Homeschooling: Back to the Basics

I remember taking to heart something I read when our family first started homeschooling. I can't remember where I read it, but the idea was to write down the reasons why you decided to homeschool. The author suggested doing this before you even began your homeschooling journey, so that when times got tough in the years ahead and you felt like quitting, you could refer back to that piece of paper and remind yourself why you were homeschooling in the first place.

I did that exercise. I wrote down the four reasons why Matt and I decided to homeschool and then I filed the piece paper away and kind of forgot about it. When I cleaned out my files recently I unearthed that piece of paper.

Here is what I wrote eight years ago:

1. To instill (with the Holy Spirit's help) godly values and to grow godly character traits in our children with the ultimate hope that they, too, would each purpose in their hearts to follow Jesus Christ and Him alone. (By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established. Prov. 24:3)

2. To strengthen the bonds within our family so that our family becomes a place of refuge and stability for each member in a world that is increasingly surrendered to the darkness, not to the Light. (Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8).

3. To create a lifestyle of learning whereby knowledge is enjoyable to pursue, not something merely to be memorized and regurgitated. Most importantly, that wisdom is sought above all. (The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. Prov. 9:10)

4. That in the end, our children would have a strong foundation, built on the Rock of Ages, so that they may stand firm in the evil day. (Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Ephes. 6:10-13)

Even though Matt and I haven't looked at this piece of paper since I filed it away, I can say we never lost sight of our goals. Whenever we evaluated a different curriculum, an extra class or a new activity, we asked ourselves if that new thing supported or hindered our goals. Often times, even though the thing under consideration was good, we decided it wasn't good enough. The good is the enemy of the best.

We never once considered quitting homeschooling (except on the nights before end of year testing :) Was it hard? Yes, at times it was unbearably hard and we thought we'd crumble under the pressure. Do we still have hard days and years ahead? Most certainly we do. Yet through it all, by God's grace, we keep pressing on. The Lord has always been faithful to provide for our needs, financial and otherwise.

I'm reminded of something J. Hudson Taylor, missionary to China said, "God's work, done God's way, will never lack for God's supply."

Post Script: The above list was written at a time in our lives when our faith was being tested. It was a test that shook Matt and me to the core. The Lord showed us with crystalline clarity that His Word is inerrant and infallible and that the time we have with our kids is short and that we should diligently work to point them to Jesus, the only Name under Heaven by which one may be saved (Acts 4:10-12 ). I know that the ideas expressed in goal #3 were borrowed from the homeschooling books I was reading at the time (the concept that school didn't have to be done using the traditional public school model in order to be successful was new to me).