Since July (when I found out I was pregnant with number seven), I've really been struggling with an overwhelmed feeling in regard to homeschooling. I just seem to feel like my ideas about having a large family and my ideas about homeschooling are in conflict. Now, this is really a new feeling for me. I'm a somewhat (ahem) determined person and very faithful to my beliefs once I feel the Lord has led me in a certain area. The thing is, I know there are lots of people out there with seven kids that are homeschooling . . . and with good success. So why have I been so overwhelmed. Good question! Since I reupped for the infant toddler stage again, I was beginning to question how I would homeschool. It was getting to be a pretty consuming topic for me, so Friday I decided to spend some time writing why I homeschool. I just happened to do it while I was subbing at a public school too, which I thought was very ironic!
So, I'm going to begin to summarize some of my thoughts here. Homeschool vs. Public school (since financially, Christian school isn't an option for us)
I started by asking Steve why we homeschool.
1. Because I have a wife that is willing to homeschool. He always says something like that.
2. To avoid negative influences . . . behavior (attitudes of disrespect, pride, etc.), philosophy (psychology, self-esteem)
3. So we don't have to fight evolutionary indoctrination. Even second grade does a unit on dinosaurs (and not many people think they co-existed with man under 10,000 years ago)
4. Build faith (adequate time to do this)
5. Family cohesion. This isn't something we thought much about, but it has really been a benefit. My two oldest girls are so different in personality, but they are the best of friends. One went to grandma's a few weeks ago, and the other had to call two times to talk to her. Their lives are very intertwined!
Next, I relistened to some tapes from Ken Ham. I knew he would give me renewed focus.
1. It takes a lot of time to train our children in God's Word. We are living in a spiritually illiterate era. It takes a lot of wark to teach our children doctrine. They won't be the salt of the earth until the salt has been poured into them. We need to give them a taste for doctrine at a young age.
2. Baggage . . . Ken Ham survived public school (and so did my husband and I), but not without baggage.
3. Somebody is brainwashing your kid. Who is it?
From my experience in the public school system.
1. Lockdown drills. Now, I never planned to homeschool because of school violence, but those lockdown drills give me the creeps. Not something I want my 5 year old to experience!
2. The teaching of pride . . . and it isn't that it goes before a fall!
3. Scary kids. When I taught first grade I had two scary boys in my class. I mean, they even scared me, and I was an adult that could handle it. I also had a girl that threw up every day. I couldn't prove it, but I always wondered if she threw up because those boys scared her so much too!
4. Some teachers. Now, I have a lot of respect for a lot of the teachers in the school system where I work. But there are some teachers, whew!! And even the good teachers would probably give subtle differences to what we believe since we are so conservative (regarding dress, music, behavior, reading material).
5. Videos. We have a couple in the homeschool group that took their daughter out of first grade because they said she had seen enough videos. 
While subbing I've shown a LOT of vidoes that I wouldn't even watch if I had a choice, let alone want my kids to watch!!!
6. Disrespect for authority. Bad company corrupts good morals. How could my kids not pick up those disrespectful habits?
7. Bus rides. I've seen what goes on in a church van, and I don't want to even think about my kids on a bus!
8. Wasted time . . . okay, Steve says we can't really argue that because we have some time wasters (like toddlers and babies) around our house too, but man, busywork is crazy!!
Just more thoughts from me.
1. More individual educational attention . . . especially for Hannah, who is struggling, and more education centered on their God given talents and interests. And for children that learn faster, they won't be held back by "the class".
2. I don't have to reteach them material if they already know it. I can go at their pace, skip junior highs repeat classes, etc.
3. Subtle influences by teachers. I recently read a discipline paragraph that 3rd graders write that stated, "I am too good of a person . . . " . Encouraging the popular idea that we are all really good people deep down as opposed to the fact that we are all sinners deep down.
4. So I don't have to homeschool after they have been at school all day already.
5. Close sibling relationships.
6. Dealing with their sin constantly. . . more sins surface when at home all day. Granted, that sounds bad, but I'm glad I have a chance to deal with what is really in their hearts.
7. Freedom of schedule . . . church late at night, funerals, vacations, visiting shut-ins
8. Time to work on AWANA and Word of Life requirements.
9. Really knowing my kids . . . especially as they grow and change.
10. I know what is going on at school . . . there is no way I could know what went on for seven hours at a public school.
11. No wasted time on bus rides.
12. Time for service activities . . . notes, phone calls, Rescue Mission work, church work
13. There are a lot of adults that struggle with discernment, so there is no way I can expect all my kids to have the ability to discern between evil and good all day, every day without a LOT of godly training. I'm not sure when my kids will attain that level of discernment, but I know for sure one of my fifth graders doesn't have it yet. Not that she hasn't been trained or is a bad kid . . . she is a people person, and I'm sure she would take her friend's or teacher's statement as fact.
I'll probably be thinking on this topic more in the near future, but this is certainly enough to keep me going for a while! Gotta go . . . Josh is into the bag of marshmallows for the cookout tonight!