This has been a question on my mind often throughout our past few years of homeschooling. I know several families who homeschool and know many more who do not. I sometimes think of all the time I could have to myself if I did not homeschool. Before I go any further, this post is from my point of view and I mean no offense to others who have chosen different methods of schooling their children. Every school year we pray about what we are going to do about schooling the coming year. I am open to whatever God wants us to do and always seek guidance throughout the school year and especially between years to ensure we are following His plan for our family. I have been thinking a lot about homeschooling and why we do it and wanted to write a post about it so here goes.
1. God wants us to. This is reason enough for me, honestly, because I feel God has directed us to teach our children and for the Kinsman family that means homeschool. Deut. 6:7 reads: "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Reading this scripture, the question comes to my mind "How can we do that when they are gone from us or sleeping for 20 hours of the day?" The answer, we can't! Having done the daycare thing before when Denny was a baby, we know firsthand what it is like to have to be up and get the kids out the door early in the morning and then when they get home to rush through dinner and bath time and then it's bed time. Very little time is left for family time or teaching time. That was when he was a baby, now that he's school age you're talking about even less time together because he'll have homework each night.
2. Keep them kids. It seems more and more, society wants kids to grow up sooner and puts more responsibilities on them earlier in life. Some information is taught in schools today that should never be introduced by school authorities, especially in the elementary years. I know my children better than any person on this earth. I know when it will be time to discuss the birds and the bees and I will introduce it in a way that is centered in the gospel light. They will not offer that in the school. Children are not cookie cutters and each need to be handled in different ways.Our children need to be protected from the harsh facts of the world. They don't need to be exposed to the filth that unfortunately many adults live in these days. I believe our children have sweet spirits and are especially sensitive to feelings around them. This is what helps them to feel the Spirit so easily and to invite the Spirit to be with them around others. Our society squashes this sensitivity and makes it nearly impossible to keep their minds morally clean and unexposed to the adult world. We should protect their spirits and help them to feel safe and secure and especially loved in these early years and hopefully throughout their lives.
3. Focus on their style. Each child learns differently. In a classroom with one teacher and 30 students it is very difficult, if not impossible, for the teacher to meet each child's learning needs and styles; children have to learn the way the teacher teaches or they will fall behind. This is not the teacher's fault, but the system is not working. Children fall behind because one teacher taught them one way and the next year the teacher expected them to do it another way which the child could not understand. In homeschool I get to teach each child individually and they get to help pick what topics we are going to study and what books we will read. They have control over their schooling, somewhat. :-) Denny is our science buff and got to help decide which program we would follow this year for science. I know that when they have a choice in the schooling they will learn more and enjoy school more than when it is just given to them without any consideration or counsel from them.
4. Homeschoolers do well in standardized testing. It is proven in statistics that homeschoolers score well above average in standardized testing and do extremely well in college on average because they have been doing independent study and learned how to learn before getting into college. Homeschoolers don't fall through the cracks of a broken system like many public schoolers do. Check out this link to see facts on homeschooling.
5. Socialization. I have been asked many times about our children's socialization and "won't they end up 'weird' if we don't send them to public school?" Consider public school. The stories I have been told indicate children don't get to socialize that much (especially in the elementary years). They are not allowed to talk in class and some schools don't allow them to talk at lunch either. They only get to interact freely during a 15 minute recess break. Also, nowhere in society will you find someone who only interacts with people his own age. The system in schools today have your child in a classroom with 30 other 5 year olds. In society they will need to be able to communicate and interact with people from various backgrounds and ages. When we homeschool, our children learn to interact with parents, siblings of varying ages, friends of varying ages, and their parents. Our children take piano, ballet, karate from various adults, and learn to talk with adults and hopefully carry on conversations with them. Do they learn that in public school? No. The skills of socialization occur outside of the classroom if you want your children to become nice, respectable people. Also, we can choose who we associate with when we homeschool. I am not saying we snub our nose at people we don't like or agree with, but we should be careful who our children play with and what influence they have on them. In 1 Cor 15:33, it reads: "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." In the footnote it explains communications also means conversations and associations. I have seen this firsthand. My children have been taught proper table manners, and certain words are not allowed. But when friends come over and use those words and don't hold to the table manners we teach, our children develop the bad habits. This is likely because they are so young and haven't developed a strong backbone to stand up and say "don't say that", or "don't do that." Emily did stand up and say "Boys, stop doing that" once. I am proud she did that, although the boys did choose to continue despite her efforts. The point is, we can choose who we associate with and we should choose people who will support us in our efforts, as well as supporting our children in their path to live good, clean, moral lives.
6. Family time. This is something near and dear to my heart. We get so much family time. I absolutely love being with my children. Ask anyone who knows me, I don't do babysitters and Dennis and I don't go on dates much because we want to be with our family. We consider a date to be a movie and dinner after the kids go to bed. This is something that makes us happy and we are very satisfied in our relationship and family life. Our children are only children for a short period of time. We will have years and years on our own, God willing, but now is the time to spend with our children and to teach them and love them and enjoy our time together. I just am not satisfied with 3 hours a day together. It's not enough for me.
Well, there it is. I am excited for another year teaching and learning with my children. What a special privilege it is to be a mother. May we all think about our call as mothers and fathers and appreciate that assignment from God and work to do our best in this work.
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