“Mom, could you please take me to the craft store? I want to make a gift for my friend’s birthday.”

Remember the simple homeschooling question: “what does it mean?” In this case, the message is clear. My daughter wants to make a gift for her friend and she needs supplies. Since she is not driving yet, I am the chauffeur, and she needs my help. A cheerful countenance, bright eyes, and petitioning hands all tell me that she is (1) excited to surprise her friend with an unexpected, homemade present and (2) hopeful that I will assist.

The homeschooling challenge of understanding texts is more difficult than understanding face-to-face conversations, live action, or recorded action. In face-to-face conversations, we are able to take the actual words that are being spoken and factor in the facial expressions, vocal modulations, and body language to accurately determine meaning. Live speeches, movies, and documentaries all allow the spectator to watch the speaker as if they were talking in person. Recorded audio lectures are a bit more difficult to interpret because the listener cannot see the speaker; however, the speaker’s intent can be generally gauged from the rising or falling voice, the pauses, the speed of delivery, the repetition of key phrases, and the emphasis on certain points. Although sometimes other issues are simmering under the surface, most homeschool parents sitting across the breakfast table from their children will be able to accurately interpret the speaking child’s requests and concerns.

The Message is More than Information

In some respects, reading homeschool texts is like all other forms of communication. There is an addresser, a message, and an addressee. In both oral and written communication, the addresser assumes that he will be understood. The message is more than information. The addresser has presumably structured the message to achieve a certain goal: influencing the addressee to respond in some manner.

In the scenario with my daughter, she wanted me to make time during the daily to take her to the store. She wanted to influence me. The Lord of the Rings movies are not just entertainment; the producer structured the message so that the ring reminds me of my own temptations. He wanted to influence me. The professor who delivers the mp3 lecture on “American Political Thought” is not just passing on facts; he communicates his interpretation of facts and either persuades me to adopt or reject his position. He might even convict me to find a few books at the library for further understanding of the issues. He wanted to influence me.

Ambiguities Get in the Way

So, too, the author of a text, whether as antiquated as the Dead Sea Scrolls or as recent as yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, wanted to communicate in such as way that his message was understood. He called his reader to action. He influenced. But the problem with written communication is that we can’t stop the conversation and ask for clarification. If there were several craft stores in my town, and my daughter didn’t specify which one she wanted to go to, I could interrupt the dialogue to ask her whether she meant Joann Fabrics, Michael’s Crafts, or Hobby Lobby. I cannot interrupt a written conversation to clarify ambiguities. I can’t say, “You’ve got to be kidding!?” or “I just don’t get it…what are you talking about?”


Time Gets in the Way

Another issue that makes interpreting homeschool texts more difficult than interpreting face-to-face conversations is the problem of time. In almost every case of literary communication, the sender (addresser) is distant in space and time from the receiver (the addressee). I might be able to leave a question or comment on the Wall Street Journal blog and receive timely feedback, but I certainly cannot write the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls to clarify a misunderstanding. Does the text stand alone, or do I have other means of interpreting what the author meant? I do have other options for understanding. These three methods for interpreting textual meaning will help me answer the simple homeschooling question, “what does it mean?”

Get Behind the Text

The primary question of this interpretation method is “what did the author mean then?” The text itself is not the focus…the text is a window into the intention of the author and into the historical events at the time. Behind-the-text readings generally ask questions like:

  • What did the author intend to accomplish by writing this text?
  • Did the events in the book really happen?
  • What did those events mean historically?

Get in the Text

“What does the text actually say?” is the primary question of this method of interpretation. Unconcerned with historical events or concerned about errors that might arise from trying to figure out the author’s intent back then, this approach takes more of a literary view of the text. The text is viewed as a cultural artifact. In-the-text questions include:

  • What did the author say?
  • Do the literary tools that the author used support his point?
  • What is the effect of the author’s message on me today?

Get in Front of the Text

Finally, a reader can get “in front of” the text to determine meaning. In this method, the reader is not focused on the intent of the author or the impact on the particular reader, but the one who uses this method looks at the variations in interpretations. He recognizes that every homeschool reader can potentially interpret the text differently simply because readers are situated in different cultures and different times. Under this method, the Gentiles in 3rd Century A.D. Corinth might interpret chapters 15-17 of the Gospel of John quite differently than the readers of evangelical 21st Century America. The content alone is not important. People in different cultures bring different presuppositions to the text which impacts how they answer the simple homeschooling question, “what does it mean?” Questions of this method might be:

  • What did medieval knights on Crusade think this text meant?
  • What was the culture like during the Crusades in Europe?
  • What presuppositions do Christian knights bring to the text?

All Three Methods are Viable

Each of these methods has validity. You can combine the methods, or use one method for a particular  homeschool text and another for a different text. My personal preference is to get behind the text because I enjoy history, but I could get behind-the-text to examine ancient Greece as it impacted Homer’s Odyssey as well as front-of-the-text to try to understand how my Western Civilization forbears like the Puritans understood Homer’s Odyssey. The choice is yours. Allow your homeschool teens to experiment by trying each of the methods in interpreting the texts that they read. Just make sure that you are also involved in discussing their understanding and offering possible counterpoints as you help them discover the not-so-simple answers to the simple homeschooling question, “what does it mean?“