Why are you homeschooling?

[sharonb]

Wow! Have you been hanging around in my head? I could have written this almost exactly!

[Mercy]

I am so extremely blessed by this conversation.

Homeschooling takes such commitment and sometimes we need to press into the fight more than others. I have had soooooo many things come against us schooling our children at home. We only know a few homeschoolers and we arent super close...sometimes I feel like I am trudging through this alone, especially when my husband has been working a lot. But, whenever the doubt battle begins to rage...I have always gone back to that list of reasons why I am doing this. Its so important!!

I dont have the ability to write mine right now, but you all have just about nailed them all.

In case anyone is interested in how God is working though this latest battle, I will update with a post soon.

So thankful for this amazing group of women!!!!

[Heidi in AK]

I could reply, but basically I "ditto" almost everything said here! These are all my main reasons, too!!

Me too, Heather!!! I can identify with so many of these. The biggest two are obedience and allowing my children to experience the pervasiveness of God.

[faithful2him]

We began homeschooling in the Spring of 2010. That meant my then 4th grader and kindergartener were schooling at home for the first time. So some of my answers come from the experience of shifting their experiences from public school to meet our goals.

1. Because we are following God's call for us.
2. I didn't want my children to continue to be bored in class and wait for everyone else to finish. I wanted them to learn at their own pace.
3. I want to have my children experience God throughout the day, in the books we read, in the things we do.
4. I want my children to have time to explore what interests them.
5. I wanted to end the "busy work" my children experienced and know that the work they did had a goal of learning not just maintaining control in a classroom.

What I didn't realize at the time we chose to begin homeschooling was that I would also come to realize additional reasons we now continue to homeschool.

1. I enjoy seeing the lightbulbs go off and see their excitment of learning.
2. I enjoy being the teacher and knowing that what we teach can be connected to other things we do as a family.
3. I love seeing the kids realize God is a part of their day....I am not forcing that on them....they are embracing it on their own. And, we are seeing huge steps in our oldest son wanting to know more about God and the bible than before when he was in public school. And I know that is becuase the curriculum doens't just have one box for "bible study" but includes God throughout the topics. It is such a blessing to our family to see the growth of our oldest son!
4. I want our family to continue to grow closer and the sibling relationships be about friendship, not just a required connection.
5. I want my husband and I to be in control of their education!

Now that I posted mine, I am going to go back and read others.

[water2wine]

Here is mine mostly in order but not necessarily in order of priority.

1. So that my kids will know their Savior intimately.
2. So that my kids will have the knowledge and mindset they need to stay with God after they go out into the world.
3. So that my kids can explore their talents and find their call from God.
4. Because I feel it is where God lead me.
5. So that learning issues can be properly addressed.
6. Time flies and they are only young so long, I do not want to miss any of it.
7. So that my kids are not exposed to ungodliness, peer pressure and bullying at ps.
8. So that my kids minds will not be filled with ps social engineering agendas.
9. So that I do not have endless hours of homework with ps and also skip all those parent teacher meetings that just sucked time but did not produce fruit.
10. So that I can keep my kids' hearts close to home, close to me and close to God.

[deltagal]

Long, long ago when our oldest was almost 2 my husband and I began to articulate that God was leading us and in turn our children to grow as disciples through the disciplines of work, study and service. This family vision led us to homeschooling. And this family vision has kept us homeschooling. Homeschooling is not a perfect answer. It doesn't take away the tremendous presence and power of our culture. It doesn't obliterate bulletin boards and magazine covers when you go out shopping. It doesn't change the hearts and minds of church members who are new to the Christian faith or still searching, but who make an impression on your children. But it does slow everything down and give you a chance to talk, and walk, and guide your children. It does give you more opportunities to fill your children with honorable and Godly thoughts and studies. It does provide a family more room to practice being a family. It does open the door to days filled with abundant outdoor time and creative learning. It does lend itself to a better balance (although it can be a struggle). It does foster relationships with siblings, even though some days those relationships aren't too great. It does provide time, abundant time, for training in life pursuits; and if not carefully guarded other pursuits, as well. It does push you to ask a lot of questions every day about yourself and your children - and sometimes the answers are painful. It is hard. And it is a blessing. The practicality of homeschooling shifts with each season of a child's and family's life. Yet, if the vision is BIG - really big - the pursuit of homeschooling may be a grace filled one.

[annaz]

Obviously for all the reasons people mentioned. For us, this isn't just for the short haul and it isn't a topic up for debate in my house. I wanted my dd to be immersed in the Lord. I grew up were it all stopped at the front door right after church. I vowed that wouldn't happen here.

Not only that I thought school was awful. The bullying, the cliques, people hating you just because, the lack of direction, the lack of meaning in anything I did, the lack of real friendship, and certainly the lack of academic help or a love of learning.

I never contemplated putting my dd on a bus at 4 nor any age! I never wanted her gone all day. Certainly wasn't all peaches and cream though, but I just couldn't do it. Kids aren't cattle to be hearded in a group just to get through it. It's not about tests and standards with me.

I'm sure there are some kids who can rise above the garbage at ps, but at what cost? I didn't want dd to HAVE to rise above it all and certainly I didn't want her to be immersed in a worldview and only trying to undo it all with the little time I would have with her at home. God gave me a child and I was called to parent her 24/7. I fail miserably often, but at least I know I feel better knowing that I'm doing the best I can, and that's a lot better than sending her off to the wolves.

[jer2911mom]

1. Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."

We didn't know it was God's plan for us to homeschool until the spring before my older dd's Kindergarten year. She had attended Montessori preschool in the mornings for two years and I suddenly realized the next year no one would be prompting her to pray before lunch. The teachers were pretty much all Christians, but the school used a generic prayer not addressed to anyone in particular. It was very unsettling. God had already placed several friends from church in my path, and it was no coincidence that they were the only ones at our church who homeschooled. I had been friends with them for years, and had heard all about homeschooling, but never thought I would do it. I couldn't see my children's memories of school just being of the kitchen table. LOL, we don't even use the kitchen table yet! I had such a different view of the way school should be then. My wise friends never tried to sway me; they only led by quiet example.

That same spring I started feeling led to just read about homeschooling. I didn't think we would do it. I was just curious about it. I borrowed several books from our church's library. I got sick (again, no coincidence) and had several days in bed to read those books. I was stunned as I read about the origins of public schools, and reports and statistics on the state of schools after God was taken out. It was then that God led me to Proverbs 3:5-6. The part that really started sticking out to me was "in all your ways acknowledge Him". I felt like we would not be doing this by continuing to send our child for 6-7 hrs a day to a school that did not acknowledge Him. That ruled out everything but Christian schools. But we weren't feeling led in that direction at all.

I summarized everything I had been reading for my husband, thinking he never would consider homeschooling. It just had never been on our radar. His dad is a teacher at one of the local private schools here, and my mom and aunt were public school teachers. We grew up with a very traditional view of education. He took it all in and we continued to discuss it and pray about it over the next couple of months. I started attending conventions to get more information. God confirmed that this was the path to take when He led my husband to say it was what we should do. I was floored. And then I got busy figuring out what to do! I had great peace about using HOD, and we had a great year with LHFHG. It really helped me get my feet wet with homeschooling, and my dd had a lot of scripture written on her heart. It helped us to acknowledge God throughout the day, every day.

I now have a lot of other reasons we homeschool, very similar to the ones already mentioned. The main one continues to be to acknowledge God and try to glorify and honor Him in everything we do. I think the other reasons stem from that one main purpose, and the blessings that come from trying to do that. One of my wise homeschooling friends said that it seems every day God confirms to her in some small way that what they are doing is the right path, and I have found that to be true as well, once I started noticing it.

Blessings,
Kathy

[MomtoJGJE]

I'll add in my reasons because generally in our homeschooling circle I'm the odd one out.

I do not feel called by God on how my children receive an education.

My reasons, not in any particular order,

1.) I like my children. I like being around them. I cannot imagine them being gone from 6:30am until 3:30pm, then having to do homework, etc.
2.) I like being able to do school when we want to. Vacations when we want to, time of day that we want to, in whatever form we choose.... sometimes even when sick!
3.) Here, children in second grade have 2 hours or more of homework every night. So I would be doing just as much teaching if they were in school. Why in the world not just get it over with and let them play the rest of the day!
4.) My children are truly getting a well rounded education. They are learning academically, physically, emotionally, morally... they are learning about keeping house, cooking, shopping, making a budget, and other real world things.
5.) This one was quite possibly our biggest reason for starting out. Jayden cannot sit still for very long. I was totally afraid that she'd either be so concentrating on being still that she would fail her studies, or she'd be moving around so much she'd miss what the teacher said and would fail her studies. I feared that I would be getting weekly, if not daily, calls about her attitude and behavior. It's not so much of a reason any more, but it was huge for me 3 years ago.

[mamas4loves]

May I just give you all a big hug?! This topic is so so timely right now. I find myself saying, yes, yes in agreement to so many of your reasons!

I will add mine as well: (not in any particular order)

1. I want to create an environment where there is a 'team' mentality instead of a 'me' mentality. I want an environment that encourages sibling relationships. I want opportunities to make 'heart' connections with them everyday.
2. biblical worldview--I want to give these blessings the firmest foundation in the word of God so that filtering everything in this world through the word of God becomes as natural as breathing.
3. My children will be adults someday. When I send them out, I want them to be the surest and straightest arrow toward the target the Lord has for them. I want them to be society changers and influencers on their generation. I want them to be able to be salt and light to their generation and homeschooling enables us to train and disciple them in that endeavor.
4. I want my voice to be the voice they hear in their heads, not their peers.
5. I want to speak love and life into their hearts so they can speak love and life into the people they come into contact with.

That's the basics of it, I find the longer I am in this journey the more convicted I am of it. May God pour His blessings on you as you pour your life into your kiddos.

In Christ,
Jess

[8arrows]

Well, I now see the Holy Spirit at work in hearts, leading us to home school. At the beginning, our "reasons" were far from spiritual. I was pregnant with #3, and one day it hit me, "If my oldest goes to school, he may miss her first smile, her first crawl, the first time she walks.... How is that for a reason? I just wanted us to be together. Then, when we looked at the Christian school, I just couldn't bring myself to leave the other two littles with a babysitter to participate in the volunteering "required" at the Christian school. Finally, I told my husband, "I have a teaching degree. I don't think I can screw up kindergarten." We proceeded to take it year by year. My, how the Lord has changed our hearts!!!!! I will graduate my oldest this year, and he has never been to public school. Our reasons today are very different.

1. The Bible declares that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. If our schools do not allow the Lord and his precious Word, they are not instilling wisdom. Deuteronomy also commands us to teach our children when they wake up, when they lie down, when we walk along the path...If they are not with me, I cannot teach them. I want them to learn every subject alongside God's Word. I want their first question to be, "Does that line up with what the Bible teaches?"

2. My children's hearts would not be held gently, and they would be exposed to a miriad of speech and behavior patterns that do not line up with our worldview--the Bible.

3. I want my children to be best friends for life, and I want them to love and enjoy their relationship with my husband and I.

4. If my children were enrolled in school and we went to a funeral, the funeral home would have to send a note verifying our attendance. My word as their parent would not be good enough. What does that teach our children? The same applies to orthodontist appointments, etc. I refuse to give up my rights as a parent at the door of the school.

5. I can do a better job than the school---and so can you!!!!! And without homework!!!!

6. I want to enjoy music and games with my children, not carpool to watch endless sports in the freezing cold. (OK, not very spiritual, but true.)

7. If they went to public school, I couldn't use HOD. I enjoy reading their books!

8. History is being revised, and I want my children to read truth from original documents, not just current interpretation.
(This is actually higher on the list.)

9. I want my children to love learning.

etc., etc., etc

[frankesense]

There are many reasons but they all end up falling into one of following. I believe it is our (my dh and I) responsibility, to the best of our ability to teach our children to:
"Love the Lord their God, with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength." and to
"Love their neighbor as themselves."

HOD has been a tool that helps me to accomplish this goal.

[my3sons]

The answer to this question is so important to know, as it acts as a compass for our homeschooling. It is obvious you have weighed this question considerably in your answers here. Knowing why we are homeschooling helps us find successes big and small in our school days. It helps us know when we're accomplishing what we hope to accomplish, and it also helps us make decisions better, as we can go back to why we are homeschooling and see what decision best fits within that framework of goals. Here are my reasons for homeschooling, in no particular order of importance (other than #1 is #1 )...

- We want the Lord to be an integral part of our homeschooling - not an extra, not a maybe, not an option, not a once in awhile - but the center of what we are learning.
- We want our homeschooling to help us share our personal relationship with the Lord with our dc as often as possible. We want our homeschooling to help us open the door for discussions about faith and Godly character qualities we desire in ourselves as well as our dc. We want to share the Good News of the Lord with our dc as much as possible in our homeschooling, as well as have ample Bibles, devotionals, Bible studies, praise music to adequately do so.
- We want the atmosphere for our homeschooling to be the one we create within our own home. This atmosphere should be one of important purpose, delight in learning, and a cheerful attitude toward our work in school together.
- We want me to be responsible for the teaching of our dc. In the rare occasion I am unable to do this, we want a family member to be the teacher within our own home, if at all possible.
- We want to make homeschooling a priority by always having enough time for me to homeschool at home each day.
- We want each of our dc's homeschooling work each year to be well-fitted to their individual needs. We want each child to be able to do what is asked of him each year confidently and successfully.
- We want our dc to encourage each other in their homeschooling. Time is always well spent listening to the stories/poems/narrations someone has written, clapping for someone's performance, playing someone's history project game, complimenting someone's artwork, enjoying someone's reading project, complimenting someone's notebooking, asking questions about someone's newly found knowledge in history/science/etc.
- We want to homeschool our dc all the way through high school, as well as help them with their academic choices after high school, praying the Lord will provide guidance in this.
- We want homeschooling to be a part of our life, not the whole of it. We want to keep our homeschooling time focused and uninterrupted. We want to finish in a timely fashion, so there is time left in the day for personal interests and family time with my dh.
- We want our own family and extended family to provide the socialization of our dc. We want to take full responsibility for helping our dc to learn good socialization skills, and we want to do this by choosing to live near family and by spending significant time with each other and with family members of all ages.
- We want to encourage our dc to be each other's friends, as well as to encourage friendships among cousins. To do this, we want to provide ample opportunity for them to spend time with us as well as to spend time together their cousins.
- We want our homeschooling to be filled with excellent living books in as many subject areas as possible to keep the love of learning strong all the way through high school.
- We want hands-on learning to be a daily part of our homeschooling - having three sons, this is especially important.
- We want our homeschooling to gradually lead our dc to successful independence within learning, so as to help our dc be successful with secondary and post-secondary learning as well.
- We want our homeschooling to prepare our sons to be strong providers for their future families, so solid academics and training in good independent work habits is a must.

Thanks for your response to this question, ladies! Your answers show your dc are very blessed to call you "mom". May the Lord help us along our journey of homeschooling, as we all know it is not always easy. May we find the joy in knowing why we are homeschooling, and in doing what we need to do each day to make this happen!

In Christ,
Julie

[Heidi in AK]

1. I really feel that you cannot separate moral education from academic education. When public schools try to be value neutral, they either aren't really, or they are damaging the education process.

2. My husband is in the military. If we are homeschooling we can take vacation when he has them, move when he moves, take time off whenever we move, and never worry about where we are posted or where we live on the basis of the school system. It just takes so much stress out of our lives. So many people in the military endure even longer separations from spouses just so that they can finish or start school years when Daddy has already moved on, or they live no where near work for a decent school system, or they move across the country in shifts so they kids aren't truant. I have already endured time in the field, long days and a year with my husband in Afghanistan, why would we want to spend more time apart because of the rigidity of the school system?

3. Related to that - you want to talk about gaps in education? Try moving from state to state a couple of times! Changing school systems routinely can really mess things up.

4. I don't believe that age segregated classrooms promote anything like healthy socialization. It tempts children to take an unhealthy interest in ridiculous or damaging popular culture and fads in order to fit in. They rarely see adults interact with one another (because teachers almost never actually speak to one another in front of students). And it is simply a rather unnatural setting, as no workplace or real situation is that age dependent and randomly assigned. Plus, if your children are at all distractible, especially while they are little, they can easily get behind with all of the action in the standard elementary classroom.

5. Public schools have only so much room to be radical. There are accepted practices in educational thinking, and even when you deviate from those (often because they aren't working) you can only deviate so far. Homeschooling gives you a lot more ability to look for functional models of education and do something really different for the benefit of your children's academic development. So, they end up getting a better education.

I would say those are the big five, although I could probably add plenty more. I didn't have a great experience as a gifted student in public schools. The gifted programs were regularly awful or not supported (egalitarianism and all). Options are limited (my schools didn't offer languages other than Spanish or French.) I believe that schools almost universally have fallen into such bad theories about teaching writing that they are almost universally failing to teach students to communicate properly. Thank God that homeschooling offers us as parents such a better option!

Lena

dd3 - LHTH
ds1
ds - soon?

We're military too. I second these. I'm on a tablet that shuts off easily or I'd type my own list. I keep quoting ones with reasons I agree with, primarily, although all the reasons are great!!!

[Carrie]

What a wonderful thread!

Blessings,
Carrie