I have a new job! I've been in it for about 2 1/2 weeks now (and did a test-run February through mid-July). It is one in which I get to work from different locations. I can work at home in my pajamas, at the library, while visiting family, while camping - just about wherever and whenever I choose to work, I can. It will be a challenging position, dealing with learning new information, gathering needed resources, brainstorming creative ways to present information, schedule conflicts and other people's agendas sometimes taking precedence over mine, but I'm still looking forward to it. My main co-worker on the job is a 4 1/2 year old, though...After four years as a full-time wife and mama, I have added the position of home educator!
This is not a decision I made lightly. About five years ago - maybe even just four - I would have told you I would have never considered home-schooling my children. Then, a couple years ago, my thoughts on the issue began to change. I began meeting some people who home-school and learning their reasons, methods, etc. I've seen and heard about how it works in their families. I began growing in my walk with Jesus and seeing the world around me in a different way. Then, less than a year ago, when I was considering how our family would choose to educate our children, I began getting answers.
Below are some of my reasons and considerations regarding my decision to home-school our children. Please keep in mind that these are my own convictions and I do not try to impress them on anyone else. I believe God has a plan to use us all to spread his Word and love, but that can look very differently for different people.
1.
Because the Holy Spirit told me to. God revealed
it to me most vividly through a Bible study, Sunday school lesson and the
prompting to read the book of James late one night. The verses and discussion
that came to me within the span of about a week and a half led to a confidence
that this is God’s will for our family.
2.
Build a strong foundation of God’s truths –
Biblical, Christian worldview
a.
Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is
right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything
is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
i.
Not rude, ugly, indecent, unseemly, unbecoming,
crude, obscene.
b. James
5:20 - remember this: Whoever turns a
sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a
multitude of sins.
3.
God wants parents to teach their children.
a. Deuteronomy
4:9 - Only be careful, and watch
yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or
let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your
children and to their children after them.
b. Deuteronomy
6:5-9 - Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are
to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when
you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when
you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your
foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
i.
It would be difficult to impress these on
our children throughout all our activities (sit, walk, lie down, get up) if
they are away from us for 8-10+ hours at least 5 days a week.
c. Deuteronomy
11:18-21 - Fix these words of mine in
your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your
foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at
home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your
days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the
days that the heavens are above the earth.
i.
Same as above point.
d. Proverbs
22:6 – Train up a child in the way he
should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
4.
Allow children to mature some spiritually before
bombarding them with outside temptations and influences.
a.
2 Timothy 3:1-7 – But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People
will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive,
disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving,
slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous,
rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form
of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. They are the
kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who
are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always
learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.
i.
I do not want the effects of such individuals in
my home.
ii.
In verse 5, we are warned to avoid people like
this (“Have nothing to do with them.”)
iii.
I do not want my children to be like them.
iv.
I want my children to be able to learn AND
acknowledge the truth.
1.
In the public schools, the students are “always
learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth” because the public
school system does not allow any teaching about God.
2.
We CAN teach knowledge of the truth of God
within our home.
b.
Beth Moore “The destructiveness of indecency
comes from the mind’s tendency to replay events, words, or pictures. If we
experience and replay those events often enough, we lose our sensitivity. Then
the indecency appears in us. Agape is never obscene. If we participate in the
indecent or obscene, we cripple our ability to exercise agape.” (Living Beyond
Yourself study)
c.
James 1:27 - Religion
that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after
orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted
by the world.
d.
James 4:4 - You
adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred
toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of
God.
e.
James 5:20 - remember
this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death
and cover over a multitude of sins.
i.
We need to keep our children away from many sins
and save them from eternal death.
f.
Deuteronomy 7:26 - Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will
be set apart for destruction. Utterly abhor and detest it, for it is set apart
for destruction.
i.
What kind of things would be detestable to us?
Crude language and behavior, promiscuity, disobedience, disrespect – to name a
few.
5.
Flexibility in lessons, methods, schedules
a.
Lessons outside, more/different trips, schedule
can look different day-by-day
6.
Stress value of family and relationships.
a.
Opportunities to possibly spend more time with
family and friends.
b.
Home-schooling may allow us more time and
opportunity to serve others.
i.
James 1:27 - Religion
that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after
orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being
polluted by the world.
ii.
Isaiah 1:17 - learn to do right! Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of
the widow.
7.
What about socialization?
a.
Plenty of opportunities – Sunday school,
children’s choir, once-a-month class with Austin Nature and Science Center,
class with co-op once a week (starting next year), group of home-schoolers with weekly park
play-dates, additional play-dates, Bible study class while Mama is attending a
Bible study, MOPs (Mothers of Preschoolers).
8.
What if I don’t know what I’m doing?
a.
Ezekiel 36:27 - And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and
be careful to keep my laws.
i.
We can go through an experience as if we are
familiar with it because it is the Spirit of Christ working in us and He is
familiar with it (thought from Beth Moore’s Living
Beyond Yourself study).
b.
Philippians 4:13 - I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
i.
I might be nervous, but I can do it with God’s
help and the Spirit’s guidance.
c.
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 will make your paths straight.
i.
God will guide me.
9.
What if people disagree with me?
a.
2 Timothy 3:12 – In fact all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be
persecuted.
i.
No, people will not agree with our decision to
home-school, among other decisions, but if we’re following God’s lead for our
lives, then we will have persecutions to endure.
b.
We have a good, strong support network of
families who are home-schooling their children.
10.
But it’s going to be hard!
a. 2
Timothy 3:14-17 - But as for you,
continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you
know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the
holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in
Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may
be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
i.
I need to stay firm and continue in what I
believe the Lord is leading me to do.
ii.
Use Scriptures to teach
iii.
Verse 17 – so
that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
1.
I am going to be using Scripture throughout my
children’s education so they can be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
b.
Easy does not necessarily mean good. Hard does
not necessarily mean bad. Home-schooling would be hard – much harder than just
putting them in public school. That would be easy. (Thought I had during Beth
Moore Living Beyond Yourself study)
c.
Whenever I’ve considered not home-schooling, a grief
washed over me from head-to-toe. I was grieving the Holy Spirit by just
considering not following his lead.
You know, as I've thought about it lately, my previous work as a speech-language pathologist (SLP) in the school system prepared me for this position. I got to see in different classrooms and see the activities they did with the kids. I have incorporated some of those into our home environment and love having that information to draw from. As an SLP, I tended to work in small groups with children. I prefer this much more than I would a whole classroom of students. I worked mostly with 1-4 students at a time, from ages 3 to 18. How neat that I will get to work with small groups, just like I prefer, by educating my children. Plus, all the skills I learned to work with different children for different speech and language issues - I get to use them with my children and to help others.
Also, ever since I was in high school, I believed that I was supposed to raise children to know Jesus - whether they were my children or somebody else's children. I always took that view when I worked with students at the schools and now I have my own children. Any job I ever remember considering to have ever since I was little has dealt with working with children.
If you are interested in researching home-schooling more, I'd recommend
that you check out www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com. Erica has such a
wealth of experience and resources to share.
