When our family began homeschooling 12 years ago, I knew as a very creative person that creativity would make its way into our lessons. Little did I know it would one day rule our homeschool experience.

When we began all those years ago, I started out very worried about doing a good job, since my five childrens' future was clearly in my hands. I went about gathering all the things you expect to use to homeschool: full sets of traditional homeschooling curriculum, mounds of workbooks for every subject, hoards of companion readers and every kind of recommended learning tool, like math manipulatives and science sets. I felt prepared, yet very nervous. Everything went well; but after a while I became quite bored and saw the kids were headed there, too. It was dry and boring. Contrary to my expectations, we were not having much fun learning outside of the classroom. We had forgotten who we were, and were doing what was expected of us: we had left out creativity.

This new revelation set off the dumping of most traditional learning tools. We began making our learning about hands-on experiences and seeking out creative ways to accomplish learning. Our new mindset freed our school times and brought a lot of fun into our classroom. It has also encouraged four of the five children to seek futures in the creative arts. Jordan, 20, is working on a degree in graphic arts. Rachel, 17, is my partner in StephanaDesigns and designed and produced all the bags currently in our shop. Rachel also hopes to attend Savannah College of Art and Design and major in design. Marissa, 15, is a budding photographer, and we keep encouraging her to set up shop on Etsy as well, but she is not quite ready yet. Joshua is 10 and is desperate to learn Japanese so he can move to Japan and be a video game designer. He has already designed one game and manages an online forum for it as well.

I can say without a doubt that my kids are better people because of living a creative life. Encouraging a child’s creativity is as important as learning math or other lessons. While home educating is not for all families, encouraging creativity in your home can be done on weekends and school breaks. Exposure is the key: at an early age, provide art materials beyond crayons and paper. Infuse their minds with music, theater and galleries. Some of our greatest learning times have been in museums and art supply stores. Let them touch things and spend time on art and photography. We provide them with the tools to explore: cameras, high quality art supplies, books on art, fabrics, sewing tools — the tools they might want to create with are just as important to our classroom as books, pens and other traditional supplies.

People unfamiliar with homeschooling always ask about socialization. We got creative on that front, too. When we invite other homeschool friends over, their visits were full of creative projects and play. Many play dates where spent dressing up in vintage clothing and having photo shoots and tea parties for the girls as well as playing out history for the boys (girls like this too!). Art and photography, along with creating costumes, has always played a role in our times with friends.

In our opinion, teaching in a creative way sets up kids to not only appreciate a creative life, but also encourages further development of careers in the arts.  Encourage creativity!
 
For resources on homeschooling check out these websites:
The Charlotte Mason method has been a huge resource for us.
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/methods/CharlotteMason.htm
 
Unschooling:
http://www.unschooling.com/library/index.shtml
 
http://www.unschooling.org/
 
http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/earl_stevens.html
 
Art for Homeschools:
http://school.familyeducation.com/home-schooling/visual-arts/38701.html
 
http://www.artisticpursuits.com/
 
http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/finearts/a/freeartnews.htm
 
Etsy is a great place for creative homeschoolers to sell their creations.
There are a great many homeschooling families selling on Etsy…here are a few…
 
StephanaDesigns
Sadielouwho
Superfay
Catswilleatyou
Blestbeads
Greenmamba
Bamabelle
Treasurefield
SoCaligirl

See StephanaDesign's slideshow.