This post is sponsored by Midwest Parent Educators in Kansas City.
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| Me, 20 years ago! |
Once upon a time, there was a 14 year old girl who was going down the wrong path. She was interested in friends, boys, and having fun. She wasn’t really caring too much about what the Lord’s plans were for her life. She was just worried about being accepted by her peers. Then, one day, her parents became very worried about her and decided to homeschool her! It was the beginning of her 10th grade year and she was madder than mad. After all, how can she hang out with her friends and have as much fun as possible when she’s home all the time with her parents? Well, it turns out, that one decision made by her parents, was THE BEST decision. While not everything was picture perfect and she did eventually rebel against her parents again for a time, that short amount of time of being homeschooled allowed her to develop a good foundation for who she was to become.
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Yes, that girl, was me. I was homeschooled from 10th grade through 12th grade. I spent K-2nd grade in a private Christian school and the second half of 2nd grade through 9th grade in public school. While all of the different places I was educated definitely played a part in who I am today, homeschooling made the biggest impact on my life.
- Being homeschooled allowed me to develop into my own person without worrying about what the popular girls were thinking.
- Being homeschooled allowed me to develop a better relationship with my parents. While it was probably slow going at first, it ended up being fun and we enjoyed each other’s company most of the time and we still have a good relationship to this day.
- Being homeschooled allowed me time to focus on God’s word. We spent those few years memorizing Scripture, dissecting it and really figuring out what God was saying to us in his Word, the Bible. That left me the study skills that I need as an adult.
- I get to spend all my time with my children. I am the one who gets to watch them learn to read, learn to write and I don’t have to miss out on a thing.
- I can tailor their education. If they’re a quick learner in math, we can speed it up. If they’re slow in another area, I can slow down until they get it.
- They have the perfect type of socialization. Yes, we get out and do things within our homeschool group and others in the community. They are exposed to all sorts of different ages and can talk to all of those ages just as easily. This includes kids of all ages and adults of all ages.
- We can learn each subject from a Biblical perspective. This includes the amazing discoveries in science and the miracles in History. We are allowed to say that God is our maker and that He is the reason all these cool things happened! We can teach them that there is no such thing as the Big Bang Theory and Evolution and exactly why we know that to be true. We can pray whenever we want to, even in the middle of science class!
- I want my children to enjoy learning! I remember just cramming and dumping while in public school and I don’t remember very much of it. You should see how much I’ve learned though since I’ve been homeschooling my own kids. I feel so smart! LOL.
- By being with them most of the time, I’m able to nip any sinful attitudes in the bud as they’re happening. If they were away from me during the day, they would not learn from those wrong attitudes, words and deeds that they may or may not be having throughout the day. I’m truly shaping their character as they grow. I want to be able to do that and don’t want that left to teachers and other students.
