I've had a long week to think and pray.

Ideally that would sound like the perfect time to spend the day. Unfortunately, it's not because I had nothing else to do.  I've been waiting for doctors to figure out what's wrong with me. I feel it's gallbladder. They think it's gallbladder. Everyone else around me, especially those who have gone through this before, know it's gallbladder. But, nothing has been done yet.

Well, except for "medical tests" (we know that's just another term for twenty first century torture techniques) that seem to find nothing. Then you wait for results that never seem to come.

Anyway, back to my original train of thought with this post. I've been doing a lot of thinking and praying.

Why does homeschooling mean to my family?

In a simple one word phrase... change.

A few weeks back I received an email from Homeschool.com with the heading, "Are Your Kids Ready for the World?" I thought it was interesting, until I read the email. Now I know that most of these emails from Homeschool.com are ads for one thing or another. But, I thought this time it might be something useful to my family. And to be fair, it was. But, I've done a lot of thinking about it.

Here's how it began;


A big red flag jumped out at me. Why would that carry a red flag for me? Because of the words "you" and "your". That sounds fine at first and in "theory" it's fine. But, is that homeschooling is? About my kids. About our tiny little family. I hope it's about more than "your". 

Then it goes on to list some readiness factors for meeting the world.

Again, a big red flag popped up at me. And, again, there is nothing wrong with this list. It's just not all that my family wants from homeschooling. Another problem I have with this type of list. Now, please remember that I'm talking generally, and not all inclusive. Just because I say something does not mean it's targeted at you personally.

But, I just don't see the items listed in this "readiness list" happening in some homeschools. What I mean by that is there are a lot of "outward" things in there that a lot of homeschoolers don't want.

I have to ask myself this question.... "Is homeschool suppose to be inward or outward focused?"

For my family it's both. A balanced homeschool should be, shouldn't it? I mean is it enough to make sure our kids are well trained and forget the rest of the world? Here's why I say that. If we just worry about our kids; make sure they get a great education, have a strong biblical worldview, and are lights of this world (can't happen if only inward focused); it can't happen if our kids are the only ones we are concerned about.

We are spending a lot as a family learning about worldview and how it is changing from bad to much worse. And it's only going to get worse. The Bible says so, but we don't have to sit back and let everyone around die with it. I want to be able to teach as many kids as possible a few things.

1. To love Jesus. The way I do it is a lot different than most people are comfortable with. Why? Because I won't do it the way man does it. I follow Jesus. I see Him as the model for life and ministry. Why not follow Him? A lot of times it because it's too hard and people are too concerned with their own lives to bother with other people. Harsh, but true. I want kids, all kids and their families, to know Jesus and love Him.

2. To learn how to live. The biggest thing my family is learning, and adjusting too, is a biblical lifestyle. We never lived that way before and the last few years have been a huge learning experience. But, it's wonderful. So much better than the worldly way of living. With that said, I don't just want my family to live that way. I want everyone else to learn to live that way.  It's a travesty to focus on teaching our own kids and neglecting others.

There are authors, actors, sports figures, and even fictional characters that don't have a problem with sacrificing their times, money, and talents to teach kids their views. And they're achieving their goals. At an alarming rate. But, Christian homeschoolers, simply won't put in the extra effort to do the same. Sad.

My family isn't just concerned about us. Jesus wasn't concerned at all for himself. He wanted to teach others. And did whatever he needed to. Even die.

3. To be better educated. I do have a problem with public schools. It's not the peer pressure. I've seen much worse behavior and peer pressure at the local christian school. It's not the socialization. It's not the "mixing of churched and unchurched kids".

It's the education. Kids are simply not learning that much. My own daughter, Kimberly, went to public school and then a private christian school (the one mentioned above) for two years. And she can't write a book report. She doesn't know much about history or geography. But, the last year has seen her jump leaps and bounds.

I want all kids to be that way. I think it should be the goal for every homeschool family to educate other kids as well. I see a lot of homeschool co-op's. And that's great. But I don't see a lot of initiative to start new "schools" with a homeschool philosophy.

Think of a place where kids can come, sit in small classrooms, have personal one on one teaching, learn the classics, and become healthy, mature christian leaders. Awesome isn't it?

How does change it into all this rambling? Because homeschooling needs a change. More and more families are taking their kids out of public school and keeping them home. Great news!

But, they are doing it with only their kids in mind. Bad philosophy.

I pray that my family will be able to help other families and break out of the routine of it's all about us.

What do you think? I know that some people are going to be upset. That's ok. But, I can't sit back and watch the divison between Christians and "those other people" get any bigger. If it does, we grieve the heart of Jesus.

I have adopted a new viewpoint of what I'm doing for Jesus. It's not a ministry, it's a movement.  A movement means that things are to change. Not stay the same.
What's your movement?