Our Journey to Homeschool
Published in the Teaching Home 1/2000 and 4/2001
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go... --Psalm 32:8
Clint and I were first introduced to home education when we were newlyweds at age 19. We weren't too sure about the homeschooling family that lived near our first home. Clint was blessed with a new job and we moved. Three years later we had our first child.
I remember holding my son, Brandon, when he was 6 months old and wondering how I could send my children off with complete strangers for the whole day once they turned 5. It seemed unnatural! Who would teach them? How could I find out all I needed to know about a person to trust them with my child? What were their values? What about the other people they would come in contact with during the school day? I hadn't even considered objectionable curriculum materials (evolution,etc), teacher-related problems, labeling, drugs, violence, weapons, gangs, school-shootings, OBE, etc. And, I knew that no matter how well their intentions were they would not love my children the way I do
One of Clint's co-workers was a man who was home educating his five children. As we came to know more about this family, Clint became interested in home education. I lacked confidence in my ability to teach. We became more open to home educating our children as the Lord continued putting it in our path. We began researching what other home educators had experienced. We examined the pros and cons. We asked Him to open our hearts to His will for us and for His guidance. We read the Bible and were shown that educating our children was our responsibility. We would be the ones to answer for what they were taught. When I was in 5th grade, my teacher told the class that she was the most influential person in our lives. She told us that she knew us better than our parents ever would because she spent much more time with us. This troubled me as a child and stuck with me through the years. Did we want a virtual stranger to be the biggest influence in their lives? knowing them better than we did? More importantly, did we want to answer to the Lord for what our children were taught if we had no idea of what that was?
We are convicted that the Lord wants us to educate our children at home. The Lord has taught me to have confidence in Him, not myself. Phil:4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." I realize that it is Him who will prepare my children for the life they will live, through me. I am a willing vessel for the Lord's work.
In 1997 we started "officially" home educating our children (after 2 years of home-based preschool) with a Praise Party. We stood on the steps of our classroom and thanked the Lord for blessing us with this lifestyle and all it would hold. It has been a joy to teach my children and see them learn. They are excelling in academics and more importantly character. I like the people my children are becoming. I enjoy spending time with them. They are some of my closest friends. The Lord is blessing our family through homeschooling in ways we never could have guessed!! Thank you Lord for guiding us to this path!