My assignment this week from Blogger Friend School was:

"This week's assignment is taking a deeper look into our spiritual lives and the warfare that we are individually facing.  I'd like everyone to seriously think and then blog about a situation in your life where you know that the enemy is attacking you and challenging your spiritual growth.  What area in your life are you feeling burdened or challenged?  The purpose of the assignment is to use this as a tool to arm ourselves better for this battle not to make you uncomfortable.  If this is too personal for you, share an area in your life that you have perservered in a spirtual battle or share your feelings on freedoms in general.

ARM YOURSELVES and take time this week to thank our past battles that have created and protected our freedoms that we enjoy today.  Try to visit at least one fellow Blogger Classmate and leave a comment to encourage them in this battle." 

First I should explain something- I grew up going to church, love my religion, however found myself being outcasted at just 14 years old by my fellow church members. So needless to say, I hold my religious beliefs close and raise my children with my beliefs, however I do not participate in church as I do not believe that is what brings me closer to the lord. To each their own, I do respect everyone's opinion, but I am being honest and hope you can respect that.

My battle was the first time I homeschooled my children, we chose to homeschool for all the right reasons. The problem was the people around us, they constantly had to question us on why, and people would constantly encourage us to put the kids into public school. Finally I broke down and allowed others to talk me into something that I wasn't 100% sure about. I gave it a try, we put the kids into school for two full years. It wasn't until the second year in school that we started to experience heavy problems with many different things on different levels. We realized that our family is different and just because something is right for 9 out of 10 families, we were that 1 family that it wasn't right for.

The thing we had to come to terms with was accepting the fact that others may never understand why we have chosen to homeschool, but ultimately we made a decision we knew was right for us and our children despite what others thought. We are more determined now to stand our ground and not feel compelled to have to explain our decisions. We don't tell others how to raise their children, and we kindly remind them they should do the same. As parents we have to make decisions we feel are right for us and our children.

Our battle was overcoming the peer pressures of public schools and standing our ground to make decisions we know is right for our family.