Why do you homeschool?

Why do you homeschool?

I was homeschooled from the beginning of my life. Not from Kindergarten through 12^th grade.  From the beginning of my life.  I am deeply thankful to God for the education I received at home.  But I want to be careful to describe its origins as “at birth” because that is really the way I view homeschool.  It is not a box that has been checked or something separate.  It is more so, a lifestyle which is determined by the worldview that my husband and I have adopted.  We were both homeschooled and have chosen the best things we learned from our parents and are trying to build on those things for our girls.  We strive to go further than our parents and we hope our girls go further than we did when they are grown.  We can’t possibly cover all of the reasons that people might homeschool since they are as numerous as the number of homeschooling parents so I will explain why WE homeschool.

Foundation of This Decision

I can’t explain why I homeschool without explaining why I do anything.   I am a follower of Christ and in that way, I live my life completely subjected to Him.  I want to please Him, honor Him, obey Him, and walk in a manner worthy of the calling He has given to me.  He is gracious and merciful and calls us all to a certain work at a certain time, with certain people, and certain gifts, and certain convictions. Homeschooling is one of many ways that we live out our calling as believers to raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

Limitations to this Decision

We do not all have the same convictions, even while having the same profession of faith.  There are clear commands in Scripture that are black and white which we don’t have freedom to deviate from, but in the gray areas, there is freedom in Christ and opportunity to mirror the creativity of our great God.  For example, when I married my husband, I took on a certain person to whom I now must submit (black and white area).  If he were not open to homeschooling, I would not be free to disregard his preferences and raise our kids the way I want to. The black and white instructions to submit override the gray area of how to educate my children.  Suffice it to say, we must obey God where we are and in the situation God has ordained for us.  We must work toward looking at our life through the lens of scripture. There are ways to still raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, while sending them to a traditional school. 

Why do we homeschool?

Our home is a result of choices we have made from the beginning of our marriage and continue to make each day.  Learning is still a way of life for us as parents and we are passing that on to our kids.  We have to decide what our children should learn and how they should grow as we obey Deuteronomy 6:7 (LSB) “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when your rise up.” In light of that, we have chosen to be the primary teachers in their lives.  We have concluded that time and substance are the two biggest forces in our choice to homeschool.  I want all of the time to teach them and I want to choose all of the content of their education. The content of the books they read and the television they watch and the radio they listen to is all curated to direct their minds to Philippians 4:8 (LSB) “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is dignified, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, consider these things.”  All of our conversations with them have the goal to obey Ephesians 6:4 (LSB) “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

Method of homeschooling

The best way we have found to do that is to make all of life about learning.  We find in Psalms and Proverbs, a repeated theme of growing in wisdom and knowledge and understanding.  It is not a “one and done’ or “good enough” kind of growing.  It is a relentless desire to know God, understand Him, and then live in a way that shows our understanding (wisdom).  It would be counterproductive to teach our children that they should endeavor to know God forever and simultaneously teach them that they have finally finished learning when they finish grade 12 or after 4 years of college.  We want to point them to a never ending, joyful endeavor of seeking God and learning about all that He has done in every area of life.  When all of life is about learning, you don’t need to look very far for a new opportunity to teach your children about God.  All of life is learning because it is all about God for us.  We can’t study anything without being reminded that we are His creation and He has created everything we study.  

When all is said and done, we homeschool because we want to glorify God and we have found this to be the way that we are able to glorify Him the most.  We don’t do it perfectly and we have seasons that are harder than others, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.  This is the life He has chosen and we are thankful.