I have been asked about why we homeschool many times, and also if I have a “why we homeschool” blog post. Well, I didn’t, but I am writing it now.
First of all, let me say that even though I liked to do “learning time” with each of my small children, I never envisioned myself as the “homeschooling kind”. I only ever saw weird people homeschool. I am definitely not weird. right?
{I also never saw myself as a stay-at-home mother of six, but that is another story.}
The idea first struck me when all of the school shootings were happening. Things like “If this is going on when our kids are school-aged, we will just homeschool” were going through my head. This to me was the “worst case scenario” since I was “too cool” to homeschool.
When kindergarten came around for our oldest, we lived in a wonderful neighborhood and homeschooling never entered my mind.
When my husband finished preaching school, and we moved states for local church work, we came to a new place, where we knew no one, with no family around, and I started getting the tug to bring the kids home. Moving wasn’t a new thing, but this time our oldest seemed to have a harder time fitting in. Not with the church, but with the area.
I kept hearing about homeschooling, but no one around here seemed to be doing it, or supporting it. The idea came to me so frequently that we decided to give it a try. It didn’t last long. I didn’t like the naysayers, or the lack of support. I didn’t like a less-than-perfectly-clean house.
We tried it again a couple of years later, this time with our two oldest. Our daughter missed her friends, I was afraid of ruining her life, and I sent them back, again.
After that day, I had nothing but guilt. Every single time I heard the word homeschool, I felt like I was being kicked in the gut. I tried to convince myself that I would leave the teaching to the teachers, and I would stay home to cook and clean.
Then one day, a copy of Christian Woman magazine that my sweet husband ordered me came. Ironically, or not, the feature of that issue was homeschooling.
I was really convicted. I had been changing, my friend circle had been tightening, my whole life was becoming more God-centered, and it all seemed to be leading me, to this path. It was also hard to come to my husband about it, as I had already quit. Twice.
Needless to say, I was met with some resistance. I can’t blame my husband, I didn’t have a great track record. But we poured over the Scripture, and prayed. We agreed that whatever decision we made would be a final one.
And here we are.
I wish I had stuck with it the first two times, as I jumped in with 4 students and two toddlers. It was much harder this way! Student five will join us for official school when we start a new year in July or August.
I still have some resistance with those who aren’t fans of homeschooling, and we still live in the same homeschool starved area. But the children are thriving, and we believe that we have made the best decision for our walk with God. Even the ones who are against it admit we are doing a wonderful job. I guess that is as good as it will get for now.
Is every day easy? No Does mom still miss the always clean house? Yes! But I wouldn’t trade it for the world!
If you are considering homeschooling-PRAY! Feel free to email me with any questions you have. I had a lot!
“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1
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