About three years ago, when my oldest was four years old, my husband and I started thinking through what our options were as far as schooling.  At the time,  we were living in a location that we knew was fairly temporary, and didn't want to put Molly through the frustration of getting settled into  school, a routine, and friendships only to be pulled out and have to start over again.  I know from personal experience that it can be tramatic as a kid to keep experiencing that.  My second concern regarding putting her in school surfaced at right about that same time.  Molly was taking some ballet classes as well as some pre-school classes She spent the whole class time staring at the other kids and making mental notes on the their behavior, or what they were wearing.  She is a very hands on learner that needs a lot of one-on-one interaction.  As I was observing her in these classroom situations, I could see her future flash before my eyes!  The typical classroom for her would be a very frustrating experience, and she would end up getting lost in the shuffle.  My husband and I both are not classroom learners either, so she comes by it honestly!

Okay, so to back up and give you a little history on us, my husband was a youth pastor for 12 years.  Just this last October we got out of youth ministry so that we can focus on our own kids.  In the course of those 12 years, we have probably had around a thousand different kids that we have been in close contact with, worked with, observed, and then watched as they go out into the adult world.  As far as quality of character, and quality of educational experience we have been very unimpressed with the kids coming out of the public school system.  The bulk of my schooling came from the public schools, and I must say that I am sad that I never learned the discipline of studying, among many other things I wish I had learned, but didn't.  My husband, on the other hand, went to Christian schools his whole life.  His educational experience definately has more positive aspects, than does mine.  However, with all of the kids we have observed from Christian schools, we remain unimpressed by the bulk of them as well.  In our observations, they generally have an overall apathy and callousness towards spiritual matters, and an arrogance because they think they know the Bible better than everyone else.  The knowledge of the Bible means nothing if it isn't producing any fruit.  So, my husband and I started thinking about into which catagory we would like to put our children.

 So, now back to homeschooling.  I was totally against it when we first got married.  I didn't want my kids to ever be seen as "different" and wanted them to have all the opportunities with sports, music, etc. that schools have to offer.  As time has gone on though, my thoughts on this have changed.  I don't want my kids to be average and just like everyone else...so in a sense, I do want them to be different.  I still want them to have opportunities, but if we all are realistic about it, how many of us have found those activities we were involved in when we were in school to be completely relevent, practical, and useful in our adult everyday lives?  How have those activities made the world around us a better place?  Yes, they do teach kids to be good sports, stick with things, teamwork, etc.  They also control the family calender and take away from family time.  Yes, I do want my kids to learn and experience new things.  We provide those opportunities for them and encourage them to do so.  However, those things do NOT control our lives or schedules.  

In our observations of kids that were homeschooled, we were pleasantly surprised with what we were seeing.  They were generally the most responsible and respectful ones out of all the kids we have worked with.  I also noticed that those kids generally had more practical life skills under there belts than did the others.  (homemaking, cooking, child care, carpentry, lawn care, automobile care, money management, etc.)  These are activities and skills that one actually needs as an adult, and I can't help but think that it is an outcome of the family working as a unit to survive on a daily basis...kids included!

   Another reason we have chosen to homeschool is because we want our children to have a Biblical, realistic, and logical world view.  I get so aggravated at the way society teaches that we should be tolerant of sin.  The humanistic view that "what is right for you is right for you, and what is right for me is right for me" is not welcome in our home or lives.  Right is right and wrong is wrong!  It' pretty black and white to me!

The final reason we have chosen to school our kids at home is that we like being with our kids!  I can't imagine sending them away for 40 hours a week.  I really like being with them, experiencing everyday life with them, being able to just go on vacation when we want to, learning together, etc.  They are just such a huge joy to have in our lives, and we want to be the best possible stewards of these treasures God has let us take care of.