I'm at a crossroad.
Since we've been married we have planed on allowing God to plan our family. That means that I have been pregnant a lot in our short five years of marriage. This has not always been easy. Honestly it's never easy, but it's been the best years of my life! I love having babies and being a mother. I know, without a doubt, that this is my calling in life. I know that God is and always has been equipping me as a mother. My current issue, however, is homeschooling.
Right now I can see my life as two very different paths.
One of those paths leads to me homeschooling our children. I was homeschooled as a 6-11th grader and it was, by far, the best thing that happened to me. It allowed me to find myself at a pretty young age. I loved being homeschooled and wouldn't trade that time in my life for anything. HOWEVER, this is not our reasoning for homeschooling. Our reasoning has always been that we'd choose to homeschool simply because we feel like we will best "train up a child in the way he should go." We don't want to give this HUGE task over to someone else(usually a total stranger) for the majority of the day, leaving us only the few short hours before they go to bed for the night. We'd also like to be able to use our faith as a hinge for all types of learning. Being homeschool would also allow us to travel and see things that we would not otherwise be able to see. I know that homeschooling several children at the same time would be difficult, but I also know that it is indeed possible. This path is going to require many personal sacrifices and a lot of really hard work. I'd also want Scotty to be able to help out, which would mean that he's need to have a job that would allow him to be home a little bit more, which is something that he'd like to do anyway. I am not in any way worried about the social impact of homeschooling. I was much more social as a homeschooler than I was when I was in school. I'm prepared to work on ways to get my kids involved with other children without them being in school. We already are doing some of these things now.
The other path looks much different. It's not better or worse. Just different. This path has our kids in school(probably public). This path would allow me to do more things like volunteering places and maybe even having a school-time job. I love having a "real" job and do miss this sometimes. However, I'll still probably have little ones at home for several more years making this more difficult anyway. The pros of them being in public school are mostly for me. I'm worried about the interaction our children will have with other students and teachers in public school as they have not been introduced to "the world" yet. I also know that my children are being trained NOW to go into "the world" and preach the gospel. We've always seen our responsibility as parents to be trainers of soldiers. Soldiers that will one day fight for what they believe in. I'm just not sure that my five year old is ready for that.
I feel like I'm standing in front of this crossroad with no map, no GPS. I've prayed and prayed and have no real direction at all. I'm asking that God will make the path clear to us. I know that when the time is right the decision will be clear. We'll know the right way for us.
um first of all, you've gotten a hard time about leaving xanga?? SERIOUSLY?? that's ridiculous. people are weird.
ReplyDeletesecond, you are right...you'll know what to do when the time is right. O isn't ready for kindergarten yet, so you've still got some time. it does seem you're leaning to homeschooling at this point. there are SO SO SO many arguments for AND against, which i'm sure you've heard. here's something to think about... i tend to lean towards public, IF you're in a good area. i know kindergartners are typically not Christians yet, but parents, like you, ARE. yours and scotty's presence in that school, in your home when olivia has a little friend over, can make unknown amounts of eternal differences. obviously, it's concerning and you need to protect your child, so it's a huge huge decision. we're only here for a short time after all, and you never know what her little life can do with other kids who never hear the name of Jesus in the manner they should. i'm confident though, that you guys will do what the Lord tells you to do though!
Homeschool the early years then let them decide around jr high which route to go for the rest of the time...
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you posted on my blog because I didn't know about your blog before. It seems to me that we are very similar in many ways, even our taste in names (I have an Emma, of course, and Addison and Olivia were both in my top 5 fav. names when deciding what to name Eisley). Your girls are just gorgeous and seem to mirror mine in many of their personality traits. I admire your values and your obvious dedication to your God and your family; these are the most important things in my life as well! However, I must admit, you are braver than I. I've never tried it, but it seems like homeschooling would be a LOT of work. My parents struggled with this decision as well and I always wanted to be homeschooled, but I am grateful for the experiences I had in public school. It is a scary world out there and I almost cry at the thought of sending my sweet, innocent little ones out into it; but like you said, it gives them many opportunities to "stand for truth and righteousness." Let us know what you decide.
ReplyDeleteHey!! How are you. You are sure missed here. I am so glad to see your blog. God Bless, Berkli
ReplyDeleteI know your struggle, because we've been there. I was all in favor of homeschool, but Aaron was unconvinced at first. He became convinced after we did preschool with K. last year and she learned how to read -- Public PreK wouldn't have taught that!
ReplyDeleteHomeschool's flexibility has allowed us to travel at times we wouldn't have been able to had she been in public school. It has also freed her to go at her own pace -- so far this year, she has completed her Kindergarten math book and is 1/4 the way through 1st grade, all in just 2-3 hours per day of work. I have heard the socialization arguments, but, to me, social skills depend more on the family and the child's personality, plus my kids get socialization at church, Girl scouts, tee ball, etc.
I've also heard the "witness" arguments, which is something Aaron was concerned about. But then I heard a respected speaker on the radio (can't remember right now who) say something to the effect of, "yes, you want your child to learn to be a witness, but just as you wouldn't throw your child into shark-infested waters to teach them to swim, sending them to school to teach them to witness doesn't make sense either." True, other kindergarteners aren't necessarily athiests, but I know that I've noticed my own child pick up bad habits or bad attitudes or disrespectful comments sometimes just from being around other church kids. Imagine if she were around a whole classful of kids who aren't necessarily being raised the way I've raised her.
Anyway, that's just my opinion. I partially agree with the comment that said wait until Jr. High to send them to school, only I would recommend waiting until High school b/c Jr. High is a very awkward and rowdy age. By the time they reach high school, they will be strong enough to be good witnesses w/o being influenced so much by the bad.
HB here...we are praying through the homeschool issue too. Ick. Not fun. I fear that other mom's will think I'm not as good of a parent or that my job isn't as difficult if we choose to send our children to school. Our main priorities when it comes to school, etc: 1/ Showing the love of Jesus to our children. 2/ Our children making His name great (which is our dream). 3/ Our kids having the best educational experience possible so that they value education and love to learn (this is very important to me as I was a full fledged school hater).
ReplyDeleteI think we will probably do what is right for each child and decide on a year by year basis. It's hard not to have a set in stone plan for every year of our kiddo's schooling, but that's the only decision we've both felt confident about. Is it just me, or does this remind you of the whole birth control/ no birth control decision? It feels very similar to me. Email me so we can set up a playdate. :)