The Road that Led To Homeschool: Part 3

                                                                       Photo Credit

They say confession is good for the soul.  Well my soul will be experiencing lots of goodness in this blogpost!  And hopefully you won't think worse of me by the time it's all through...

Like I told you, after being practically anti-homeschool for the better part of my life, I slowly and reluctantly came to recognize that homeschooling could be a good thing and that public school rarely is.  But realizing that did not mean I was ready to consider homeschooling my own children!

There were several excuses I would throw out on those rare occasions when the subject of homeschooling came up and, to some extent, I suppose there was validity to each of them..  But it's time to be honest!  All those excuses were just a cover-up for the real reason why I had no intention of homeschooling.

I always insisted I didn't have the patience for it.  I was concerned about the day my children reached higher math.  I feared I couldn't possibly cover everything I needed to cover and do so with multiple children, all at the same time.  They were all legitimate concerns.  Maybe. 

But the real reason, the underlying motive behind my decision, the one I was so careful to conceal with all my meticulously designed excuses was this:  I would never homeschool because...I just didn't want to.

That doesn't sound very profound, I realize, but stick with me here because that truth was the biggest obstacle to me homeschooling my children.  Once the complete unwillingness was overcome, it's amazing how my entire perspective of education and childrearing and even motherhood began to change.
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Now some of the things I'm about to say here sound ridiculous to me now.  I've had the time to do a lot of soul-searching and I think I'm seeing much more clearly the things that matter in life and the things that really don't.  And some of these things definitely don't!  But humbling as it is, I'm determined to share with you some of the messed-up thinking of my past, no matter how petty I sound in the process.   So here you go....

I didn't want to homeschool because...

1.  I wanted a clean house.  I am by no means a clean freak, but I honestly did look forward to the day I could ship all the kids off to school and clean and do laundry and decorate and have the cute, (and clean,) mazagine-cover-worthy little home I knew I could have if I really had the time to devote to it. 

2.  I wanted the freedom to come and go at will, (at least during the daytime.)  I wasn't looking for the chance to travel to distant, exotic locations;  I just wanted to be able to go to the grocery store on a whim!  I wanted the opportunity to run errands, do volunteer work, visit a friend, or check out the big sale at Dillards without having to drag four children along with me or go to the trouble of finding babysitters.

3.  I wanted to enjoy silence and solitude in my home, at least every once in a while!  I wanted more opportunities to think and pray and just be alone on occasion without the noise and chaos of having children in my company 24/7.

And this is the biggie:

4.  I wanted the time to pursue the dreams that my having children has left by the wayside.  Some people look forward to the day they can go back to school or have time for a beloved hobby or for pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors.  Well I had some things I wished to do as well and I was smart enough to see that homeschooling was going to be a significant time-vaccuum.  The only hope?   Get those kids out of the house so I could do the things I wanted to do!

So, truth be told, as much as I adored my children and as much I felt ready to give the world for each of them, I also viewed them as a considerable inconvenience.

Ouch.  There goes my Mother of the Year nomination...

I never admitted my feelings to myself.  In fact, I'm not sure I even realized I thought that way!  But I don't believe that kind of thinking is unusual.  Sadly, it's all too common and I never realized I had fallen prey to a mindset of the world.  Society itself in subtle and not-so-subtle ways teaches us that children are a bother.  They disrupt our plans.  They try our patience.  They limit our abilities.  They can be like a ball and chain that weighs us down, hindering our success and robbing us of fulfillment.

Society teaches us we can't handle our children.  We can't manage them.  We can't deal with the stress they add to our lives and we certainly can't teach them!  So the best thing to do is send them off to school as early and often as possible.

But while society is teaching that attitude, the Bible teaches something very different.  Nowhere in scripture is there any indication that God hands out children without also providing parents everything they need to handle them, provided they tap into the supply of grace so readily available to them.  He said His grace is sufficient, did He not?  And nowhere does scripture indicate parents are incapable of teaching their children either.  In fact, we are commanded to do it!  This passage from Deuteronomy is the homeschooling mantra, but only because its message is so powerful.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 

--Deuteronomy 6: 4-7

I am not commanded in scripture to have a spotless home.  I'm not instructed to allot myself plenty of "me time" or to pursue my every dream or even to volunteer my services to worthy causes.  And while there's nothing inherently wrong with any of those things, it is wrong to focus on them while also ignoring what the Bible plainly tells me; that I am to teach my children.  Now granted, that scripture speaks of teaching children spiritual truth and not necessarily math and English, but, unfortunately, when kids spend such a huge portion of their time outside of the home at school or elsewhere or sleeping, there just isn't a lot of time leftover for imparting spiritual truth!  

Does that mean a person is disobeying scripture if they don't homeschool?  I don't think so, but I see how easy it can be to pursue other things and then shrug our God-ordered responsibility to teach our children off on the church or on the Christian school.  And while both of those can and should reinforce Christian values in our children, they can never and will never take the place of our teaching them.   

I have been blessed with four beautiful children whom I love with all my heart.  And while there are those days when it seems they'll be little forever, the days when they fight constantly and create one mess after another and wreak havoc on my plans, I also realize they will be gone from our home and out from under our protection in an incredibly short amount of time.  In the scope of time and eternity, the window of opportunity I have to influence them for good is terribly, frighteningly brief.  I had better make these years count!  I won't have a chance to repeat them.  

Now...I was determined I wouldn't draw this subject out to a Part 4, but I'm afraid it just can't be helped!  I haven't explained the things that helped conquer that unwilling, (and selfish,) attitude of mine when it came to homeschooling.

God has such a sense of humor, I think.  And it never ceases to amaze me the things He can do through our circumstances, even through our utter failures....

The Road that Led to Homeschool: Part 2

                                                                            Photo credit

My "homeschool epiphany," as I like to call it, didn't happen overnight.  I never saw an angel, I had no supernatural dreams, and I never heard the audible voice of God directing me to homeschool my children.  The process, (and notice I said process,) was a slow one.  Through time and careful research and diligent prayer and one interesting "happenstance" after another, my opinions evolved over time into what they are today.

You see, my less-than-favorable view of homeschooling goes way, way back.  Not many people were homeschooling when I was a kid in the 80s, but I knew a handful who did and, if I may be honest, they weren't exactly stellar examples of what homeschooling can be.  And, unfortunately, those first impressions were lasting impressions for me.  Even as a child I understood the importance of a good education and I just didn't see homeschooling providing that. 

I'll cut myself a little slack here because I was a child when I came to that conclusion, but, sadly, the anti-homeschooling mentality stayed with me for years to come. 

Add to it that I myself was a product of the public school system.  I went to public school K-12 and graduated with what I considered a very good education.  And I didn't sacrifice my Christian testimony in the process, either!  By the grace of God I lived my faith throughout my public school years and had many opportunities to be a light and a witness for Christ.  And in the years immediately following graduation, I clearly recall insisting that my own children, (who didn't exist yet,) would go to public school just as I had done.  There they could receive a fine education and have an opportunity to show the light of Christ to others. 

But my ideas and opinions have been turned upside-down since those days!  First of all, just because somebody I knew way-back-when gave their homeschool a lackluster effort does not mean homeschooling can't be done very, very well.  That's like saying some people are awful at basketball, therefore basketball is a rotten excuse for a sport!  That's silly, of course, but isn't it the same logic?  Even an unathletic, uncoordinated, out-of-shape person can learn to play a decent game of 3-on-3 or HORSE, provided he's willing to invest some time and effort into honing his skills.  Well with the proper investment of time and effort, it makes sense that even an uncertain, inexperienced, feeling-anything-but-qualified parent can hone their homeschooling skills until they're an adequate, if not exceptional teacher to their children!

And I know there are those of you thinking, "Okay.  Maybe it can be done well, but that doesn't mean it can be done well by me."  Save that thought.  I'll get to it eventually...

Once the bloom of high school graduation had fully faded and especially as I had children of my own, my view of those public school years began to change. I began to realize that the good education I received had far more to do with my own motivation to learn and my love of reading than it had to do with any of the public school methods.  And that's no insult to any of my teachers!  I had some very good teachers who did the best they could with the class sizes they were handed and the cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all education they were expected to provide.  My high school biology teacher taught me to love science for the first time in my life.  A math teacher somehow helped this number-despising gal grasp trigonometry so well I actually liked a math concept.  That was pretty amazing.  And I appreciate their contributions to my education.

But that said, it would be unjust not to also mention some of the very bad teachers I had in the course of my school years, like the angry 3rd grade teacher whose constant yelling left me terrified of her and constantly faking illness so I didn't have to go to school.  Then there was the 7th grade history teacher who always seemed lost in class and one day couldn't read a graph until I finally went up to her desk and explained it to her.  I can't forget the homosexual algebra teacher who only got frustrated when people didn't understand, so students stopped asking questions and learned to hate algebra and not do algebra.  There was also the 9th grade World Civ teacher who spent every class period telling us about the evils of political conservatives and the 12th grade English teacher who ignored English and taught moral relativism to the point we questioned if murder was really always wrong.  I could go on and on. 

But what about the issue of being a light for Christ in the public school?  Oh, how my mind has changed on that one, too!  Granted, by some miracle of grace I survived public school with my faith intact, but it was a dangerous gamble I refuse to take with my own children.  We all hope our kids will stand for Christ when put in a situation where they must choose, but to ship them off to school for hours every day in hopes they'll be salt and light might actually be more like throwing them to the lions and hoping for the best!  To expect a child or even a teenager to stand for Christ in circumstances that may be far beyond their spiritual grounding and maturity, especially when their faith comes under fire from adults placed in their authority, is an awful lot to expect. 

And even if that child manages to be a light for Christ, like it or not, at least some of their innocence will be sacrificed in the process. 

I was exposed to absolute filth at far too young an age in the public schools.  My parents could monitor the children who came to our home and limit the playtime we had with neighborhood kids, but they had no control over who sat behind me on the bus or who I met in the hallway at my school or who sat beside me in class.  Pornography regularly made its rounds on the school bus.  Bad language started in the elementary grades, but was rampant by middle school.  I would be embarrassed to share here some of the discussions that went on openly in class as early as 6th and 7th grade. 

I had to listen to classmates spew the details of the music they listened to and the movies they watched and was sometimes even expected to listen to it or watch it right in class by my own teacher.  We watched an R-rated movie in the 5th grade, one so gory I only made it about 2 minutes in before I asked the teacher if I could leave the class.  My classmates later informed me I missed full nudity as well.  I still remember those bloody images some 25+ years later. 

In middle and high school, particularly around holidays or testing periods, movies with horrible language, extreme violence, or graphic sexual content were allowed to play with no regard from a teacher busy grading papers or reorganizing their supplies.  Sometimes such movies were hand-picked for their "educational benefit" and shown to the class.  Looking back now, I don't even know why I never protested, except that it seemed pointless.  It was an ungodly place:  It didn't surprise me they were watching ungodly things.  And while it was offensive, it was also incredibly common and not much different from the trash I heard in the hallways or saw on the bus, so rather than make a scene, I would quietly ask to be excused from the room.  To their credit, I never had a teacher refuse me when I asked to opt out and go to the library for the class period, though I had friends who were not so fortunate at their particular schools.  

I've been out of school 18 years now.  No one can convince me its gotten better and most people will agree it's far worse.  And urban, suburban, or rural school district--it really doesn't seem to matter.  My husband graduated from one of the top school districts in the state of Texas, a rural district with top-notch schools and some of the best teachers in the state.  He insists his school was no different from mine.

But remembering all of this the way I do, seeing my own public school experience for what it really was, I don't want to put my child in that kind of environment when there is an alternative.  I can't speak for anyone else and I don't try to tell anyone else what to do, but I just can't.

So what is the alternative?  Christian school is the obvious choice, but Christian schools aren't cheap and for far too many people they just aren't a financially viable option.  And sometimes I feel many people are all-too-eager to enroll their children in Christian schools where the term "Christian" actually applies very loosely.  A school filled with delinquent public school outcasts cannot provide a good environment for Christian education, but neither can one filled with students and teachers who all claim Christianity, yet live lives that demonstrate absolutely no difference from the world.  Sometimes a school filled with blatant sinners can be less dangerous to a young mind than one filled with religious hypocrites who have all had an "experience with Christ," yet in no way has it affected the way they live their lives.

I know, I know.  I'm too wordy.  But you have no idea how much I've brooded over all these things.  My decision to homeschool is not one I've taken lightly.  And no, I'm still not done with the subject here.  Even when I had decided that homeschooling could be done effectively and that public school absolutely was not an option, I had yet to conquer my greatest objections to homeschooling my own children. 

And that's where the real epiphany began...

The Road that Led to Homeschool: Part 1

Kentucky Road, a photo by blackblue1992 on Flickr.

I love long drives in the country, but more than once I've started down a road and somewhere along the way realized it wasn't taking me in the direction I wanted to go. And without knowledge of any sideroads or shortcuts to get me back on track, there was nothing I could do but turn completely around and go in the opposite direction.

Sometimes we have to do the same in life. Sometimes we set out with certain ideas and opinions and in time we begin to see how off-track we've really been. We can continue in the way we were going and convince ourselves it'll work out in the end, but the only sensible thing to do is own up to our mistake and turn around. Eating crow like that is rarely fun, but it's not so bad. Right now I'm doing it gladly! Never in my life have I been so happy to be wrong!

I said I would never homeschool--ever--and I said it lots of times to lots of people. And funnier still--every time I said it, I meant it!

Yet here I am just a few short years later, homeschooling my children and every day growing only more passionate in my decision to educate my children at home.

It sounds melodramatic, maybe even corny to say it, but homeschooling has changed my life. Or maybe not. Maybe my life has changed and so I'm homeschooling. I'm not sure, but whatever has happened, I know that my ideas and my assumptions and my preconceived notions have been so turned upside-down in the past couple of years that sometimes I hardly recognize myself! In an amazingly short amount of time I've gone from being practically anti-homeschool to being one of the biggest homeschooling advocates I know. And for an opinionated, hard-headed, anything-but-wishy-washy gal like myself, that's a very big deal!

But before I hit you with all the reasons I now believe in the very education choice I once criticized, let me offer you my disclaimer. In nothing I say here am I trying to imply that I know what is best for anyone else. Every family is faced with different circumstances and unique challenges and every parent has to make the hard decisions about what educational choices will work best for themselves and for their children. I can't pretend to know what is best for yours.

Neither am I trying to tell anyone what they're capable of. God is the only true judge of a person's abilities, strengths, and weaknesses and He alone knows and understands the kinds of limitations put upon each of us by these things and by the circumstances of our lives.

But all of that said, I know from personal experience how easy it is to throw out a rigid, adamant "NO" to homeschooling without ever giving the issue the slightest real, true, serious consideration.

I know that because I did it! I had a list of reasons why I would never and could never homeschool and nothing you or anybody else said was ever going to change my mind! I couldn't do it. Period. And there was no sense talking about it further.

Honestly, God must've laughed at me. And then the future of our church's small Christian school began to look uncertain and private schools in the area were out of reach financially and public school was simply not an option, (a subject God had already changed my mind about, but we'll get to that later,) and I remember uttering a weak, almost unintentional prayer.

"God, if you want me to homeschool, you're gonna have to change my heart."

I'm not even sure I meant it when I prayed it, yet God in His goodness took hold of that pitiful prayer and a half-hearted desire to do the right thing and He started me down a road that has been paved with His purpose and drenched in His grace all along the way!

I am in awe of it. And I'll let you in on some of the journey thus far...

The Storm Called Spring

Tabletop Mountain Spring Storm, a photo by Robert Pearce Photography on Flickr.

Yes, yes. I know. My blog is being neglected.

But it's spring!

I wish I could tell you that meant I was spending every day outdoors, enjoying the unseasonably warm breeze and the sunshine, digging my fingers and perhaps even my toes into the rich Kentucky dirt planting beautiful things!

But no.

I wish I could at least make the claim I've been cleaning and organizing like crazy, pouring my heart into making my house the tidy little place I wish it could be all year long and thus my blog is suffering for it.

But nuh-uh. It's not that either.

No, I'm merely caught up in the swirling chaos that is Spring for the Holt Family. I'm not sure how it happened or whose idea it was to begin with, but somehow 2/3 of the major events of our every year seem cram-packed into the weeks separating mid-March and late April. And with the end of my first full homeschooling year on the horizon, a homeschooling convention I'm dying to attend, and other related events thrown in lest I have too many consecutive days of routine, this year seems to be even worse than usual!

But, as always I suppose, in a few more weeks May will come and I'll grasp the sides of my spinning head and wonder how I got there. But then things will settle down. A little, at least.

I guess that's why I love May and June so much. Without doubt they are my favorite months, maybe because they are the calm after the storm we Holts call "spring."

My Shout-Out to the Go-To-Work Dad

My last post, (which was incredibly long ago, my apologies,) was my commendation to stay-at-home moms, the superwomen who neglect societal respect and financial gain so that they may focus solely on their children, in spite of a culture that insists dual-incomes are a necessity in our day and that a woman can't experience fulfillment unless she has a job title beyond "MOM".

But when my shout-out was done, I quickly realized someone very important had been left out. And especially in this era of gender equality, I don't want to make the mistake of not giving proper recognition where it's due.

Because while I believe strongly in the worth of a stay-at-home mom, I also understand that her ability to make such a choice is completely dependent upon the support, both moral and financial, of a remarkable man.

In other words, behind every great stay-at-home mom there is an awesome go-to-work dad.

I wish it was possible for all of us to "live on love", but the truth is, somebody has to bring in an income or mortgages aren't paid, cars aren't driven, and mouths aren't fed. And while I know some women operate businesses at home while raising their children, most stay-at-home moms are completely dependent upon their spouses to provide for the needs of the family. If a mom hasn't married a man just as committed to the decision that she stay home with the children as she is, then it simply cannot happen. Period.

And just as the stay-at-home mom's commitment to her children requires a great deal of sacrifice, the go-to-work dad's commitment to them requires the same, because, while I realize some of these dads make a sizable income, the overwhelming majority of them do not. Of course that usually means some long hours at work, often at more than one job. And generally that's not to provide many extras, but simply to make ends meet!

The absence of that second income, especially in the materialistic society we live in, can be acutely felt at times. As much as he'd like to, the go-to-work dad doesn't drive the brand new 4 x 4 pickup with all the bells and whistles. In fact, you're more likely to find him spending any extra income on the family vehicle, which in our case means the oh-so-masculine choice of alpha males everywhere--the minivan! You also won't find him waiting in line to buy the latest iPad. (Although he might try to connive some way to get Rush Limbaugh to give him one!) And you won't hear of him taking 8-day hunting trips to the Canadian Rockies or filling his garage, if he even has a garage, with expensive toys fresh off the showroom floor like four-wheelers, motorcycles, and fishing boats.

Why? Because he's a man not absorbed in himself or his wants or his ego, but one who recognizes that the raising of his children means so much more than the car in the garage or the toys in the shed or the gross income on the tax return. Sure, every decent father would say he believes that and may do so to some degree, but the go-to-work dad proves it by making the tough choices that defy culture and deny self in a world absolutely consumed with selfishness.

A man who would do that for the sake of his children is not average. As I said earlier, he's a remarkable man . And personally, I'm awfully glad I found one like that!

And to those of you who are stay-at-home moms like myself, never forget the man who makes it all possible. Few things could be a greater blessing than having a man as dedicated to the good and careful raising of your children as you are.

Be thankful for him! And be sure to give that go-to-work dad a big, sloppy kiss for making you such a blessed woman!

My Shout-Out to the Stay-At-Home Mom

The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, a photo by BunnyHugger on Flickr.

I don't need to defend my position as a stay-at-home mom. The fact is, I believe in it and nothing anybody says is going to change my mind one iota.

But I still feel a little chill run up my spine when I hear people say silly things like, "Yes, I know you're busy, but I work."

Implying, of course, that I don't.

Then there's, "I just couldn't stay home and do nothing like that all day."

Seriously? Why would you say something like that unless you're just trying to be mean?

And my personal favorite, "I think it's wonderful you stay home with your children. I would love to do that, but we simply can't afford it."

I love this one, especially when it generally comes from someone living a far more extravagant lifestyle than my own. Of course people are free to spend their money however they wish and I have no desire to interfere, but I'm always amused at the ability of some to look me in the eye and overlook the obvious discrepancy in our lifestyles to argue that staying home, while reasonable for someone like me, would be a financial hardship for them. Really?

Most SAHMs are passionate about their decision to stay home, not because they are militant "mominists" who think everyone must mother their way in order to be a good mom, nor because their decision to stay home so frequently and blatantly brings their very value as individuals into question. (And the latter happens often, believe me.)

Stay-at-home moms are passionate because the decision to stay home with their children requires a great deal of sacrifice. We don't do it because we're lazy, oppressed of men, or lacking ambition. Nor is our decision some fluke of circumstance. For most of us, staying home is a serious and carefully calculated commitment. And in a society that all-too-frequently devalues children as a nuisance and a hindrance to life success, a dive into full-time mothering can mean an exhausting swim against the very current of the culture.

So if you engage a stay-at-home mom in conversation and somehow the subject of her stay-at-home-itude comes up, don't be surprised if you find her to be a zealot, of sorts. It's only because she truly believes in what she's doing. She couldn't stay home otherwise.

So here's my shout-out to stay-at-home moms everywhere. I don't claim to be a poet, but I wrote this several years ago and though I realize it's a little rough, especially the first couple of stanzas, do me a favor and keep reading.


The Young Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

There was a young woman who lived in a shoe;
With so many children, she knew not what to do
She worked from dawn to dusk without stop,
And still her housekeeping skills were a flop!

For round and round her feet everyday;
A band of mischievous munchkins would play,
Ask questions, make demands, and, of course, they would fight
Until her frayed nerves had left her a sight!

Just then the oldest in the carpet would spill
Two quarts of red kool-aid just put back to chill;
And pausing to mend a knee skinned in a fall,
She discovered the mud fingerprints on the wall!

And finally when all of that had been cleaned,
She found the huge spill of paint that was green!
And from there it continued into the night;
One mess and another, some laundry, a fight.
And cooking, then dishes, babies to feed,
And exhausting job for one woman, indeed!

And then, a knock at the door! A guest!
She welcomed her in; Wait till you hear the rest!
Glancing around, shocked by the mess,
The guest then spoke thoughtlessly, rudely, no less!

"I guess you've been reading a novel," she said,
"Maybe surfing the web, shopping ebay instead.
It's certain you've not worked on your house, I must say.
Tell me, what on earth do you do all day?"

Exhausted and flustered and ready to cry,
She choked back the tears and held her head high.
"What I do with my day," she said, "is this.
I nurture a future generation and kiss
The boo-boos of children who someday might be
Most respected in American citizenry.

I work as a teacher, a lawyer, a chef;
A counselor, psychologist, physician, and ref.
I do it all and do it quite well, I think,
Though the house is a mess and the bathroom may stink;
And the laundry is piled up to the sky
And the dust on my dresser measures this high.
I work long and hard, take meals on my feet,
And still it seems no project's complete.

But none of that matters, not really, you see;
For my life's work my alter society.
If I raise one child who will stand for right
Who knows God and His word, one who will fight
For what's good and what's true, if he fights all alone
Then I've raised a hero in this messy home!

It really won't matter the looks of this place;
When my life is over, I hope all can trace
The source of my child's value system so true
To the stay-at-home mom who lived in a shoe!

George Washington Carver and the Holt Family Peanut Experiment

Now what fun would it be to homeschool if we didn't occasionally cast off the books for some hands-on learning?

We'd been talking about George Washington Carver who, in addition to being a great scientist and inventor, was also a devout and respected Christian. (Which was news to me, even though we talked or read about him multiple times when I was in school. Somehow his Christian faith slipped through the cracks in my public school education. Imagine!) His experiments led him to create over 300 products from peanuts and hundreds more from soybeans and sweet potatoes, things like glue and ink and plastic and wood stain.

My kids were immediately asking about peanut butter.

Peanut butter was apparently in existence hundreds of years before Carver's birth, so we can't give him credit for its invention, but I can't imagine a man who spent so much time with peanuts would neglect to make a batch or two of peanut butter along the way! And if George Washington Carver could take the time to make soap and paint and gasoline out of peanuts, then the least the Holts could do is try to make some homemade peanut butter!

It wasn't a complicated process. And forgive my not-so-clear photographs. I'm in desperate need of a new camera...

We started with a pound of unsalted roasted peanuts, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp honey, and 1 1/2 T peanut oil.

Several recipes I found suggested using a food processor. Unfortunately, I don't have one. Well, that's not really unfortunate because I don't think I would use one very often and I wouldn't have anywhere to store it if I had it and having another appliance cluttering my counter 24/7 would really get on my nerves. But anyway....

I moved ahead in faith my less-than-fully-efficient blender would get the job done. And, believe me, if my blender can do this, anybody's can!

So, we dumped in the peanuts and added the salt and honey, then blended on high, stopping every so often to stir a little by hand. After a couple of minutes we had a coarse peanut mixture just moist enough to hold together slightly against the sides of the pitcher.

Then we added the oil a little at a time, blending between additions and hand-stirring some as well. The peanut butter became smoother and smoother as we added the oil until we were left with a mixture that was the consistency of...well...peanut butter!

The texture was coarser than store-bought creamy peanut butter, but far smoother than chunky varieties. A food processor might do a better job at reducing the peanuts to powder, which would mean a creamier consistency, but I was completely satisfied with our end result. The kids wanted some extra sweetness, so I stirred in about a teaspoon of sugar, but it wasn't necessary at all.

And just so you know, without the extra preservatives found in store-bought peanut butter, the homemade must be refrigerated, but it will last 2-3 weeks in the fridge. And given all the recalls on peanut butter in recent years, maybe making your own on a regular basis isn't a bad idea!

It was a fun project the kids enjoyed immensely! I mean, who doesn't love a social studies project you can eat? And what a fun way to learn about George Washington Carver and the humble peanut!

Now for some PB & J made with some awesome Family Brand Homemade Peanut Butter. I have to believe George Washington Carver would be proud!