Homeschooling

These past six months, I've been prevented from posting because I have been entrenched in the busy-ness of five kids and homeschooling.  That came to a screeching halt just yesterday, when I mailed off our completed assessment exams for the year.  Yea for Summer!  Mark just called me moments ago and asked me: what are you going to do with all this free time now?  Oh Hubby, the time is hardly free!  But for one thing: I'm going to blog about something that has been on my mind for several months, HOMESCHOOLING!

Homeschooling is a preference for our family for a number of reasons.  At this point in our journey, we are just not comfortable sending our kids to traditional school.  I don't know when we will be, and of course, there are variables with each of our children which would prevent us from making a one-size-fits-all decision.  I have read books like Going Public, which I found to be decidedly unhelpful in our own family dialogue when choosing homeschooling, even though I find traditional school to be a perfectly viable option for some families for differing reasons.  But it brought up arguments that I thought were flimsy and easily dismantled.  We educated ourselves before homeschooling, and ultimately landed on the option as the best for us.  And maybe at some point, I will write out the reasons why we chose homeschooling for this season.

So while there is some good rationale, and putting a spiritual spin on it, personal convictions, for why people choose traditional schooling, there is a slew of statements that I hear regularly from people on why they won't consider homeschooling, the most popular four, listed below.  Please don't read me as saying all people should homeschool.  This is simply a list of faulty logic on why people don't homeschool. I want to reiterate: if you prayerfully and wisely choose homeschooling or traditional schooling, more power to you!  I am not picking on traditional schoolers, because really, I hear a lot of reasons to homeschool that are full of holes (almost all are fear-based).  I only list these arguments because I hear them commonly.  Bottom line, when deciding what to do: think through your reasons.  Hold them up to Scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to show you fault lines in your philosophy that might be a result of some hidden idolatry or misguided exaltation.

1.  I don't want my child to be socially inept.  
I hear this constantly.  I get it.  You grew up in an era when homeschooling was a bastion of dorks. They stood out like flies on white rice, walking around in their homemade jean jumpers and velcro shoes, red flags signaling: nerd alert!

But it's not like this anymore.  Homeschooling has grown hugely popular and the prevailing characteristic is no longer its geekiness.  The homeschool brand has been redesigned and is so far-reaching that people from diametrically opposed viewpoints are equally a part of the movement.

However, what the social argument does, to believers, is reveal a potentially worldly viewpoint that is based on false premises.

• As believers, we shouldn't be so consumed with our kids being "cool" or "normal" that they "fit in" that this trump any other card.  Being cool in the world often comes at the expense of Christian virtues.  School-cool is electronics-savvy (I can't say enough about the problem with this), brand-obsessing, and peer-comparing.  If your desire is for your child to fit in with this, you may have a problem with you and your child being "of the world."
• I don't want my children's peers to teach my children how to socialize.  Even children under believing parents are generally not concerned with the "one anothers" as much as with "me, myself and I" and "potty talk," which are only encouraged in peer-dominated environments.
• Pretty sure traditional school has produced its share of social "nerds."  Most innovators have a propensity for all things "nerdy" and without them, we wouldn't have the iPhone or Common Core (tongue-in-cheek on that last one).  My high school had a number of students called "band nerds."  As an aside, the nerdiness pendulum is in constant motion, as those "band nerds" are actually "cool" today- which again, should give us pause as we consider: why are we allowing the world's fickle dictates to determine our children's personality value??? 
• Traditional or homeschooled, your child's ability to socialize well actually falls squarely on your shoulders.  You teach your child social skills, or else the world will.  

2.  I could never do that.  I'm not smart enough.

Okay, who of you were educated by rocket scientists?!?  Seriously.  Your educators were TEACHERS!  They were instructed in how to instruct.  While they do have some specializations, that's what resources are for!  

Learning should be lifelong.  Schooling and learning are sadly, so separated in our minds, that as soon as we graduate, we think we don't have to read another "educational" book or sit under anymore teaching.  We don't recognize how sharpening learning is, and how important it is to continue to learn.  When we learn, we are dazzled more and more by God.  When we stagnate, so often, does our Christian walk.  

Aside from all of this, if you are one of the rare ones who cannot conquer First Grade Math A, then by all means, join a co-op where you can have help in learning how to teach it!  But don't let your fear keep you from homeschooling.  When George Washington's family couldn't afford to send him to school, he became self-taught.  I am not saying that we all have been gifted with his intellect, but learning is not beyond us.  God has made us so that we are able to retain and apply information.  You are no different than anybody else- even if your highest level of education is quite lower than your peers.  

Resources are deep and wide and overwhelming.  If your greatest fear of homeschooling is YOU, then stop thinking about you and start researching all that is out there.  Moreover, teaching is your duty...more on that below.

3.  My child and I have incompatible personalities, so our head-butting makes schooling at home an impossibility.

If this is truly the main reason you don't homeschool, your problems are much bigger than school options.  You have now deferred your child's rearing to the world.  Regardless of your child's personality and your education choice, you are still called to teach your child.  God's Word is clear that as parents, we are responsible to train our children "when we sit down, rise up," etc.  If you have a particularly difficult child (who doesn't???), you're not given a pass on your responsibility. Even if your kids are under someone else's tutelage, you must oversee what is happening and reinforce it at home.  I pity the poor teacher of the student whose parents said he's unteachable at home, because that is a heart issue- and that teacher will become the brunt of it.  That child doesn't want to submit to your authority-- this will manifest itself, even if you have temporarily disabled it by redirection.

4.  We don't want to hide our light, but to be a light shining in the darkness.

Fair enough...if your child is a Christian, and beyond that, if your child is a light.  If not, your child will only be reveling in the darkness like all the rest.  Truly, school grounds can be a great place to share your faith- note: YOUR faith.  But don't live under false pretenses: if your child does not have a solid spiritual foundation that is unashamed of the Gospel, even a fledgling Christian will tend to conform rather than reform.  And though I really don't have a huge problem with this argument in the event that your child is a strong believer, I still wonder if traditional primary school is the best mission field...maybe/maybe not.

Please feel free to discuss with me, as I am still learning, too! I don't have all of my ducks in a row, and I walk in ignorant inconsistency because I have this dastardly flesh that I am battling and it lends itself to imperfect understanding.  It is helpful to me to hear other viewpoints.  So by all means, don't clam up if you think I am out to lunch!