I received this comment today:

 

Apr. 6, 2006 - Bring them home?

Posted by Anonymous

Are you raising your kids to stay home? or is your job as a parent to raise them to be fully functional, intelligent, ambassadors for CHrist in their school, church, and later on in their college and adult life.... What a joy to know my children will be equipped little munchkins, sharing Christ, experiencing challenges in their school, coming home to get encouragement and spiritual nourishment, and then back up to bat.... just like their mommy does in her adult life.... when I face challenges at work... come home.. get encouragement from my Jesus and my family.... then back up to bat again for the Kingdom.... He keeps me singing all day Long!

 

 

My reply: 

 

You sound like a joyful mother and I am not saying any of the following to in anyway criticize you or the path that God has led you and your family to follow, but I would like to answer for my family and for the path that God has led us to follow, if I may...  since you asked! 

 

Am I raising my kids to stay at home?  Yes and No.  My girls I AM raising to stay at home.  My boys more than likely are being raised to go out into all the world and preach the gospel while they bring income home to their families. 

 

or is my job as a parent to raise them to be fully functional, intelligent, ambassadors for Christ in their school, church, and later on in their college and adult life....
Again...  yes and no, but I am not sure the two options are mutually exclusive.  It is not necessarily a "this OR that" proposition, I think.  I do not believe that a solid home education is preventing them from being "fully functional or intelligent" in the slightest.  As a matter of fact, I think they will be both!  As for Ambassadors for Christ: 

 

1.) They will be salt and light as they grow into adulthood, but right now they are young and tender and need a bit more nurturing at this stage of their development.  AND 

 2.) as Chuck Swindoll once said, "If you drop a glove in the mud the mud does not get GLOVEY." 

 

 In our few months of public education I have discovered that they are absorbing more wordly aroma rather than sweetening the smell of the school they are attending, so to speak.  As they grow older they will definitely be trained more and more in this area through outreaches, community service, witnessing in their day to day life, volunteer work, etc.  As they work side by side with others they will become more and more equipped and will have mature experiences when they are mature (which MINE are not at this point!)

 

My 10 year old has been witnessing to his playmates at school and it is a very sweet blessing, but he could just as easily be witnessing to the same child at the park, or at swim lessons or in our backyard.  They can be trained to be a light where ever they are without necessarily having to be pulled away from home just yet. 

 

After reading When You Rise Up: A Covenental Approach to Homeschooling by R.C. Sprouls Jr. I learned more about the instructions given to parents in Deut. 6 and I am happy to have the opportunity to teach my children and build their character all day as we go about our family life and I also miss (since  3 of my children are in school this year) the amazing relationships that the 5 of them had the time for with each other when they were all home for the past 8 years. 

 

Thank-you so much for challenging me with this question.  It is good that you are finding happiness and joy in the path that you are on (you seem to have learned the secret of being content!) and I enjoyed the challenge of carefully thinking over your questions and realizing the joy that I can share with you in the wonderful gift of parenthood! 

 

We are not so different, you and I...  we both love the Lord, we both value our children as precious blessings, we both desire to see the gospel shined as a light in a dark world and we both daily nourish, nurture, encourage and exhort our children.  I am just finding that I need the whole day to do it.  I am a slow study, I guess...  and I am finding that I spend a lot of my time homeschooling them at the end of the day anyway... character-training as well as homework, etc.  So, I know that spending my mornings on our formal instruction and the rest of our day in our life-style of learning and growing works best for our family at this time in our lives. 

 

I am thankful for the opportunity to think this through.  It is an encouragement to me to focus in on the exact reasons and to formulate my thoughts more cohesively! 

 

Thanks for visiting my blog...  stop by anytime!  :)

 

 

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Comments

Posted by eyecorn

A TERRIFIC entry/reply! I'm so glad I caught it on the HSB front page.
Michelle

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Posted by hskubes

Very well said, Christina! *Ü*
And I agree! I appreciate your boldness and passion in your response.

By the way, I, too, have read 'When You Rise Up'. A wonderful encouraging and convicting book. A great eye-opener.

~ Christina
www.homeschoolblogger.com/hskubes

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Posted by Anonymous

I'm was very impressed with your reply both in point and tone. I'm glad I saw this on the front page.

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Posted by Amber

Praise the Lord!!! What a GREAT response! I hope anonymous read this. I give you an A+++++++++++++++ I'm sure the Lord is smiling down at you right now.

God Bless,
Amber

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Posted by Amber

I didn't know this made the Front Porch, congrats!

0:) Amber

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Posted by Mileshouse

Beautifully put what so many of us feel, but haven't taken the time to put into words.

Melanie

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Posted by eakrabel

That was a beautiful response. You displayed such a gentle and gracious spirit. I hope to remember your example the next time someone challenges my choice to homeschool. Thank you for sharing.

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Posted by CreativeHomeschooling

I like your blog, lots of gems to read here. Will be stopping back soon. :)

Jennie von Eggers
www.TimesTales.com
www.CreativeHomeschooling.com

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Posted by Anonymous

:) Great response Christina....
Point taken- and as a bit of background- I am the daughter of a homeschool pioneer- now a college graduate and do GREATLY appreciate my time at home and parents 100% dedication to my education, both spiritual and academic- but-
one small token to take to your families- it took me a bit to adjust to the rigors of what I mentioned earlier, the discipline of coming home as a refuge, when as I knew it- I was always home.. and never had any huge dose of "wrong input" presented as fact or "school"
this discipline was learned later on in college and through my young marriage when, never before actually having to deal with spiritual and academic input before -that was contrary to God's Word and the Biblical Worldview that I was taught from- I tended to just ignore the "bad" and didn't recognize that I was slowly,almost unknowingly being robbed of my joy and peace- as my defenses were not as developed as if I had more gradual exposure to "the outside" and the developed discipline of "casting my cares on the Lord" in addition to regular quiet time.. which is great and easy when you don't have any "problems"
I don't disagree with the sentiment of you and your fellow bloggers, ok, well maybe a few of them should break out of their little circle (homeschooling conventions don't count:) and stretch their wings a little---anyway, I may bring my kids home one day too... until then...I just felt compelled to offer perhaps another side of the story - - Thanks for the forum and God Bless!

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Posted by LearningGlory

I will be putting "When You Rise Up" on my reading list!

Blessings from Maine,
-Tammy

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Posted by WopandI

I wish I could have put as good as you did. At times I feel like I have my kids in a glass house. Not that the house is fragile, but that they are a bit (ok, alot!) secluded from stuff that may be common place in other kids lives becasue of how they are raised. But then it dawned on me! Green houses are made of glass! And just look at how wonderfully plants grow in them due to the perfect conditions created for them! God bless you and your children!

Niki Strano

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Posted by chickadee

what a great reply. you said it very well. i'm glad i read this today.

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Posted by Youngwife

I can not imagine how training up children according to God's word could ever be to their detriment!?! It is only because of our sinful nature that we scar our children! Our only hope is to fall on our faces, plead for the Lord to have mercy on us, and bless our feeble efforts. I applaud your wise and gracious response to this challenge. I pray that I would answer the call as eloquently as you have here.
May God Bless!

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Posted by Dalaimama

Thanks for letting me know about the blogpoll. Do you know how to remove it? I've been trying. I enjoyed reading your blog. I'm interested to know your experiences having your kids in public school. I removed my son after preschool-2nd grade because he's ADHD & gifted and the teachers were constantly pressuring me to put him on Ritalin while refusing to give him more challenging work. Boredom equalled hyperactivity and irritating the teachers with questions. Nightmare. My Mother disagreed with me and my Father supported me. They're divorced-Thank God after a long unhappy marriage. I'm happy to report that my son is thriving at home. His self-esteem and love of learning are back intact and stronger than ever. He was picking up some bad habits at school. We live in a border state and his school was 90% illegal aliens and most staff didn't even speak English. While they taught English to illegals they didn't teach foreign languages to American Citizens and I had a major problem with my son getting a substandard education.

The irritating thing is when people tell me my son is going to be socially retarded due to homeschooling. I'm a nonconformnist by nature so I don't listen to other's criticism. I was exposed to lots of bad behavior by other kids when I was in public school. I volunteered at my son's school and didn't like what I witnessed. I know what's best for my son. He is a very social extrovert. If other's don't accept it, I don't care. Don't let someone's anonymous opinion fluster you. Your kids will only be young once. Don't blink or you'll miss it. That's my feeling anyway.

God Bless and keep up the good work!

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Posted by homeskoolmom

I'm not sure, in fact, I'm fairly certain that had I received such a comment, I wouldn't have been as gracious as you. I still have a long way to go on this pilgrimage.
God bless,
Christine

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Posted by Happyhome

Very graciously said!

Blessings,

Angela

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Posted by takingthechallenge

You have definitely learned the art of "speaking the truth in love"! Beautiful!

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