Why Homeschool?

So far, I like blogging. I have more to say and surprisingly, I have time to post again in one day.

Why do I homeschool?

I choose to educate my children at home because I take my assigment as a mother very seriously. I realize that it is the greatest and highest calling a person could have. It is a privilege and an honor to be a mother of two lives. I know God has a great plan for the lives of my kids. And, I also know that if they walk in the ways of the world, they can easily abort the vision God has for them. At best, public education is a place where children are labeled and organized for the purpose of teaching them a set of facts, opinions, ideas and patterns to lead them to an expected end of being productive in society. Originally, public school was created in the Industrial Age to begin modeling compliant and capable workers for the factories in America. Their original blueprint did not include plans for originality, nuturing individual gifts and talents, entrepreneurship, ministry training or anything that did not fit into the norm of being a good "worker".

As public school has evolved, many systems have made attempts to add programs and curriculum to address its shortcomings. However, these programs and curriculum are not standard and are not equal. They are often subject to politics, government funding and other influences that determine their fate. They also attempt to do the impossible;provide a customized education for each student with only one or two teachers to sometimes 25 to 30 students per classroom.

Our school systems have also been built around falsehoods and deceptions such as evolution. They embrace false gods, unholy lifestyles and tolerate sin in the name of "diversity". Children who are taught that life has no meaning and is only the result of a Big Bang begin to see themselves as valueless. This apathetic perception leads to all sorts of problems and ills in society.

I have heard many argue that not having children in public school is an unhealthy situation where the children are shielded from "real life". They see this as a handicap and fear that children will have limited ability to relate to others. Often, I am asked by people about socialization. There are many points of view on this subject within the homeschooling community. But they all ultimately cry out the same conclusion, School is not real life. Real life is real life. Of our 80 to 100 years we are on earth, only twelve of those are spent in a public school setting with perhaps an additional 4 in college for some. During that time, children are forced to spend most of their time only with your peers that are their same age. They are reprimanded for talking in class. They spend about 20 minutes per day playing freely with others and even then they are only others in their age group. This hardly reflects how we relate to others for the majority of our lives. Therefore, the child who has an opportunity to spend time with a true cross section of society - different ages, different sexes, different environments, etc. has an advantage in social skills.

Also, in the case of spending hours and hours with peers day after day, you often find that children form "soul ties" with others that become stronger than the ties they have with their parents. Therefore, peers become the main source of influence rather than the parents. Children find themselves in situations where they are forced to make adult decisions with a child's mind. A child is to remain a child under the authority and influence of parents until that child leaves the home.

In our society, teenagers have been given the status of adulthood simply because they can have children. This is idiotic. Teenagers are looking for adults to show them how to behave. And because we have failed as parents, we are suffering as we watch our youth become apathetic, self centered and destroyed by their own actions. When you spend the most time with your children, you have the intimate relationship of mentoring and trust that creates happy, healthy adults of our children.