The battles you fight as a homeschooler aren't what you might think. Most of the time your battles revolve around an outsider's perception of why you do what you do and them immediately telling you why they don't do it. Let's clear something up right away; I do not think everyone should homeschool. I do think there should be public schools and I happily pay my taxes so that those schools can exist. I do not believe that the issues I have with public education are the fault of the teachers in the classrooms.
We chose to homeschool for several reasons. First, I want my children to have a biblical world view. That definitely isn't going to happen in public school and maybe not even in some private schools. Second, we enjoy time with our children and want to give them as much time with us as possible. The local public school is from 0830 to 1530, that's seven hours not including prep and travel time. If I got home at 1710 and my kids went to bed at 2100, we would see them for a total of maybe 20 hours on weekdays. Conversely, they would be immersed with their peers well more than double that amount. That would be an unhealthy ration for our family.
My greatest concern for my children is not athletics, or grades, or getting into a college. I want multi-generational faithfulness in my family. I did a little research and found some scary statistics regarding what happens when Christian kids leave home and set out on their own. One study showed that "94% of homeschoolers keep the faith and 93% continue to attend church after the high school years. But a shocking 75% to 85% of Christian children sent to public school drop out of church, and do not hold a Christian worldview after high school graduation." That's shocking and scary, but even worse is this study showing that less than 19% of self-professing born-again adults possess a biblical worldview. Why is this we might ask? This article shows that today's adults weren't sufficiently challenged as children. I know I wasn't challenged even though I was raised in church. I have learned the hard way that my own spiritual walk wasn't what it should be until earlier this year.
Another battle you may end up fighting as a homeschooler is how your parents feel about your decision. My wife and I are both licensed educators and come from families where multiple generations have been educators. An unintended consequence of our choice to homeschool was making our parents feel like our decision reflected on their career choice and/or their decision to send us to public school. While some of our decision is based on what we experienced, we do not "blame" our parents and grandparents for anything and we are not criticizing their lifestyles or choices. My wife recently said that to her mother and it seemed to relieve a lot of tension. You may also ask yourself "what about honoring your mother and father" if they disagree with your decision? This goes beyond my ability to discuss so I leaned on this blog entry from Voddie Bauchum. He's a great resource for homeschoolers and also for any man that wants to be challenged to be the spiritual leader he is supposed be.
At the end of the day your decisions should be made by asking yourself "am I doing this for me or am I doing it to bring glory and honor to God's kingdom?" That answer will NOT be the same for everyone. As long as you are dying to yourself and picking up your cross everyday then you will make the right decisions for your family. For the men out there, I pray that you can avoid the trap that I fell into which was my own self-centeredness and pride. I spent a lot of time wanting to be comfortable in the world and wanting glory for myself. If you are interested in homeschooling I can tell you it's very rewarding and your kids will enjoy it. The issues concerning social skills and quality of education are really not issues at all if you do a little bit of research and preparation. I have heard people say to me "your kids are great but most homeschoolers....". They can stop there, no one knows "most" homeschoolers just like no one knows "most" public school kids. You may have been exposed to some that were not what you want for your kids but that isn't necessarily representative of "most."
I hope you will make the right decisions for your family, whatever that might be.
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