Adamant...not so much

For several years now I've had a pretty strong opinion about homeschooling. We work with teens and have seen a lot of people home school for what we saw as wrong reasons. Side note: Here's one of my top 3 continual sins: judging others and thinking I know a better way. My dad actually used to make me read Matthew 7 on a regular basis. I thought I knew the best way to educate my children and tended to think that if you weren't doing it my way, you were wrong. Matt and I are passionate about raising our kids to love God and want to share that love with people in their schools. We are never as exposed to non-Christians on a daily basis as we are through our school years. What a huge mission field, right?? It's also really important to us that we are involved in the schools as parents being an encouragement to parents and faculty. So with that mindset before us, we sent our oldest to kindergarten in the fall. We had high hopes of getting plugged into the schools, making friends, and being a light in the darkness. There are about 18 reasons why this didn't happen, but I won't bore you with our excuses. I choose to see it as God working in our hearts towards the unthinkable. Meanwhile, our child of not quite 2 years was struggling big-time at school. His behavior just couldn't catch up to his knowledge level. He was digressing back to the little boy who showed up on our doorstep and we spent a lot of time praying about what to do. I know that God had been working on me for a while to help me see that there are some right reasons to home school. Every month or so I would suggest pulling him out and home schooling for the next couple of years. Matt was very cautious about protecting the relationship between Kenneth and me. We don't always get along so well...too much alike. Then in early January, K had a really bad week at school and it was the push we needed to pull him out. Can I just say that it is the best decision we have made as parents yet? He needs more time being nurtured and loved and taught within the safe haven of our home. He missed out on those formative early years and it shows. And don't you love when God shows up in ways that are so much bigger than you thought he could? I actually love doing the thing that I have been so adamantly against for so many years. It has vastly improved our relationship. I find that I get more done during my day than I did before. I'm more organized in general and have a better attitude from day to day. Shouldn't the result of having an extra kid at home, that I am responsible for educating, be completely the opposite ?




I am so thankful to God for changing my heart towards home schooling. While I do still believe that there are some wrong reasons to home school, I am going to choose to focus on the right reasons for us to live this lifestyle for now. I'll try to leave the heart-changing to God and stop seeing the speck in my brother's eye while ignoring the log in my own.
Soon to come, our first success story from home schooling. It might make you smile!