Greetings! Before you read this post, I want to warn/remind you I am pro-home schooling ;) and feel very strongly that home schooling is the best option for Christian families. I don’t think this comes as a surprise to anyone ;). This post reflects our beliefs and my hope is to encourage and give food for thought.
Because it is the beginning of the school year, I have entered into several conversations where ladies are discussing why they choose to home school. Many of these ladies are contemplating schooling at home. I love encouraging others in this area! For me, there are days where there is what seems like constant(and I mean CONSTANT) discipline, arguing between siblings, laziness, disobedience or lying. There are days that I struggle to keep my head above water, like everyone else. It would make life so much easier to put the children on a bus, take a deep breath and do my own thing.
So, why do we do what we do? When I listen to others, the most common answer is "a better education". It is no secret
homeschoolers score higher, yes, but is this my reason? No. To tell you the truth, a well-rounded education and high scores are a ways down my list, it is there and, Lord willing, will continue being accomplished, but it is not why we
homeschool. In the class provided by the State of Washington to “certify” me to “teach” my children”(Bitter? No, not me) stated that if you simply kept your children home with you, provided a rich, loving home environment, did no formal teaching at all, your children would still score passing grades if tested as a public school student of their same grade. Now that caught my ear!
The second most common answer(I hear) is for a "Christian education". Gods Word, a Christian worldview, Creation Science as the center of all learning. Is this my #1 reason? No. Again, this naturally happens in a Christian home.
I want to pass on, not my religion, but the knowledge and realization of Christ and the salvation he brought to men through His death on a cross. His realness, His presence. I do not want my children to merely "follow the leader" with us. Something like 85% of children raised in Christian homes are completely turning their backs on their God by their late teens??! These are very scary numbers. I do not want to suffer the consequences of heartache from a rebellious child. Can we ever be exempt from having rebellious children? No, I may very well have way-ward children, no one is guaranteed *saved* children by actions they do or don‘t do, but if we walk in His ways and preach(and live) Christ crucified over and over and over for the 18 yrs or more we have them in our home, may the Lord be gracious and bless our efforts.
So, let me start to explain why we
homeschool. Let's go to a city park on any summer day. I inevitably meet another mother sitting on the bench watching her vibrant 4 yr old running circles...up the ladder, down the slide, up the ladder, down the slide. We Start chit-chat and the mother states how smart and energetic this little one is. She is right. What a beautiful creature she is! She may be a handful, but she comes when Mommy calls, she begs Mommy to "Watch this
Mamma!" is the apple of her mothers eye AND her
Mamma is the apple of HER eye...HER everything, HER world.
Mamma excitedly announces to me(almost always with a stifled apprehension) that her sweet little girl is starting Kindergarten in the Fall. This is where my heart sinks. That sweet little child, most likely, will not be that same sweet little child in 1, maybe 2 years. In a peer setting(Christian or not) most children will learn to talk back, repeat bad words, be angry, vent feelings, hit, you fill in the blank. I know my own children are like mockingbirds. ;) Her peers will have her heart by the end of grade 2, not her parents. She will be more persuaded by the words and actions of her friends after spending at least 25 prime waking hours with them, than by the rest of the evening at home. This is scratching the surface.
Homeschooling, however, is not some miracle answer..actually homeschooling has little, or nothing, to do with it. It is the fact that you show your children they are of high worth to you and worth your sacrifice of having them stay home to kiss every
ouwie, to pry compassionately when they have a hard heart, to speak the Words of Christ to sooth their souls in all the little dramas that life brings. To be there. To keep their hearts. To keep them transparent. To rock them(even a
gangly 12 yr old likes to be rocked, don‘t let them fool you ;))To teach ME patience, to teach ME compassion, to teach ME diligence, to create in me that gentle and quiet spirit I long to have. To fulfill our roles as keepers at home and to purify our lives of our smelly sin.
I once thought I couldn't handle homeschooling, I was right - not without the Lord's strength and mentors He provided when I asked for them. I did not want to deal with my children’s increasing sin. It is tiring and mentally exhausting to “train them up in the way they should go”. In time the Lord taught me to see what is best, eternally best, for each child He has placed in our home for us, and solely us, to teach, train and love. That and I only get a new student once every other year ;)
So, why do we do this? To keep our children’s hearts, to protect them and teach them. We want them to know their God, not know of Him, but know Him as their Father. His presence, their sin, their need for Him, His
forgiveness, His death, His everlasting promise. May they never be satisfied with praying a prayer and resuming life.
My children are the most sanctifying tool the Lord uses in my life. It is like having 7 little mirrors reflecting my sin back(yikes), because boy are they quick to imitate us.
Oh there is so much more I could talk your eyes off, but I won‘t. This is my heart and I am passionate about it. I LOVE having my children home and guess what? My children love it too. ;)
"I have no greater joy than to hear that my
children walk in the truth." 3 John 1:4
My mother just happened to have a twin sheet she found at a garage sale this summer and has been saving it for such a time as this. I dug out my hoop skirt? from under my wedding dress in the closet, fluffed it up and rough tailored it to fit Jess. One whooooole twin sheet later(every square inch) and we had us a turn of the century skirt. Add a white blouse, a cream crocheted shawl, some pearls and a period hair style(pony tail, tuck-through then braid three braids and wrapped up and tucked) and you have one 12 yr old girl who does not stop smiling.
BTW, if you ever go to 
