Reminder: Why we homeschool?

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 

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."

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 the Shema

I got the following message on Facebook this morning from a dear sweet cousin: "Ok so remind me the pros and cons of homeschooling please mam!! Really questioning if this is for us."

So I'm putting the answer here. Partly because I can make paragraphs on here and can't in that instant messenger thing and partly because I need this reminder myself sometimes. So, I've replaced where I'd put her name with (Your name) and her child's name with (Your Child) then this works for me or anybody.

Here we go:

Well, you get to know your child and what all information is going in. When they hear a new word you are there to explain it instead of some little brat or liberal teacher. 
You aren't handing your kid over to strangers to raise. 
You are following biblical mandates to TRAIN UP YOUR CHILD - this is a serious responsibility and not something we willy nilly pass on to people we know very little or nothing about (although getting a little help from time to time - like with Spanish or Agriculture or baseball or some other thing the kid might be interested in and which we are present for or welcomed at can be really helpful and a great relief). 

God never said it would be easy. He encourages, nay COMMANDS FATHERS to be involved in this - we respectful, submissive wives are to be the helpmeets (though a great deal of early training does fall to us, we should be under our husbands authority - and gently encourage him in his leadership in our home). 

The Bible also encourages us to not spare the rod - he will not die. (Your Child) is such a sweetie I can't believe you'd ever have to use strong punishment (giggle) but kids act like kids - when they are older they should put away childish things, it's our job to help them get there. To be responsible, productive, God fearing adults. 

Sweet (Your name), it's not easy. It's a HUGE job. We know we should be the happy mother of children, submissive wives, obedient children of our Loving Father. BUT sometimes we just want to stomp our foot and roll our eyes and cross our arms over our chest and run away or go back to bed or just hide under a rock somewhere or yell and scream and pitch a fit and knock out anybody who dares stand in our way. Then, I would encourage you to remember your First Love. It's okay to run away, find a quiet place, have a good cry (or laugh at yourself), and have a little meal of the Bread of Life. Run away like Elijah did and let God feed you. Sit, hide, rest. And begin again refreshed. 

Dear one you are doing a great and powerful work. And you are doing great!
Don't be discouraged and don't give up. 

"He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. "

1 Thessalonians 5:24

We are the vessel, willing to be used by the Creator to reach a lost and dying world. That, for us, begins in our homes. Sharpening up these arrows in our quiver to be mighty ballistic missiles that we fire off into the world. 

  "And I am sure of this, 

that he who began a good work in you 

will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." 

Phillippians 1:6

You want pros and cons - I think the list is too long.

Most of my cons have to do with selfish things. Like all the other things I could be doing if all these loud people were somewhere else all day. Like how nice my naps would be if all these loud people were somewhere else even part of the day. Like how, if Gene took a day off from work (like he has this week), I'd have him all to myself.

But man, I sure would miss these loud people. 

I wouldn't have the relationship that I do with my teen daughters - I might not even like them and who they were becoming. 

Those big boys who seem to always find a way to be in trouble at home would be little punks. I might not like them very much either. 

My innocent little ones wouldn't be who they are. 

Not that I always like them anyway. I always love them. I just don't always like them. That's usually because I'm tired, or they're tired, or they are especially difficult that day, or I'm hormonal, or I see something in them that reminds me of ME and I don't like it. Looking in that mirror isn't always nice.

Most of the time, I really like them. 

I LOVE that I can use the Bible as our basis for all we do. School curriculum, home management (I'm working on that one), character training, discipline, encouragement, daily living... 

They still hear "words" (homosexual, abortion, rape, murder, monsters, ghost, racist, sorcery/witchcraft...) but we are right here to explain. To help know what is real and what is not. To help them know what is sin and what is not. 

It's not always fun. We often take a break from school - we took off all last week just to get some work done in the house and regroup. We have "snow days" when it's too pretty to stay inside and we HAVE to go to the lake and swim or play on a play ground or go visit somebody (like Grandmother). 

But tomorrow is another day. We begin again.

We fail and try again.

We might do things differently (I'm looking at using completely different curriculum for a few subjects next year - I'm changing our routine - I want to be home even more - I want simple).

Try, Try again.

You'll get discouraged. You'll envy that yellow bus. But keep plodding along.

I love you!

You can always come play over here - call first and we'll clear a path for ya to get in the door!

"The Homework" by Simon Gluckich