Why DO I homeschool??

Sometimes, when I'm tired of homeschooling, and I feel like I would love to quit and have the day to myself, it is good to be reminded of why I wanted to homeschool in the first place.

My oldest went to Kindergarten at a small Christian school, but only because his aunt was his teacher and the other two needed some Mommy time.

Now, I home educate because I want to be the largest influence on my children. I want to instil in them the belief that with God, they can do anything. If someone was going to influence my children from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon, I wanted to be sure that her convictions were mine. That her reason for spending the time with my child was not to pay for her child's education, not to earn a little extra money for herself, and certainly not to indoctrinate them with some liberal agenda. I want to have my children taught WHY we do the things we do. WHY we go to church. WHY we memorize Bible verses. WHY we believe in creation. WHY we love serving others. WHY we pitch in and help out with others. WHY our standards are as high as they are, even though others think they are weird.

 I want them to love learning. I remember distinctly the day when I no longer enjoyed going to school. The day when I was bored to hear about the same thing for the 50th time and I still had to sit and listen to a 45 minute lecture on the topic. I remember hating doing homework over a topic that I understood and was bored of. I remember not retaining things even though I had studied them because it was not a topic that held my interest. NOW, I do teach all the different ranges of topics to my boys, but at the same time I allow them to pursue those that interest them. When we go to the library, they are allowed to pick three books for that week on whatever topic seems interesting. So far they have studied dinosaurs, pirates, sharks, Christmas in foreign countries, and baby animals. I LOVE this!!! I love that they ENJOY learning.

 I want them to realize that they will never know everything, but they can know where to look. I love taking them to the library and introducing them to new topics. I want them to realize that books, and GOOGLE :) have all the answers to all the questions they need. I love memorizing verses on topics for an entire school year. Last year, we memorized verses on God's commands to children (ie. Be quiet, Be still...). This year, we are studying verses from Proverbs on the slothful and the diligent. I love sharing with them Bible verses that apply to simple things like schoolwork.

I want them to have an entrepreneur's heart that seeks out challenges rather than being afraid of failure. So many times, boys at school tease other boys who do not have their sports ability. Those kids that do not have the ability to learn well are teased for their bad grades. I'm not saying that grading is bad. We are graded daily in every area of our lives, and only in knowing we have failed can we choose to improve. It's just that with a dyslexic son that sits next to a brother that has been reading since he was two, he has enough trouble without also being added to the "remedial" reading group in school. It also takes much encouragement from us, and a curve in reading grades. But hey, in my humble opinion, since reading is not a grade in high school, then  it's not really important what their grade is now as long as they arrive in high school with a love of reading and absorbing knowledge. I can give my dyslexic reader a B for his high effort, even if it's not as good as my advanced reader would have done at that point in his life. If they learn from the examples in their own life that they can do anything if they keep trying, they will be willing to take charge of their own lives later down the road.

 I want my sons to get to be boys, instead of disciplined into being robots and sitting still all day. Don't mistake me. They WILL sit still when they are asked, but they will be given enough opportunities to run so that sitting is not so difficult. I love letting them run all day, only to coral them after dinner for two to three hours of schooling. They get done quickly that way and are able to enjoy the day. They have time to do their chores, time to help with the work around the outside of the house, contribute to being helpers in the house, and still get to spend roughly half of their time awake at play. I love that!!!

 I want my sons to have every opportunity to find out what they want to do with their LIFE rather than focusing on the subjects available at whatever college. If they hate this subject or that subject, they will be far less likely to head for the career of their dreams because they have so much prejudice against a certain class they may have to take. If, however, they are taught in a way they enjoy, on a timeline that fits them, they will learn useful information at a time that is best suited to their learning, not to a curriculum's calendar.

In short, I want to give my sons every opportunity to find what God wants and requires, and the strength of mind, body, and character to become that man. THAT is why I homeschool. THAT is why I love what I do.