in a way that works for your family. It gives a great deal of practical examples of how Durenda managed homeschooling while parenting a variety of ages. She goes through each age level and gives suggestions for how to teach successfully in that age bracket. One thing Durenda did with her children in high school sounded like a great idea to me. If her high schooler showed an interest in a certain occupation, she let them job shadow, in order to avoid investing in a mistake. Luke thought he wanted to be a physical therapist. After one day of shadowing a physical therapist on the job, he realized it was more about paperwork than interaction with patients. I wish I had been given the opportunity to job shadow in high school. She also pointed out the fact that our brains are not fully developed until age 25, so we may need more time to choose a specific long-term occupation.

Another theme of the book seems to be balance. Home schooling isn’t just about book learning. It’s about preparing for life and teaching your kids to live with faith, listen for God’s voice, and learn Biblical principles. She states more than once that the education should revolve around family life, rather than family life revolving education. Many things were learned in the midst of activities done together. She always wanted schoolwork to be enjoyable, not something to be dreaded. Home schooling afforded Durenda time to talk to her children about faith, culture, Biblical truths, and where God was leading her.

Durenda brings up the fact that boys and girls learn differently. She feels that traditional schools have short-changed the boys. They need more breaks, more physical activity, and less wordy instructions. She believes we should appreciate the way God created boys, instead of expecting them to learn in the same style as most girls.

Durenda and her husband lived in the country. She felt it was very conducive to homeschooling. But she says you don’t need the perfect scenario to home school. God will work through whatever circumstances you have. When you are overwhelmed, ask God for wisdom in your priorities. You can’t meet every child’s need at every moment, but that will help them learn patience.

Some parents get negative reactions when deciding to homeschool. Support from other homeschool parents is important. Durenda provides questions to ask yourself when you are considering a co-op or a parent partnership program. At one point in Durenda’s life, just one godly friend in similar circumstance was a great blessing and enriched her life.

In the final passages of the book, Durenda warns that we should not be surprised if we send our children to secular schools and they drop out of church as young adults. She feels that one of the best ways to affect our culture is to raise kids who love God and their neighbors. She suggests that we must slow down and listen for God’s voice. She assures readers that when they see their grandchildren loving and serving God, they will be glad they modeled a life of faith. This book is 214 pages. I believe its pages would help anyone considering homeschooling feel much more prepared. If you or someone you know is considering it, I think this book would be very helpful.