Why We Homeschool

Once upon a time there was a family.  They were a tiny family which consisted of dad (The Patriarch), mom (~Mrs. R), and 1 son (Peter Bunny).

One day, in the far by and by of the early 90’s, a notice came home from Peter Bunny’s school about the sex education video about to be shown in health class… and gave Peter Bunny’s parents the opportunity to preview said video.

So off his parents went, traveling over hill and dale, to school on ‘previewing’ day.  Peter Bunny’s parents were the only ones who previewed the video.

Peter Bunny’s parents were upset that abstinence was presented as ‘just another option’ and only mentioned a bare handful of times in the nearly hour length production.  They knew all too well the devastation a lack abstinence can bring.

The Patriarch, Peter Bunny’s daddy, expressed his dismay to the teacher.  She then informed him that ‘they’ were not allowed to teach ‘moral values’… blah… blah… blah.  But the truth is they do teach moral values, theirs not ours!  The moral of this story is that the public school system was immoral years ago… and it has NOT improved!

I remembered one math teacher who told me he didn’t assign any homework because the kids never do it anyway.  WHAT!??  They don’t have time to do the assignment IN class yet it is never assigned for outside of class?

We pulled Peter Bunny out of public school after that.  He was in 7th grade.

My first homeschool teaching task was to evaluate Peter Bunny’s learning to determine where I needed to  start my teaching — He could hardly read!  His reading ability was at or below the 2nd grade level.  I was shocked to my core.  I thought I remember him getting good grades on his report cards…

I then located his report cards from my files.  Yes, he was marked as “on grade level” in reading…

WAIT!!!  What was THIS!??

Our young Peter Bunny had been in remedial reading classes for at least 2 years.  HOW could he be marked as ON grade level when he wasn’t even IN a grade level class??? To add further insult to injury his ‘remedial reading teacher’, who gave out these marks, was a member of our church!  Was this deliberate dishonesty?  What was going on here??

I spent our first year of homeschooling teaching our 7th grader how to read, from the ground up, beginning with a thorough review of phonics.  It brought joy to my heart to ‘catch’ him reading, of his own volition, and for pleasure!  I was frequently heard saying “Reading is foundational to learning”, and “How can he study God’s word if he can’t read?”

Twelve years later, when Arrow came along, we were firmly convinced that he would never, ever, ever set one foot inside a public school.  Ever.

Over the years I have read a number of things that have helped me understand homeschooling and it’s history, the failure of the public school system, and the mandate from the Lord to take responsibility to teach our children.

Here Are Our Top Ten Reasons We Homeschool

1) God’s word tell us to.

Deuteronomy 6:6 – 7 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

The plain meaning of these verses is that your children should be instructed in things of the Lord all throughout the day from earliest rising to retiring for the night.  How can that happen when they are gone from home the majority of their waking hours?

2) Homeschooling has deepened our family bonds.  There is a deep love and genuine concern for each other that doesn’t develop when each family member spends large chunks of time separated from the others.

3) Godly character training happens only at home.  Mom and/or Dad are the only ones who are authorized by the Lord to administer corporal correction.  The parents are the ones who know each child intimately and what character traits need to be addressed or what struggles a child has.

4) There is no ‘bad company’ to corrupt our son’s ‘good morals’ (or morals in training) in our school.  ‘Bad company’ can also be in the form of computers, tv, movies, books and music – so constant vigilance must be maintained.  Those things are so much easier to control when your children are with you all day long.  It has been a joy to have Arrow with me all day, every day.  Don’t get me wrong, some days are h-a-r-d.  But anything worth doing is seldom ‘easy to do’.  There are also many resources out there to help you with just about any problem that comes up.  Many times it comes down to the need for more character training.

1 Corinthians 15:33    Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

5)  The Lord says in Psalm 127 that children are an inheritance.  Would I hand over my monetary inheritance to strangers, to have complete control over, without any supervision from me, for 12 l-o-n-g years?  No!  Why would I do that with the inheritance of far superior value – my children?

Psalm 127

 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

6) As we “walkest by the way”, running errands, shopping, on field trips, etc our children’s Godly training (or lack thereof) is visible to a watching world.  There is something SO different about a child with Godly character training!!  We are asked lots of different questions throughout the year about why we are different.  When was the last time you saw a 12-year-old public-school boy cheerfully hold open a door for anyone?!!

7) We have no drug or alcohol problems in our school.  We have no violence problems in our school.  We have no gang problems in our school.  We have no immodesty problems in our school.  We have no pornography in our curriculum, libraries or ‘school lockers’.  We have no promiscuity in our school.  We have no bullying in our school.

8) I have the freedom to choose what teaching materials will work best for our family, our child’s learning style, and our budget.  I am not required to utilize the dumbed-down, politically correct and historically inaccurate history textbooks used by the public schools.  There is no homosexual agenda in any of our books.  I am free to include God in each of our school subjects – God’s providence in history, math rules reflect an orderly Lord, grammar and proper punctuation to communicate the gospel to others with clarity & understanding, God as THE Creator of the universe in science, clear evidence presented in support of a global (NOT localized) flood, proof presented that clearly refutes evolutionary theory (it is NOT a fact), and MUCH, MUCH more.

9) Incorporating piano lessons, field trips, and other “non-school seat work” can happen whenever we want it to.  Our schedule is flexible and can be changed to accommodate Daddy’s work hours, a medical emergency, visiting relatives or any number of things that come up in life.

10) When “life” happens, our schooling doesn’t stop – it make take a different form for  a bit.  Such as when I broke my arm, Arrow’s “school-time seat work” came to a screeching halt. He spent hours doing all the things I suddenly couldn’t do for myself!  You can read more about that journey here.

I want to call your attention to something.  Though the homeschool education is far superior to anything the public schools can dish out, that reason doesn’t even make our top ten list!

What is the hardest part of homeschooling?  It isn’t the teaching.  It isn’t correcting the numerous papers.  It is me.  Maintaining consistency day in and day out is the hardest task – – – and all with a proper attitude.

But the rewards are are well worth the time and effort it takes!

Blessings, ~Mrs. R (aka Aunt Mae)

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