Walking Therein

Why Would I Homeschool?

3:50 PM, Tuesday, April 1, 2008 .. Posted in Are you Wondering If You Should Homeschool .. 6 comments .. Link

We homeschoolers know that home education is the best for our children, and that socialization is not an issue, but many think that we parents are as obtuse as they think homeschooling is. The interesting thing about that is that most homeschool parents were schooled in a public or private school setting, and therefore have the knowledge of that type of education under their belts. For the vast majority, the same cannot be said for parents of public/private schooled children. Or, an even more interesting thing about it (read:ludicrous) is the adults who have such experience in education and opinions on homeschooling who have *no* children.

Many homeschoolers do believe homeschooling is the best life for all families and children. A lot of us see it as a mandate from God in His Word, where we are instructed as Believers to

Deuteronomy 6:6-7
"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

However, this belief is personal, and most of us don't care if you send your children to public or private schools or not, in regards to our opinions of you personally. We know, from seeing both sides of the coin which is best, but we also know what God's Word says, and we truly do believe it is the authority of the parents to make that decision. In other words, we may disagree with the choice to not homeschool, but it does not mean we feel superior or that you are ruining your children, we just know what we know about homeschooling.

Part of the reason many have ridiculous opinions of homeschooling is because they either know no homeschool families personally or have known of a bad homeschool family whose children are hoodlums. I have not heard of someone whose pool of homeschool knowledge went further than those two reasons. As a matter of fact, almost twenty years ago, my mother had neighbors who homeschooled, and I distinctly recall her making comments about how all the kids did was played outside all day. I can laugh at that now.

The fact was that they weren't outside all day, and when they were, we had no idea what they were playing or even the ages of the children. And, did they get up at 7am and do workbooks until 10am? Or maybe they had read their assignments and drawn their pictures or maybe they were learning social skills relating to one another outside on the swing set. Regardless of what they were doing, we had no idea that all experience is learning, only because of our jaded knowledge of learning as deemed by the public school system! Funny; I had forgotten about that.

Fast forward to now, and I could come up with a million things our children not only do outside, but learn when they are outside! See how perspective changes with experience and a little understanding?
The collective wrong beliefs about homeschooling are called myths. Like the way you carry a baby in utero tells you the sex of that baby. Or that we only use 10% of our brains or that shaving legs causes hair to grow back thicker. These are unproven ideas, and as a matter of fact, the only reason people believe them as fact is because someone else said it. Kinda' like myths about homeschooling.

I could not stand to be with my children all the time.
My children and I won't have any friends.
What about sports, band and other extra-curriculars?
My children will not learn how to socialize with other people.
Children cannot learn outside of a school setting.
I do not know how to teach - I would need a college degree in education to homeschool my children.
I don't want my children to be considered weird.
We don't have a large enough family. Don't you have to have 10 kids to homeschool?
Homeschooling would take too much of my time.
Homeschooling is too expensive.
Homeschooling is for religious fanatics and abusive parents
I couldn't stand to never leave the house.
I don't want to stay inside during school hours.
There are so many things I don't know. I could not teach them everything.
I could not teach science experiments at home.
Homeschoolers don't get a diploma, they get a GED.
Homeschoolers can't get into college.
My children don't listen to me.
My spouse and I both work.
Homeschoolers have to be tested each year by the public schools.
My child wants to go into the military.
Homeschoolers never smile.
I am too disorganized to homeschool.
I couldn't teach my children at the same time.

I don't know; if I address all of these ideas, this could become a book, instead of just a blog post. I can truly say that almost all of those can be defeated in Scripture, so if you are a Believer who supports those myths, pray and ask the Lord to reveal what He thinks about them. Too many times we buy into pop-culture christianity and don't really think through why we believe certain things. We homeschool our large family on one income, budgeting our money. Mostly, it is faith. God set us on this course, and He will provide. Period. Everything. Skill, knowledge, time, desire, money, everything.

I actually have had Christian parents tell me *in front of their children* that they could not stand to be home with their children all day. How very sad. Are children a blessing or a curse? The Bible tells us they are a Blessing, each and every one of them. He tells us that they are a heritage and a reward.

Psalm 127

3Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

4As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

So, maybe it's the parenting then or the influences of society, the public school system and children of families who do not serve the One True God. Whatever it is, 50% of the battle is in our minds and spirits, and it is high time to get it that God calls children a Blessing and even says that a man who has many children is happy. Happy, like blessed. I don't personally care if you choose to have one child or even none. I am reading the Bible. I am saying it says:

5Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Interestingly enough, the beginning of Psalm 127 says

1Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

2It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Except the Lord build the house. Not the state. Not the public education system. Not the church. The Lord.

So, if you are a homeschooler, you may not need to read these links, but it will give you great encouragement to know other homeschoolers not only understand, but have the same passion about it that you do. If you are not a homeschooler, read them over so that you may hear the truth from someone who does have it on authority and not just an opinion they heard somewhere.

Common Homeschooling Myths Dispelled

NHEN: Dispelling The Myths About Homeschooling
By Christine Webb

Family Lobby.com: The Most Common Home-schooling Myths Exposed and Explained

ChildAdvocate.org: Myths About Home Schooling/Self-Directed Learning & Commonsense Answers © 2003 by Laurie A. Couture, M.Ed, LMHC

Lew Rockwell.com: Homeschooling and the Myth of Socialization

Family Education:Social Skills and Homeschooling: Myths and Facts

Associated Content: Homeschool Truth, Homeschool Myth, Homeschool Fact: Some Things You Hear About Homeschoolers Are True, Others Are False

If you have written a post about Homeschool Myths, feel free to link it in the comments.

blessings!

Walking Therein

Why Would I Homeschool?

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Homeschool neighbors

LOL

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