Starting a New Chapter
My kids start school tomorrow and we are doing something new and different this year. After nine years of traditional homeschooling, we are embarking on the new adventure of online public school. We put in our prayer time early on when we were deciding whether or not we wanted to go this route and we are ready. Why the change? After going back to work, I just haven’t had the time to devote to teaching and grading, so I am giving up the reigns to someone else. In so many ways, it is a relief for me.
“What’s so different about that?” you might ask. The kids are still at home and I’m still helping them with their work when they need it. The big difference is that I have had total and absolute control over what they’ve been taught for almost a decade (which is forever in kid years). You might think that I’m apprehensive about the loss of control. Not really. We have invested in our kids since they were very small. I feel comfortable with their ability to discern what is right and wrong. I also feel confident that they will discuss anything that concerns them with us.
There is a prevalent belief that homeschool families are isolated or that homeschool kids are sheltered. While it is true that homeschool kids are not constantly surrounded by children their exact age, most are socially active and have a variety of friends. Many, like our sons, are active in sports or church. We are definitely not “helicopter” parents. They go places without us and they choose their own activities (within reason). We trust that they have learned to discern for themselves what is appropriate.
By far, the most valuable thing we have gained as parents through homeschooling is a close relationship with our teenage sons. I know it may be hard to believe, but we actually have conversations with them! We enjoy being together as a family. In fact, many nights, it’s difficult to get them to leave our bedroom so we can go to sleep.
Don’t get me wrong, homeschooling is difficult. It takes more time than you can imagine. The pressure you feel to teach them all the right things is overwhelming much (most) of the time. The fear of failure haunts you. You never get a break from your kids, or your kids from you, or your kids from each other. Having said all that, I would not trade one single minute even if the “only” thing we gained was the closeness of our family.
If you have ever considered homeschooling, I urge you to give it a try. Through homeschooling we believe we have been able to truly and completely fulfill our biblical calling as parents. The Bible tells us in Deuteronomy, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (6:4-7, emphasis added)
By having our children with us 24/7, we have walked through life side by side together as a family. We have been able to seize those teachable moments as they present themselves. In the process, our children have no doubt of our love for them because we have invested in them day in and day out their entire lives. They know our goal is to guide them in what God has called them to do and to teach them to follow Jesus in their daily lives. We are here for them and they know it. It creates a culture of security in our home that I never had growing up.
Although we started homeschooling out of necessity (a story for another day), I sit here feeling grateful for the opportunity that God has given me to pour into our kids on a daily basis. I’ve loved what has been, but I’m ready to say, “On to the next thing!”