It’s hard for me to set goals lately or even think too far into the future. Sometimes I can’t recall what I did yesterday. Pretty normal stuff when you are in grief. But the days are inching closer to the start of when I need to start school and I thought I’d write a post about why I homeschool my kids. Now before doing so, I must put this out there: if you don’t homeschool – no worries. I really am not about attacking people nor does one need to get all riled up because they don’t homeschool. I just know for our family, it is what works. But I also have to remind myself why I do it at all because there are days and months where I just feel like “Why am I doing this?” As with any ministry or fulfilling job that you feel called to do, there are probably more bad days than good. But we can’t see the fruit of it yet. Someday we will. And just because something is easier, doesn’t mean it should be so. I think this is true of home education.
1) We homeschool because we want our kids to have a close relationship with God. We feel that this is the most important thing. Of course, this can be taught in private school too but really it starts at home. I must admit, this is a scary thing for me. My kids are around me all. the. time. So, they see the worst of me probably more so than the best of me. They see the awfulness of my sin. But in a way, this is a great thing. It’s really a great thing for them to see me being awful. You know why? Because after I’m awful, I know I’m being awful and I show them by being humble that God forgives.
This is a really key thing that I must remind myself. Yes, I’m awful. We all are. But God in His great mercy chooses to forgive me. And He forgive their awfulness too. So if they are seeing my awfulness, humility, repentence, and then reconciliation with them, they are seeing something huge. They are seeing something imperfect and horrible become forgiven. And they are forgiven too. And this plays out daily in our lives. There are lots of ways for me to show my horrible sin nature and lots of reasons for me to ask them to forgive me. Not only that, but between each other too. And with all of this going on, this relationship, difficult stuff, they are daily reminded of their need for God and how God is all that He says He is. There are so many other aspects like praying for others, fights between siblings that become mended, heart issues, etc that we deal with daily. It’s hard not to teach them about God in it. And when they see that, they see so much. So it doesn’t have to be this thing where I’m super mom. It’s me being humble and asking God to help me throughout my day and when things fall as they do, God picks the pieces up. The kids see that. The kids know God.
And of course, we teach the kids about the Bible. We use My Father’s World which does a really nice job of showing God throughout the subjects that are taught. I like that “Bible” isn’t just a subject. It’s a way of life…it’s the foundation that everything else builds upon. It’s the springboard for all other things that go on in our day and without it, we have nothing. Any other way would just be fruitless education in the room of our house.
2) We homeschool because we care about the atmosphere of learning. Go to any school and you will find desks of students. Some students will be enthralled with whatever the teacher is teaching. Other students will have a blank stare and no clue what the teacher is talking about. There might be 20 students in that class, but only 60% are actually doing well in the class. I’m not about to get down on teachers for this because how can one person adapt to 20 children? They can’t. But as a homeschool mom, you bet I can do that for my kids. One child in my house hates noise. The other child likes workbooks and probably would thrive in a school setting. My other child is the noise in which my first child hates (ha ha). This is an obvious frustration at home, but not an impossible one. What I have learned to do is teach the child who hates noise, get her started and then tell her to pick a place to do her homework that is quiet. The other daughter who loves workbooks is already started on her work and I don’t need to do much. She’s a go-getter. My youngest loud child then gets Mom for 20 minutes so I read to him on the couch.
I can’t imagine how my oldest, noise hating daughter would be like in an average class setting. She does go to public school 2 hours a day for special ed classes, but there are only 6 kids including her. It’s manageable. She’s not in a class of 20 or so kids getting lost in the crowd. She’s doing well in subjects like history, science, and Art. She has the opportunity to grow because any hurdles she has gets addressed right away. Of course, homeschool is not perfect. Some kids can fall behind and my daughter was, but thankfully God showed us what she needed at just the right time and now she’s progressing. We know we can change things to suit our kids. Our class isn’t a one-size-fits-all. We adapt. We grow. We change. We move forward.
3) We homeschool because we want our children to have positive friendships and relationships. I mentioned our family above. Let me go a step further and say that my kids are best friends. Yes, they have moments and sometimes days where they get on each other’s nerves, but they love each other so much. They are buds. There are many teachable moments in parenting and this doesn’t end when kids go to school. It’s just the beginning! When I think of all the heart-to-heart conversations I’ve had with my kids and all the correction and heart training they would not have received had they not been homeschooled, I am thankful. Are my kids perfect? By no means. They have faults. Have you read this blog? Their mom is at the top of the fault list! But we work through it. If we were perfect, we would have no need for God.
To expand on this, my kids have friendships that are positive ones. The kids they hang out with are not lying, cheating, swearing, disrespectful kids. In fact, they are quite the opposite. They don’t just have good manners. They have morals. They aren’t just kind, they love others and forgive. There is a big difference. And I’m thankful for the relationships my kids have developed.
Socialization is always a big question towards homeschooling families. My take is that when kids learn to interact with their own family first, then friends, then others (church, groups, and other activities), they gain a whole lot of socialization skills. Socialization is not an issue anymore. Sure you will hear your stupid stories of parents who abused their kids and homeschooled them, but the media tends to play those stories up. Homeschooled kids are just as social, if not more, than “normal” kids who are not homeschooled. Sure there are weird kids but their are weird kids in public school too.
4.) We homeschool because we feel called to raise up a Godly generation. Deuteronomy 6:5-9 says, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” This is our verse for our school. This is the reason we homeschool our kids. This is why we do what we do. We believe homeschool is the best way for our kids to learn about God in all aspects, not just as a simple subject in passing, but in everything they do. In 1 Corinthians 10:31, it says “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” I am finding the more I homeschool, the more I see God in everything. Learning about everything He created and the plans that He has ordained for me and for my kids, allows me to know Him much deeper. When we know God and we learn His ways and we love Him, we can serve Him in ways we never imagined. I think homeschool is the head-start, the inspiration, the springboard into loving God more fully. And although no school is perfect nor am I guaranteed results, I know that these days will never be wasted. It will not return void. I believe this promise for our homeschool from Isaiah 55:10-12:
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
I feel more goal-oriented. How about you? Do you set goals for your children/family/self and check to see how you are doing? How do you evaluate and keep these goals in mind throughout the year?
(PS-The picture above was taken the very first day I homeschooled my girls. This is my 6th year. How time flies by. Difficulties are always the norm, but God is good)
Technorati Tags: Christianity, education, home education, homeschool, teaching
It would seem odd that a book called “Trusting God: Even when Life Hurts” would fall into my lap. The funny thing is I actually own this book. When I first got married, a family friend gave it to me and over the years I have tried to read it all the way through and never did. I would read the first chapter and have to stop and think about the truths. They weren’t “God loves you” kind of truths. They were “God is holding up the chair you are sitting in and if it breaks, God ordained that.” kind of truths. And to be honest, I could not swallow what I read.
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