Why am I homeschooling?

"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it."  Proverbs 22:6

Sometimes as a homeschool mother, I get asked why I am homeschooling....this is a question I believe every homeschooling parent needs to spend some time thinking about, praying about, and then write it down. Knowing why you are doing something with your life is important.

When my oldest child (now 15), was about two I starting thinking about how it would be when she was 5 and it was time to send her off to school. I was horrified. I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to give someone else a chance to raise, and spend all day with my child. So, I started investigating homeschooling, and it was not all that hard once I met a friend through a La Leche League support group who was doing the same thing. She had lots of kids and was homeschooling them all, she made it seem easy and most importantly just a way of life.

So I started doing to research, plugging myself into local homeschool support groups, reading everything I could get my hands on. Talked with hubby and we decided to give it a try. As time went on and 3 kids later, it has become our lifestyle and I feel personally that this is the calling God had for me all along.

When I was a teenager I knew I wanted to be a teacher, but I thought I would move in the direction of teaching special needs kids. None of my kids have special needs though. Over time and maturity I have learned that my attachment and love for my children is strong and my place is with them. Through this maturity I have also learned that my relationship with God has strengthened and I was meant to teach my children. That God gave me these children and they are mine and my husbands resposibility to raise for God according to His Word. We will be held accountable to Him when we get to heaven for how we have brought them up for Him. Sending them away to school with someone else teaching them for 8 hrs a day was not the way to accomplish this calling.

God tells us as parents that we are to train them up all the days of our lives, morning, noon, & night. all day long in everything we do. Our teachings to our children should be the focus on God so they will grow up having his word in their heart for the entire lives. If they are in school all day, this not something you can do very easily, you have to spend time un-teaching the things they learn in school from their peers and even sometimes the teachers.

The public school system has a reputation to lead our children away from God and condemning those who have a strong faith in Him. My desire for my children is to have a strong faith in God and to not feel ashamed to show it or talk about it openly to whomever they feel led to share with.

Also, God tells us we are each different and we all learn differently, we each have specific gifts God has given us.The school system is designed to teach the masses and all children must fit the mold or they will not succeed in this system. I have learned through the last 15 years of teaching my children, they each learn differently and it is my job to help them learn they way God designed them, not the way the system says they should.

Some might say they are not going to get socialized well if they don't go to school. Well how many of us still socialize with our "friends" from school? How many of us still hang out with the same aged people like we did in school? In the real world we need to be able to socialize with all ages, and types of people. We need to learn how to be able to show God's light in our lives to everyone, not just the selected few the school or peers tell us we can socialize with. My children are comfortable talking with babies to adults in their lives. The older ones are becoming young adults that will talk with any age person and not have that teenage attitude of adults are not cool.

So why do I homeschool my kids? For God

How long will homeschool my kids? For Life

Homeschooling is not for everyone, but it is what God has called me to do with my kids and it will be homeschooling for life with them. Learning does not stop once you graduate, it is a life long thing.