Homeschooling - It's Not Who We Are

I've been intrigued a couple of times recently when people I barely know - and to whom I didn't think I'd ever mentioned homeschooling - have asked about how I'm going teaching the girls... Intrigued, and, in a funny way, slightly troubled.

See, homeschooling is something we do, but I would hate anyone to think that it's who we are. I don't want my identity in the world at large to be encapsulated by the phrase "homeschooling mother of four".

I believe that homeschooling is best for my children, but it's not something I believe in. I hope that the defining feature of my life is my belief that the God Who created the universe has an awesome plan for every man, woman and child on the planet.

I home educate our precious daughters because the education establishment (and to be honest, I believe this is true of christian schools as well) is completely at odds with our beliefs and values - because "out there" our children would be told that they need to accept all belief systems as equally valuable... which kinda doesn't work. The God of the Bible most definitely doesn't tolerate competitors. (If I had created the universe I certainly wouldn't want a statue getting the credit for my work!)

I love having the opportunity to educate "our" girls at home and teach them Biblical values, but homeschooling isn't who we are - it's what we do because of who we are.

What Is REALLY Important?

That's the question I'm asking myself today. With three young kiddies it's so easy to lose hold of the things that are really important. The fact of life is that children need to be fed, nappies need to be changed, and behaviour issues can't be put on hold.

Needs and wants can get blurred very quickly, and there are always plenty of gentle suggestions from the sidelines about things that we really should be doing... And while there are certain core, foundational truths - e.g. the ten commandments - there is no specific formula for life (e.g. 7am - get up, 7.30am - bible study, 8am visit sick/elderly). The best method of implementing our values changes from day to day.

Even if there were a formula I guess I would struggle to follow it anyway.

So... I'm just mulling this over, meditating on how much of my time is spent doing things that really count, whether mundane or exciting. Meanwhile, we keep plodding on, and I am gradually turning some of the important things into daily habits.

My small victory at the moment is that we are actually reading the bible together (almost) every morning. I plan on incorporating more of the really important things into every day - one step at a time.