Yes folks, you have read this correctly...we have decided to homeschool! Now, before you become concerned that I have gone out and purchased matching full length denim skirts, bonnets, and overalls for the family, or that I'm planning on having another dozen children, take a deep breath and relax.
I'm only going to purchase the denim skirt and bonnet for myself :)
Please believe me when I tell you that Brian and I did not wake up one morning and decide that homeschooling would be a fun experiment. In fact, Brian was NOT on board with it at all at first, and told me I was crazy for thinking it up. But the truth is, I didn't just "think it up". The decision we have made to homeschool has come after a LONG time of prayerful consideration, research, and MORE prayer. We have met with families who homeschool to discuss our concerns. I have read so many books, articles, and blogs about homeschooling that I could probably write a book about it myself, and I haven't even started homeschooling yet!
I'm only going to purchase the denim skirt and bonnet for myself :)
Please believe me when I tell you that Brian and I did not wake up one morning and decide that homeschooling would be a fun experiment. In fact, Brian was NOT on board with it at all at first, and told me I was crazy for thinking it up. But the truth is, I didn't just "think it up". The decision we have made to homeschool has come after a LONG time of prayerful consideration, research, and MORE prayer. We have met with families who homeschool to discuss our concerns. I have read so many books, articles, and blogs about homeschooling that I could probably write a book about it myself, and I haven't even started homeschooling yet!
Before I get into the reasons why, we really want to emphasize that this is not a condemnation of the public school system, or of the school that Emily attended this past year for kindergarten. We have had nothing but a positive and wonderful experience with the school, and loved all the staff that we came into contact with.
So why have we decided to do this? Why have we decided to turn our lives upside down, completely change our lifestyle, go against the grain of what is considered a "normal" education, and do this crazy thing? I thought getting our reasons down on "paper" would be helpful not only for those of you who read this, but also for us. We will want...no, I have no doubt we will NEED to be able read these reasons on occasion when we want nothing more than to throw in the towel! We are really excited about this new adventure, but of course, a little apprehensive and scared of the "unknown"!
Except for the first reason, these are in no particular order...
1. God. We are called. The Lord has been tugging on my heart to homeschool for quite a while. I had just chosen to ignore the tug! When I mentioned it to Brian...did I mention he thought I was nuts?...he said absolutely not, why in the world would we do this when we had a perfectly good public school in our neighborhood? So I began doing my own "clandestine" research on homeschooling, and the more I read, the more fascinated I became by the families that have chosen this path.
All the while, my prayer was, "God, if this is really what You want for our family, then You are going to have to change Brian's heart, because I can't do that." And amazing! He was faithful to do just that!
So why have we decided to do this? Why have we decided to turn our lives upside down, completely change our lifestyle, go against the grain of what is considered a "normal" education, and do this crazy thing? I thought getting our reasons down on "paper" would be helpful not only for those of you who read this, but also for us. We will want...no, I have no doubt we will NEED to be able read these reasons on occasion when we want nothing more than to throw in the towel! We are really excited about this new adventure, but of course, a little apprehensive and scared of the "unknown"!
Except for the first reason, these are in no particular order...
1. God. We are called. The Lord has been tugging on my heart to homeschool for quite a while. I had just chosen to ignore the tug! When I mentioned it to Brian...did I mention he thought I was nuts?...he said absolutely not, why in the world would we do this when we had a perfectly good public school in our neighborhood? So I began doing my own "clandestine" research on homeschooling, and the more I read, the more fascinated I became by the families that have chosen this path.
All the while, my prayer was, "God, if this is really what You want for our family, then You are going to have to change Brian's heart, because I can't do that." And amazing! He was faithful to do just that!
I had SO many concerns in the beginning when we officially decided to take this plunge...
...How can You possibly think I can do this?...I'm a control freak!...I don't have the patience to teach them...it's going to be too hard!...what if I mess up my kids...Lord, I'm not good enough...I’m not smart enough…Lord, I'm not strong enough!
Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."
Joshua 1:9 says "Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord is with you wherever you go."
After reading this, I discovered something. I'm right.
I'm not good enough, I'm not patient enough, and relying my strength alone will not make our homeschool experience a success. But the Lord IS strong enough. He hasn't called me to be strong and patient on my own. He has called me to be strong and patient in my faith, and give up control to Him so that He can work through me. He has blessed us with these three precious little lives, and has given US the responsibility of raising them.
Did I mention that giving up control of my little world is not one of my strong suits?
2. Academics. When we started seriously looking into this, I delved into as much homeschooling information as I could get my hands on.
...this all played very well into my Type A personality. I wanted to see what the fuss was all about!
And what I discovered was interesting:
...How can You possibly think I can do this?...I'm a control freak!...I don't have the patience to teach them...it's going to be too hard!...what if I mess up my kids...Lord, I'm not good enough...I’m not smart enough…Lord, I'm not strong enough!
Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."
Joshua 1:9 says "Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord is with you wherever you go."
After reading this, I discovered something. I'm right.
I'm not good enough, I'm not patient enough, and relying my strength alone will not make our homeschool experience a success. But the Lord IS strong enough. He hasn't called me to be strong and patient on my own. He has called me to be strong and patient in my faith, and give up control to Him so that He can work through me. He has blessed us with these three precious little lives, and has given US the responsibility of raising them.
Did I mention that giving up control of my little world is not one of my strong suits?
2. Academics. When we started seriously looking into this, I delved into as much homeschooling information as I could get my hands on.
...this all played very well into my Type A personality. I wanted to see what the fuss was all about!
And what I discovered was interesting:
- In 2009, Dr. Brian Ray released a study reporting that in the area of academics, homeschoolers typically score 37 percentile points higher than public schooled counterparts on standardized achievement tests
- I love the idea of being able to move as fast or as slow as my kids need to go on a particular subject or concept. We can adjust the way we are doing things if it is not working for us.
- Colleges across the country eagerly accept homeschooled kids, and in many cases, are now actively recruiting and seeking them because of their reputation for being consistently hard working, responsible students
- Many of the families that we have met who have homeschooled through high school have sent their kids to college with several college credits under their belts. 2 families that we met sent kids to college as JUNIORS because of all the college credit classes they were able to take.
- I don't particularly like the standardized testing that begins in the 3rd grade here. I understand the reasons behind it, but I think that the well intentioned reasons have become blurred in the schools. So much attention and time appears to be spent on preparing to take this exam, when I think that time could be better used elsewhere. I don't want my children to stress out and focus on a test that cannot possibly determine their level of intelligence. I would rather nurture their love of learning, not learning to take an exam. I'm not anti-test taking, I just don't think that should be the main focus for a large portion of school time.
3. We can go out and see what we are learning in the world, not just look at it in a book!
4. I read this on a blog and really liked it: "One day I will have to give an account to God of what I did with what He has given me. I want to be able to show Him that I lovingly taught His children"
5. We can go anywhere and have school! The library, the park, on the floor, on the couch, learning can happen anywhere! We can pack up the family and go to visit my mom for a week and not worry about the kids missing anything at school.
6. Family time. We enjoy being a close family. We love being around our kids! Sure, just like any other mom, I certainly have days that I want to lock myself in a closet and never come out. But I don't want to wake up 20 years from now regretting that I didn't get to spend more time with my kids when they were younger. It all goes by in such a blink...
7. We will have the time and flexibility to pursue other non-academic interests: sports, field trips, vacations, art classes, free time, music classes/lessons, helping out in the community. It takes a lot less time to complete a full day of work at home than in the classroom, which frees up availability for other interests.
8. Socialization. Ok, I admit it, this was the thing I was most concerned about at first. What if my kids turn out weird? What if they can't hold a conversation in a group? Will they be able to relate to other kids their age? What if they really do enjoy the denim jumpers? WHAT IF THEY DON'T KNOW WHO LADY GAGA IS?????
- Let me first say that we have not chosen to homeschool our kids to keep them out of the world. In fact, I think that homeschooling will allow our kids to be a part of the "real" world even more. Tell me, is it more "real" to be corralled in a room full of people the same age as you for 8 hours a day, or is the "real" world about learning to interact with people of all ages and maturity?
- Also, in a classroom setting, we have 1 teacher for 20 or more kids each day. I'm pretty sure that the dominating influence comes from the peers that are in the classroom, not necessarily the teacher! I'm not saying that all other kids are a bad influence and mine are perfect, far from it. However, we would prefer to be the dominating influence on their blossoming values and morals, especially at the young age that they are. We want to be able to equip their hearts and minds with a strong foundation of faith in God so that they can weather life's storms when they are developmentally and emotionally ready to handle it, and mature enough to make good decisions.
- Don't worry, we will not be maintaining our children in a bubble, and we are not going to keep them away from their public schooled peers! They will play sports, play with friends after school, go to church activities, go to co-op classes, go to playgroups, and go on field trips with other kids, which will afford plenty of opportunity to deal with kids their age, get into trouble, and make decisions on their own...it just won't be for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week!
9. We get to learn new things right alongside our kids
10. We get to see the "lightbulb" go off in their heads when they get something for the first time.
11. We get to love on and hug our kids whenever we want, not between the hours of 6-7am, and 3-7 at night.
12. I believe that homeschooling will give God the opportunity to transform me into the mom and wife that He wants me to be,
...clearly I have a LONG way to go!!
Now for my not so noble reasons for homeschooling:
- I love the smell of paper and books….no really, I do
- I LOVE lesson plans and planning calendars…yes, this is also true
- We can stay in jammies all day if we want!
- We don't have to wake up at the butt crack of dawn to get out the door.
- I get to cut paper, color, do crafts, finger paint, be silly, glue things, do science experiments...FUN!!
Whew…there it is, down on paper…or at least, down on the blog! I know the decision to homeschool is not for everyone…who knows, we may very well find out that it is not for our family either! But we feel convicted to follow the path that we feel the Lord has called us to.
I know there will be struggles, stress, frustration and more fear. But this is all part of the lesson…being able to lift those burdens from our shoulders and place them at the feet of the Lord. Thank you for reading, thank you in advance for your prayers, and check the blog every once in a while, I’m hoping to keep our year updated.
…you know… because I’m going to have a lot more free time, right??
