Why I Home School (Part 3)

Don't get me wrong, I never doubted the Bible for a second. I knew what my parents told me was true. I know what I learned in church was right. I knew the Bible was correct, but how could I meld the two worlds together though without giving into the idea of evolution and millions of years or fit the churchy-biblical historical events in with what I was learning in history class at school? 

I couldn't. At least I never really sorted it out while in high school. I never realized that some of the historical figures we learned about in high school history class were some of the very same ones I learned about in Sunday school. I didn't understand how the dumb cave dwelling people fit in the timeline with the intelligent individuals (Adam and Eve) God created in the beginning of the world. I didn't understand a lot of things then :/

I was never taught apologetics or how to defend my faith. I recall disagreeing with some of my teachers on certain things, but how could I explain it to them as to why I believed what I believed other than saying, "Because the Bible says so." I guess I felt helpless in a way. I did not feel properly equipped. And I grew up in church! I knew every Bible story forwards and backwards. I could rattle off all the books of the Bible and win every Bible drill, but I could not defend my own faith against some of the lies I was being taught in school. Because of all this, I really didn't like history or science in school. I did well in the classes, but I didn't like or enjoy them...especially history...I really despised history.

I also didn't understand how I had teachers who professed to be Christians or who I knew went to church, but taught some of these lies to me or simply left God, the Bible, or creationism out of the equation all-together. Not all did this, but some did. Oh boy! I sure could get off on a tangent here about a few teachers who utterly destroyed their Christian witness not only with this, but also with their behavior, language, and actions in the school...but that's not what this post is about ;)

It's about discipleship and I wanted my kids to be taught and discipled by people who loved God and were not afraid to share the truth. I wanted my kids to be taught by people who were not perfect, but admitted when they were wrong and strived to be a good example of Christ and His love. I didn't want them growing up being confused. I wanted them to see through the lies of millions of years and evolution, understand not just that it was wrong, but why it was wrong. I wanted them to understand how Bible history fit perfectly in with "school" history.

Around the same time that the enormity of what God had called me to do in homeschooling my kids hit me, I was introduced to a curriculum called My Father's World. It had Christ infused throughout every subject. They were learning apologetics...and at such a young age! They were made aware of the lies out there and understood why those lies were wrong. They were learning how to defend their faith. History made sense to them...history made sense to me :)

I felt like I was back in school right along with my kids learning the way I should have all along...and I loved it! 

And for the record...history is my absolute favorite subject now ;)


***Now, if you do not homeschool your children, please do not get offended with what I have posted above. This is about my life and what God has shown me that I needed to be doing. I am in no way trying to tell you what you should or should not be doing with your own children, only God can do that. He has a plan for each of our lives and His plans are not always the same for each person.***

Why Do I Home School? (part 2)

I don't exactly know when my reasons started to change. I do recall speaking at an informational meeting about homeschooling several years ago and crying halfway thru because... I guess the enormity of this task God had called me to had finally hit me.

I recall telling everyone God knew why I needed to homeschool before I really knew why I needed to homeschool. I recall talking about a book I recently read called, Kingdom Education, by Glen Schultz.

It wasn't just about tailoring school to each of my children's individual needs, it wasn't about being able to pick out the best curriculum, it wasn't even about being able to slow down when things were hard or speed up when things were easy. It was so much more than that. 

It was about discipleship.

Bible verses like Deuteronomy 6:5-9, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates" 

and Luke 6:40, "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher", flooded my mind.

I thought back to some of the teachers I had in school... I had some very good teachers, but I also had some very bad teachers. Did I really want my children trained and discipled by some of those people?!? 

More so than that...did I want my kids going through a school void of any mention of God?

This was a big one for me. I grew up in church. I was there every time the doors were open. I know what was taught in the Bible and I also know what was taught in school...and I was so utterly and completely confused.

More on this in the next post...


***Now, if you do not homeschool your children, please do not get offended with what I have posted above. This is about my life and what God has shown me that I needed to be doing. I am in no way trying to tell you what you should or should not be doing with your own children, only God can do that. He has a plan for each of our lives and His plans are not always the same for each person.***

Why Do I Home School? (Part 1)

This week, I have been thinking a lot about educational choices...the good, the bad, and the ugly for all the options out there. 

I then started zeroing in on the choice we made to homeschool 7 years ago. Wow! Has it been that long already?!? I started thinking about my reasons for homeschooling our kids and they have changed quite a bit over the years.

First and foremost, the desire or calling God placed in my heart to home school my children has been there from the very beginning and that desire is still going strong. Don't get me wrong, we do have rough days...days where we are all getting on each others nerves, days when nothing goes right according to the plan/schedule, days when I wonder what it would be like to have some time all to myself while my kids were away at school in order to clean, organize, work out, I don't know, just anything. All. By. Myself.

 My son was a very "eager beaver" when he was younger. He wanted to learn his ABC'S, learn to read, learn to write and more pretty much when he started talking. Having been an early childhood teacher before he was born, I had tons of supplies and curriculum stored in my cabinets at home. So, we started doing a few fun educational things at the house. He was doing a pre-K program by the time he was 3 and pretty much a Kinder program when he was 4. By the time his 5th birthday rolled around, we just could not see putting him in public school. He was already so far ahead and I knew he would have been bored. So, we started him on into 1st grade at the age of 5 and he is still going strong and will be entering the 7th grade this coming school year.

My daughter is just 16 months younger than her brother. Things were a little different for her. Oh, she loved to "do school" with her brother, but she was not as eager about it...lol! I started a pre-K program with her when she was about 4 and she moved right on into Kinder at age 5. She struggled some with the letters of the alphabet. She kept writing certain letters and numbers backwards and she'd even spell and read things out of order just enough to get me to start reading everything I could about dyslexia. One book in particular, The Gift of Dyslexia, really helped me to help her through those struggles. My daughter did not end up being dyslexic or anything, but the things I learned from this book were very helpful for her. She is doing very well and will be entering the 5th grade this coming school year.

As I look back, I remember being very thankful that I was able to home school my kids...my son, because we could move at a faster pace to meet his needs, and my daughter, because we could move at a slower pace to meet her needs. Because of this, I am happy to report that both of my children are very much ahead of where they should be age/grade wise :-D

Public school is one size fits all. I remember teaching in the classroom and feeling like there was never enough time to get to all 22 students each day. There was no slowing down for those kids that needed just a little extra time nor was there any speeding up for the others that needed a faster pace. You had a schedule to stick to and there was no wavering from it. Sure, you could ask the parents to work on the things they were behind in at home, but that was rarely ever done. You could sneak in a few extra minutes here and there to work one on one with certain kids, but there was never enough time. I am thankful that I didn't feel backed into a corner with my kids as I did with the kids I taught in public school. 

Somewhere along the line, things started to change for me; my reasons for homeschooling began to change...


***Now, if you do not homeschool your children, please do not get offended with what I have posted above. This is about my life and what God has shown me that I needed to be doing. I am in no way trying to tell you what you should or should not be doing with your own children, only God can do that. He has a plan for each of our lives and His plans are not always the same for each person.***