Why do I home school

A sweet friend asked me for my top 4 or 5 reasons for home schooling as she considered options for her marvelously brilliant young boy.  So here's my response to her, for your reading pleasure :) I do not know why the fool-background color.  I cannot fix it.


yikes.  That is stressful - as I've not entirely convinced my husband of the obviousness of our continued schooling at home.  It's so obvious to me.  Why shove our beloveds into the mad crowd of schools, not when they have Mom's and Dad's who are capable and motivated and the resources are LIMITLESS!

I have a friend you might speak with.  She has a brilliant son who basically smart-ed out of public school - they just couldn't hold him down any longer - he ended up schooling himself (as many home schoolers do when they get up into middle and high school - my Peter is basically teaching himself Latin because I can't keep up with the memory work and so I'm only useful for elaborating on the grammar rules for him).   Her second child was struggled mightily and they tried lots of options and so this crazy wonderful mom is now an expert is some reading/teaching method and consults with people.  Point: she'd love to express the value and possibilities of educating a brilliant boy child from home (like yours!).

Our children were designed to thrive, to learn, to go get after their life-purposes.  Our jobs are to empower them, give them boundaries and opportunities, protect them from harm (physical, spiritual, emotional) and make them ready to do battle victoriously in life and delight in giving glory to God through their work.  Woooo hoo!!!  I get so excited.  I listened to a radical seminar the other day - he said that he teaches his children to read so they can devour the Word of God, to think so that they can decipher it and the teachings of man, and to write/speak so that they can be ready with an answer that makes sense for those who ask.  Yes!!!

I home school my children so that

1.  They grow with wide-eyes-open awareness that all we say and do in life is shaped by our worldview and that we can distinguish the motivations and worldviews of other people.  There are differences and they are important.

2.  To shape their learning to their distinctly created selves - each have amazing strengths and differences and they will obviously learn best when the ratios are in their favor (4:1 is pretty nice, though I'd vote for 10:1 if Kevin would just jump on board ;)

3.  Time is limited - we only have minutes and hours and days before we send them off as adults - let's not squander.  The traditional school day wastes HOURS of their childhood that would be better spent at play (mine were insistent that the stuffed animals MUST play The Great War (WWI) NOW, not after I finished our history chatting - that is awesome, I think).  We learn much while tromping through the woods and doing chores and helping each other.  Chores and school work and family life are not separate - our lives have beautiful unity of purpose - it's all really valuable.

4.  I don't trust other people.  They mean well, but they teach what they know (whether they are a 7 yr old peer or a well-meaning teacher) - and when it all comes down, God holds US accountable for how we instruct our children (Deuteronomy 6) and not the US Dept of Educ or the Church.  Also, the Bible calls children fools - and we all know that they are, that's why we don't leave them alone together for too long :)  So, while it is valuable to learn how to socially navigate, it is not valuable to do peer immersion.  As adults, we choose who to hang with, some adults choosing more wisely than others.  Children are not equipped to do this.  Studies show that a child can rarely resist a marshmallow on a table for a few minutes - they certainly can't resist the allure of their peers or the teachers they long to please.

5.  I adore my children - I'm greedy for them - we have a delightful time together.  It thrills my heart to hear their responses to Emperor Nero, to the drastic difference between Mary Poppins the movie and the novel, to the way the dog "played" with our brown chicken, and to the last birthday party they attended.  I want to walk with them through their childhood, help them to avoid missteps and identify hazards and delight in overcomings together.  It is a high-calling and I welcome that exhaustion.  Oh, to be all used up by loving my husband and children - not a bad deal.  

My husband asks "and what if something happens and you can't?" Well, there are plenty of terrible what-ifs - and we'll deal.  And we'll do our best in that situation just as we ARE doing our best in this one.  That's irrelevant.  We must choose based on today's resources.  So I think you should LEAP in.  Goodness, I've used enough capitals??!

You are welcome to come out and spend the day devouring all my resources.  I found it very helpful to immerse in a few households I admired - it gave me a starting place for buying and planning.  Children are organic (right?) creatures - so the plan must be malleable, seasonal even, and it helps so much to have families you admire to turn to in process.