Thinking of Home Schooling?

Photo by Kristin Rogers

One of the biggest myths about families that choose home education is that they believe that the public and private school systems are evil, that everyone that teaches is intentionally trying to lead their children away from Christ and so therefore, they know the "RIGHT" way to educate their Children and everyone else is "WRONG". And that could not be further from the truth. I went to a public school, my husband went to a private school, and we both turned out to be adults seeking the Lord and trying to live according to His Word. I also have several friends that are teachers, my mom worked for a school district for several years, my mother in law has been a teacher for several years, and I know for a fact ... that none of those people are trying to corrupt your Children. (possibly a college professor or two, but none of the people I just mentioned ;-))  But the home education movement IS starting to become more popular. Why is that?

You see, we are in a spiritual war right now. Not with teachers and principles. But with the ruler of this world. And we all know who the ruler of this world is and he is prowling around like a lion seeking for someone to devour. My husband and I went to a Home school conference in the Woodlands last week and learned many surprising and stomach turning things about the Common Core Curriculum. As the years pass, unfortunately what the government is hoping to do in the public school system is teach our children that everything that God says in His word is a lie. And Satan loves that. So as soon as we even barely touch on the idea in our minds that we might want to educate our children at home, you know what he does? He starts to try and play with your mind.

I remember transitioning from just the idea of homeschooling to really leaning toward it with full force. And Satan came up on my left side and whispered in my ear...[wait. time out. No, I didn't literally hear him whispering in my ear. I do not have evil voices that talk to me. Nobody call CPS.] ... so he whispers... "You? Educate your children? ha! That's laughable. You? The woman that can't remember a single lick of fractions? You? Who misspells biscuits EVERY.SINGLE.TIME on the grocery list? (only spelled it right that time because of spell check, thanks blogger!) ... And seeds of doubt began to linger in my heart. But I thought, No! You know what? Sure I'm not the most intelligent. But my kids will be ok. I can learn things over along with them. Even fractions (God, please help me with that one) and my kids will be just fine. GET BEHIND ME SATAN.

But then he came up and whispered in my right ear. "Psst. Hey you. Yeah, remember your two kids and their never stop moving, never stop making noise personality? Yeah. You're doomed. Gonna go pretty insane in that house every day for the next 16 or so years. Good luck with that." And seeds of doubt began to plant themselves in my mind. But again, I thought - NO. Sure, it's hard. Some days have already pushed me to the brink of insanity and I'm only 5 years in (let's be honest), but this isn't going to break me. I've dreamed of being a mother for as long as I can remember. And this is a privilege. It's hard. And yes, some days I find myself wanting to pull the covers over my head in the morning and yelling back - "Mommy Who?!?"  But I am up for the challenge. I thank God every day that he made me THEIR mother. When a child is born, you only get 6,570 days with them until they turn 18 years old and leave your home. (well, ok, some mom's luck out and get a kid until they are like mid thirties. In the basement. Playing pokemon .... but I digress.) But I dream of days with my children when we can just go slow, soak in the nature that surrounds us, talk about spiritual things in every conversation and live life to the fullest. So that's not going to work on me, Satan.
SO GET BEHIND ME.

And then I heard him again. And I can't say that he didn't have a good point this time. I heard " Oh hey frazzled mommy. Yeah you. You know, you're going to be the mom that LET'S HERSELF GO. Whoa ho ho. We're talking, funky toenails, hair hasn't been trimmed in ages. Trying to smear on makeup from the 1990's because you don't have the time or the money (can I get an amen) to go buy any new makeup, and you're going to feel TERRIBLE about yourself. You won't have any time to take care of yourself  because every hour of every day you will be with your children. Yeah. Good luck covering those wrinkles and gray hairs. Which by the way, I'm already seeing right now, ouch. But those other moms ... the ones with the kids in public schools. Oh, you are so going to envy them. They are going to have fresh pedicures every week, just you watch. Oh and salon appointments and they will look at you in pity while they have bright eyes and fresh faces. Oh yeah frazzled mom, you're going down." And really, I didn't have an awesome come back for that one. I mean, he was right. It's probably true. I probably will look tired and frazzled most of the time. I pretty much already do, who am I kidding? But the point is, I wasn't going to let him shake me. And when I leave this disaster of a planet we call earth, I'm not taking this tired old wrinkled shell with me, praise God. It stays here. In the ground. From dust to dust. So I resolved not to let his lies discourage me. Because that's what he does. He wants to discourage you, and dishearten you and defeat you and distract you. And he does that by lying to you, but the best way he does that,
is by keeping you from the Word of God.

 And when I open the Word of God and I look for a rebuttal against those lies Satan told me, well, sadly I don't find anything about fractions and funky toenails, so I'm kinda at a loss there. But you know what it does say? Its says "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior, are children born in one's youth." - Psalm 127:4. Why do I need arrows? And who am I fighting? And more importantly, WHO AM I FIGHTING FOR? And it also says "So fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates..." Deuteronomy 11:18-20. And Proverbs 22:6 that says " Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." "We know that we all have knowledge, but knowledge puffs up and love builds up."- 1 Corinthians 1:8.

Do I believe that Christian parents who send their children off to public school won't teach them any of the Word at home? Well of course not! But I do know that with the problem that my kids have of listening and the problem I have of being distracted, our family needs just a little more grace and a little more time in the day to do that than every one else. Let's just call it for what it is. Ha. And do I think that there is anything wrong at all with wanting your children to be super intelligent right along side having wisdom? Not at all. But it is like something I heard a speaker say at our conference - "My sole purpose in teaching my child to read is not so that they can get into Harvard but so that they can read and discern the Word of the Living God."

Home educating is not the right answer for every family, but it is the answer for our family. And I urge you, if you feel like it might be the answer for your family, DO NOT let Satan try to lie to you and discourage you out of that decision. He is going to try to tell you all sorts of lies. "It's going to be overwhelming." Well, yep. but that's motherhood. Motherhood is overwhelming, but we lace up our boot straps and we give it our best shot anyway, am I right? Seriously, what can be more overwhelming than bringing your first child home from the hospital and all of your family and friends leaving and you stand there all alone with your husband and begin to panic asking- "what do we do with this thing? Where do we put it? Is it a bomb?" But you survived. It's what we do.
By the grace of God.

And Satan will lie and say to you "People will compare their children to yours and not only will your KIDS look stupid, but YOU will also look stupid or, even worse, people will think that you aren't teaching them at all and that you sit on the couch all day eating bon bons and watching Soap Operas." And to that, I've learned to say - WHO CARES WHAT THEY THINK? There is a war for my children's hearts. And I'm not going to sacrifice a relationship with my children because I have to keep up with the Jones' or prove to Kelly Sue that my child is just as smart as her child but in different ways and different areas. Or prove to Mary Beth that I actually AM teaching my children even though they STILL can't grasp fractions (I'm sorry kids, it's just not in your blood) and despite the fact that I might have a little bit of bon bon chocolate left on my face. #sorrynotsorry The people who have to always compare and compete? That is THEIR problem and not yours. Say a prayer over that and release it from your heart. Ask God to make peace within you that even when you feel like a failure because your child doesn't meet the "standards" - that you know He has made everything fitting in HIS time, Ecclesiastes 3:11, and not when you want it to show it's fruits. Remember who you are through this. God wants you to rely on Him to see this thing through.  I hope you can decide what will be best for your family as far as your children's education and I hope you make the decision without any outside negative influences whispering in your ear (again, not literally, I don't hear voices.) Please contact me if you need someone to pray for you or with you about the decision to home educate or to help remind you of the Warrior you are when you start to feel doubt or discouragement creep in. Good luck mommas! Whether home educator or sending your children away every day - we need to encourage and support one another because this job is hard and we are all trying to do what is best for our family. And also because, we are a warrior in the fight for our kids to have eternal life. Train hard.