Why We Choose to Home Educate Our Kids

I'm writing this as a reminder to myself when I forget. I often read posts on homeschooling forums about terrible things happening at schools - extreme bullying, rejection of moral principles, declining rates of literacy and numeracy... To me, these aren't good enough reasons to keep our kids home. A choice made only out of fear of the alternatives is a coward's choice.

Sure, some bad stuff happens in schools, but bad stuff happens in lots of other places too. Sometimes the worst thing that happens to kids is their own parents. I'm working hard with God not to be one of those parents.

For our family, home education is about laying a foundation. To some people I guess it looks like being a crazy control-freak, but I want to have a say in what's going into my kids heads and hearts. I want them to know that fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom, not numbers and the alphabet. I want them to understand that information that is not grounded in ultimate truth is worse than useless.

There are parents who can achieve these ends while sending their children to school. I congratulate them! I have seen a number of times just how vulnerable our girls are to misinformation. One day they will have the maturity to sift truth and right from the lies. One day they will have to stand against the tide of godlessness for themselves - or choose to go with it. Right now, I want to inundate them with the truth - with what it means to live for God day by day. All in preparation for the time when they will be swamped with lies and immorality and have to decide for themselves where they are going.

I don't hold up home education as the only way to bring children up in the "fear and admonition of God" by any means. It's a journey we embarked on after much prayer and discussion. In other families the prayer and discussion has led in a different direction.

I have to keep reminding myself that academics is one of the lowest priorities. My theoretical goal in our "school time" each day is to focus on character. Neat handwriting has no inherent value. The diligence and effort required to produce neat handwriting are valuable qualities. Getting every sum correct is neither here nor there, but being willing to recognise and correct mistakes is an essential quality. Artistic masterpieces will crumble into dust eventually, but working to improve drawing skills teaches the importance of growth and overcoming - characteristics with lasting merit.

Educating our children at home also allows us more time and energy to give to others. Instead of filling out endless worksheets (as happens in some, not all schools), our girls can use some of their writing time to write letters to people who could do with cheering up. Instead of the pages of meaningless sums that I remember from my childhood years (and yes, that experience taught me many important lessons, such as patience!), we can spend some of our maths time working out how much to tithe on pocket money... We could still do these things if our girls went to school, but I really appreciate the opportunity to incorporate them into their daily learning.

In the end, being able to keep our girls at home (and, of course, that doesn't mean we are actually at home all the time, we get out for a number of activities and errands each week) enables us to base their education on the foundation of God's word. I feel incredibly blessed to have the opportunity and capacity to put God front and centre in their lives each day.

I just need to live up to that responsibility! Being one of the weak of the world, I am so thankful that with God all things are possible!