Thursday, April 20, 2006

Home School Encouragement

We had a very lively dinner last night. As we ate, our children started discussing what they wanted to be when they grow up. As usual in our family, our discussion went from serious to silly. Our 9 year old stated that he wanted to be Julius Caesar, but without friends. We all laughed because we knew instantly that he was referring to the fact that Ceasar's friend Brutus was the one who literally stabbed him in the back. Many public school children would not have known any of this history.

Our oldest son started public school for his freshman year. This was his first year to be in public school instead of home school. While I was preparing dinner, he came and sat down. I could tell by the look of disgust something was wrong. He was so frustrated by the lack of education in school. He begged me to apply to teach high school English. (Obviously he forgot we still have 4 other children at home for me to teach)! For the first time in his life, he understood why kids didn't enjoy reading. He concluded if the public school was the only exposure to good literature no wonder the kids hated to read! He told me how thankful he was for his home schooling years.

Now for the encouragement...

Home schooling is worth the time invested. I left the kitchen last night feeling so satisfied because Matthew saw first hand what his Dad and I have preached for years. He realized the value of the education he had been given at home, and he was truly thankful for what we had instilled.
As we are all building our farms, let us not forget the value of pouring into our children. For those of us who home school, we are making a difference in our children's lives...EVEN WHEN WE DON"T FEEL IT. Keep up the good work, and remember summer is on the way!!

As a side note... our decision for public school was something that we had never considered in the past. Matthew came to us and told us he had been praying and was feeling led by the Lord to check out public high school. After much prayer, his Dad and I enrolled him in our small public school. There are many Christians in his path, and the Christian principle keeps a tight rule of her roost or this decision would never had been made. We saw high school as an opportunity to prepare him for college while his Dad and I still had much control over his decisions in life.

grace and peace,
julie

2 comments:

TNfarmgirl said...

Such a great post! Yeah for Mathew!! I am thankful that our kids (yours and mine both) see other children who don't know the first thing about history, have trouble reading or can't do basic math..it teaches so much more than we can about the value of education....I know that my kids are flabbergasted at times with the lack of education taking place in most public schools!

Anonymous said...

I can definitly relate to the public school system. Even though I never was homeschooled. I did go to a private school my last two years in high school. I learned so much my last two years there than I did all the others. I know my kids won't be going to public when they get older. They'll will be going to a private school for sure. I think it's awsome that you can home school your kids. That way you know what's going into them. Keep up the good work. Way to go Matthew and parents in trusting in God's direction and desires. Keep on listening to God Matthew he'll never lead you astray.PJ