Homeschooling

What do you think of when you hear that word? Wait- nevermind. I don’t really want to know! Too much chance of it being a misinformed stereotype… 

The thought of homeschooling the adorable child you see to the left was not even on our radar a year ago. I was thinking forward a few years to all the things I could pursue when “the boys were in school.” Hah… Little did I know that something different was in store for us. I can’t say when the exact moment was that we decided to go this route. We started to hear more about various people we know who home school their kiddos, I would happen upon various articles here and there about the benefits of it, and my heart started to feel a gentle tug in that direction. After telling myself I was crazy numerous times, (the gentle tug becoming more of a pull) I realized this was happening and it was time to do some research. 

Let me say right off the bat, I do not think sending your children to a school for public or private education is evil, and I am not going to criticize the school system. Each one of us has a path and calling in life and it is not up to me to determine what yours may be. Homeschooling is not for every family or every season of life. Also, we are not homeschooling to get away from something. We are simply choosing it because we feel led to and because we can! Got it? OK, good. Please don’t be offended by any of my thoughts on this subject. 

I am an information gatherer. When an idea pops into my head, I am on google within the minute looking up everything I can about it, any helpful articles, books, etc. I have to gather every resource available so I am well informed and knowledgeable about the topic. So, as we started researching homeschooling, many hours were spent online reading information and articles. It was very helpful to read thoughts from seasoned homeschooling parents, and many of them answered questions and concerns that were in the back of my mind. I am so thankful for all of the information at our fingertips, social networking, and the resources that go along with it. Also thankful that this area has quite a large homeschooling community and it's not as unusual as in other areas of the country. That support from other families will surely be needed along the journey!

So, I am writing this to explain our reasons for homeschooling and to dispel a few myths along the way. I could get into all of the different “why” reasons, but the only one that really matters to us is that we feel led by God to go this direction at this time. As we live our lives to follow Jesus and seek God’s will for our lives, we believe He leads us by His spirit and “speaks” to us in many different ways. (That is a whole other post, maybe I’ll write it sometime.) If He wants us to do this, we believe He will also equip us with everything we need to accomplish it. Hebrews 13:21 says may He equip you for all you need for doing His will and we believe He will do that. The Bible is full of messed up people that God purposefully chose to accomplish His will. Really, FULL of them. And some of them are REALLY messed up. Have you read Genesis all the way through? Wowza. It’s better than any soap opera! He chooses the weak and flawed so that His work through them will be obvious, so that they will not claim the glory of it for themselves and from their own human abilities. Really, aren’t we all incapable on our own anyway? So, please don’t say “Oh, I think it’s great but I could never do it!” when I tell you about homeschooling. Huge pet peeve of mine. I realized that it bothers me so much when people say it because it is basically saying that God is not powerful enough to enable you to do what He wants you to. IF you are called to do it, which you may or may not be, He will equip you with everything you need to do it! Personally, I’m hoping for an extra helping of patience as we start this coming year. These pictures show you just a bit of why I will need it. 

Mischief

Endless energy

Personalities shining through!

Many people may think that by homeschooling, kids are missing out on things they need to experience in a school setting- social interaction, activities, etc. Well, let me tell you that there are SO many activities to choose from around here. We will really have to be selective so as not to over commit ourselves! The great part about homeschool extracurricular activities is that they can be done in the day, leaving evenings for family time. Because it is essentially like having a one-on-one tutor, schoolwork is done in much less time than normally spent at a traditional school day. The flexibility of the homeschool life is a definite plus! When tackling the socialization issue, the first thing we asked ourselves is “What kind of socialization do we want for our kids?” For us, we did not see the socialization that happens in the school system as necessarily positive. (Ok, so this part is a slight criticism of the school system, sorry…) The way schools are organized is not indicative of real life. I think we can all remember the false reality and social structure of school and how life was so different when we graduated and got into the real world. As adults, we do not hang out with a big group of people just because they were born the same year that we were. We choose social groups according to our interests, personalities, etc. We live and work with people of all different ages, and I love how homeschoolers get the opportunity to do life together with all ages of folks in the community and learn life skills in the process. There are plenty of social opportunities for homeschoolers, and I believe many of them are much more positive and beneficial than the social opportunities available in the traditional school setting. 

Are homeschoolers weird? Well, some of them are! Many more, however, are not. A certain percentage of the population is just going to be a bit odd- it’s a law of nature folks! (Is that mean? I hope not. Sorry if it is.) Every family has their own personal reasons for why they choose to homeschool and some may choose it simply because they do not enjoy being around other people. Unfortunately, some folks may have the stereotype of the awkward kid in homemade clothes who stares at his shoes in their mind of what a homeschooled kid is like. Well, we’re out to break that stereotype! (By the way, if you are able to make your own clothing, more power to ya! I think that’s pretty great!) Anyway, my kids are already a little bit quirky. Just check out how this one chooses to dress himself-

Stylin'

 

 We are barely in the beginning stages of this- just starting the Pre-K / K level with our first kid. I am by no means an expert in this. The next year will be one of transition, as well as living and learning. Boone will be going to a Pre-K program at a preschool one day per week to polish his skills in taking turns, sharing, waiting in line, etc. (and also to give me a little break each week!) I will be doing a light K4 curriculum with him at home to challenge him academically. We don’t fully know what to expect or how long we will end up homeschooling. Year-by-year evaluation is our plan. I love what it says in James 4:14-15: How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.  What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”  So, that’s what we’ll do. We will trust God to lead us month-by-month, year-by-year. I will post to the blog as we go along, so watch for updates. You’ll be getting the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of our journey. I certainly don’t want to paint a picture of a perfect life. I value authenticity. 

To sum it up, I enjoy being around my kids. I enjoy teaching them things. I want to shape what they learn and how they learn it. I am equipped with everything I need to teach them. I am blessed to be able to stay home with them and have a participatory role in their growth and education. The question is not so much one of “why do I homeschool?” More like “why would I not?”