Why We Chose To Homeschool

Why do I homeschool my kids? I have been asked this question many times recently. I have been doing a lot of thinking about this. There are many reasons that Josh and I have chosen homeschooling for our family. I want to start off by saying that I do not believe that homeschooling is the only way to do things, nor do I believe it is for every family. I have many friends who are educating their children in private Christian schools and in public schools who have amazing children. These parents are doing what they feel is best for their children and doing a wonderful job with that responsibility. Each family must do what they feel God has in mind for their unique family. This post is merely stating some of the reasons that Josh and I felt called to homeschool our little ones.

Josh and I first started considering the possibility of homeschooling our children when I was pregnant with Mary Alice. I was teaching second grade at the time. There is nothing that makes you think about and plan for the future like the idea that you will be responsible for teaching and training a little human being. I used to come home from teaching my class and tell Josh stories about my sweet “kids.” We were both struck with the loss of innocence that happened so early...too early. My kids read this blog, so I will not go into detail on the things that I heard on a daily basis from the mouths of my seven and eight year olds. Let it suffice to say that they were shocking and vulgar. Half of the time, I don’t think they really understood what they were saying. Some of them did understand, though. This horrified me. We started throwing around the idea of doing “something else” for our kids. We started praying for wisdom. We still had a while. Mary Alice girl was still in the womb. :)

Mary Alice was such a joy. As she grew from a baby into a toddler, our days were filled with learning. We read books and sang songs. We pointed out things about the world around her. We taught her Bible stories and verses. It was all so fun! Teaching her was an absolute delight! I remember having so much fun seeing how much knowledge I could cram into that fuzzy little head. :)  It was all so natural. We had been teaching her all along. The transition to Kindergarten at home made more sense to us than sending her away to learn. I think we decided to educate her at home when she was two or three. I grabbed every library book I could find and started researching home schooling, curriculum choices, learning styles, etc. Yes, we were sure that homeschooling would be a great fit for our family.

In Deuteronomy 6, God says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.   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 on 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.” 

God commands His people to Love Him with all of their hearts, soul, and strength. He commands them to impress His commandments on their children, to talk about them all the time. These people are to be surrounded by God’s commandments and to submerge their children in them. God’s people are instructed to get God’s Word inside the hearts of their children, to talk about these important things from morning until evening...all the time.

This verse says that if I am a Christian, the responsibility for teaching my children about God and His Word falls on ME, as their parent. It does not fall on their Bible classes, their youth minister or any other youth program. This is a serious command. I believe that I will be held accountable by God for whether or not I taught my children His commands. A parent’s main objective for their children should be teaching them about the Lord. Nothing else is more important to me than filling my child up with God’s Word. Of course, I would like them to be successful in many other ways, but the most important thing I hope to do for my child is to teach them about God and His Word. The Bible does not say exactly how to do this, except that it is a parent’s responsibility and that the parent is to spend time communicating God’s truths to their children as they go about their lives. This can look different ways for different families, but ultimately, if you are a believer and you fail to do this, you have failed in your job as a parent.

This verse also talks about the commands being talked about often. It indicates large amounts of time spent together, as a family. Schooling my children at home allows me so much valuable time with my children. I love this! I love the fact that we are together almost all day long, just living life together. There have been many opportunities to discuss faith related things. We know each other so well. We love hanging out.  I have repeatedly heard advice from friends whose kids are grown to enjoy the time with them, because the time with them passes so quickly, and they are all grown up before you know it. I want to enjoy these kids while they are living at home, to try and influence them while I still have their hearts, to love and cuddle and pour into them in meaningful ways...with lots and lots and lots of my time and energy.

It takes us less time to do their school work than if they were in another school setting, which frees the kids up for other pursuits. My kids have been blessed with the gift of lots of extra hours in their days.  I want them to have free time to dream and create, to play outside, to do nothing, to just be a child.  It is my opinion that kids in our society today are overscheduled. Many children spend their entire childhoods being shuttled from one place to the next, all day every day. Rush rush rush....all day long. A typical day of many children might be getting up early, going to school, going to a practice of some sort, going home, doing homework, getting ready for and going to bed, only to start the same routine again the next day.  I don’t believe this is good for the soul of anyone, much less a growing child.  I love the freedom that homeschooling affords our family. I like my kids to have plenty of time to be bored. Homeschooling is freedom.

Another reason Josh and I have chosen to teach our children at home is to protect their hearts. When I was in elementary school, I remember hearing terrible words and ideas from other kids. I remember once, in second grade, learning things that I should’ve never been exposed to at that tender age. My heart was changed forever. I was confused. I was still a young child. I went home to my parents and asked them about the things that I had heard. My mother talked me through it, but I would never be the same. My innocence was gone. I was repeatedly exposed to ungodly attitudes that stuck in my heart like black tar, contaminating my world view and my thoughts and ambitions. Some of the things that I learned were how to get attention from boys and how to be unkind to those who weren’t as well liked as I was. I learned how to flirt and how to manipulate other children and situations to my advantage. Oh how I wish I’d had the watchful eye of my mother in those situations, to point me back to what God said about my awful heart attitudes, to speak to me during those times and pray me through them.  All this to say, I know there is no way I can protect my children from seeing and hearing everything. In fact, I know that I can’t protect them from Satan, no matter where they go to school. I do, however, want to be their primary influence during those young, tender years. I hope to nurture them as they grow, waiting to expose them to the harsh cold realities of sin in the world until they are stronger, better prepared to handle these things, because they’ve been equipped with the tools to fight. Little ones are like sponges. They absorb everything they see and hear. My hope is to fill them up with so much that is good and true that they can be real bright lights in the world when they are strong enough to do so, not snuffed out while they are still most absorbent.  I want to fill them up to the brim with Scripture, to talk openly about the fight that they are facing, to prepare and equip them for battle. I want to do this so that hopefully they can be real front line leaders, people who can help others along the way instead of getting shot down in cold blood before they have a chance to grab a weapon. I want to train their hearts. I want to train their minds. I want to equip them. I am passionate about this.

I don’t want to offend anyone who has a different way of educating their children. I want to restate that I don’t believe that home schooling is the only way. I have several friends who have amazing children who were not homeschooled. I see many of these women as mentors to me. I have so much to learn! I do believe, however, that it is God’s will for me to homeschool our children right now. I absolutely love it. Everyone has good works that God ordained for them to do. Some people are preachers. Some are teachers in the public school system, spreading Christ’s love to the little ones in their care. Others serve in different ways. Each person has to decide what God’s will is for them, for their occupation and for their family. I believe that God created me to be a homeschooling mother. I take my calling very seriously. I have an army of little people that he has entrusted to me. I am preparing them to fight the ultimate battle. I love this job! I believe that every mother who pours God’s Word into her children, no matter the way they choose to do it, is impacting the future in a mighty way. It is my hope that one day the work done in my home will impact generations to come, that through my little life Satan will shrink back and many will come to know Jesus.