Why I Do It

“I hate homeschooling!”, came the ugly words from my mouth as I scampered around trying to collect all the school samples that I had to turn into our counselor at our meeting the next morning.  Why do I do this to myself? Wouldn’t it be so much easier to just put them all in school?

So why do I do this? I may have my down days and feel like I’m deep in the trenches. I may stress over children knowing math facts, or spelling properly and the thought of having to help with algebra is enough to make me cry, but yet here I am, going on 18 years of homeschooling.

When we started out we made a list of why we were choosing to go down this path that wasn’t so well beaten back then. We were odd in the sight of many and they questioned if we were sane or not. Sometimes I question if I’m sane for doing this! lol On those days when I’m questioning my sanity and feeling overwhelmed I think back to my list. These are only but a few of the many reasons we chose to home school.

~Character is not what you do in front of people, but what you do when you think no one is watching~

Is it enough that my children can read, write, and know their math facts? No. Education is so much more than just academics. It is mainly a matter of character development.  Here at home I have the privilege of teaching and training their character. Self-discipline seems lost with today’s youth, but it is needed in every area of their lives. Patience, gentleness, kindness have many chances to be practiced here at home with the people who stretch you most in these areas.

Do I want my children simply to be nice, well-behaved, and safe from peer pressure? Not at all! I want them to be men and women of integrity, not conformity. It isn’t enough for them to be polished and pretty on the outside but yet be dirty on the inside.

Neither academics, nor character, nor how polished they look on the outside will matter if they are dead in their sins and separated from God. I want my children to love the Lord with all their hearts, minds, and souls! I want them to shake the very gates of hell as they go out and boldly tell the world of the saving grace of the cross! Will public school help us in our effort to see these things come to fruition in our children's life? We think not.

God placed the responsibility for child training and our children’s education on us. This is not a task for the weak or the wimpy, of which I many times feel I am. It is a job we take serious, one that we are blessed to have been given. We don’t want mediocre for our children’s live, we want God’s very best. Homeschooling for us, is one of the vehicles God is using as we aim for the highest the Lord has for our children.

As I gear up, plan, and prepare for yet another year of homeschooling I am pondering over the reasons we do what we do. I need to remember these things. It serves to help me keep my eye on the goal. Not my goal, but His goal for my children.