Free To Be Who God Made Them

I have homeschooled and I have sent my children to public school.  By doing both, I've learned some vital lessons.  The most important is that homeschooling allows children to be who God made them to be, not who the public schools and peers would want them to be.

We hear a lot about individuality.  Public schools talk about wanting students to be individuals while creating a culture of conformity.  I can tell you that, in public school, individuality is repressed and discouraged.  If the school itself isn't pushing conformity, peers definitely do.

My younger children are definitely individuals!

Jasmine:

This is Jasmine's first year as a homeschool student.  She is a freshman in high school.  After years of public school and feeling inferior because of learning difficulties, it has taken months for her to begin to relax. I am starting to see her individuality come forth as she relaxes and begins to learn at home.  She still has quite a ways to go.  It's a process.  However, I see her confidence growing in who she is.  I see the results of not having constant peer pressure in her life.  I see her smiling more, having fun, becoming a beautiful woman of God.  I even see her realizing that she is capable of learning and doing well in school, especially as we delve into different methods of learning.  Jasmine is very visual, and she is seeing that as a benefit, not a downfall.  She is growing in her faith, and seeing that happen is beautiful!

Laura:

Laura has been homeschooled since third grade.  She is not like most other 12 year old girls.  She isn't a 12 year old going on 17.  She is usually comfortable with kids either a little younger or a little older than her.  She is at that age between girl and young woman.  She loves her doll, her music, and is slowly taking an interest in makeup.  She is artistic.  She loves painting, is beginning to scrapbook, and enjoys taking pictures.  She enjoys writing.  She writes random stories that are quite good.  Best of all, she loves Jesus.  Quiet and reserved, she is not meek.  She is bold for Christ.  She spends every Sunday service in the front row of the church.  She could care less about getting attention.  She wants to be in the front where she can worship Jesus without distraction. 

Megan:

Megan is my girly-girl.  She is only five, still developing her personality.  She is very out-going.  She is very fun.  Megan loves to play and be imaginative.  She has never gone to public school.  The hope and prayer is that she will never attend public school unless God sends her there.  Megan doesn't know anything about peer pressure.  She asked recently why she doesn't go to public school like some of the children at church.  I explained that God wanted us to teach her at home so she could learn about Jesus.  That explanation made sense to her.

What I Hope My Girls Get By Homeschooling:

 I want my girls to have the time, without negative pressure, to grow in Christ.  There will be enough pressure from the world without adding to it unnecessarily.  I don't believe in sending my children to public school to be lights unless they are older and God calls them to that mission field.  I know many that disagree, but this is what I feel deep down.  Having had children in both public and homeschool situations, I know that what the children deal with in public school is often difficult, especially when it concerns their Christian beliefs. 

I want my girls to receive sound academic instruction.  I don't feel that a Christian education and a sound academic education are in conflict with each other, but in harmony.  God gave them good brains.  None of my children will learn in exactly the same way.  None of them will be used by God in exactly the same way.  I try to find educational materials that are God-honoring and use lots of different senses.  I have seen first hand that my children learn and retain best if they learn a subject from more than just one method.  They are a bit visual, so seeing it often helps more than just reading about it.

God called me to homeschooling, and I want to honor that calling.  I do my best every day to fulfill what He has called me to do.  I can't believe how challenging and yet rewarding homeschooling has been.  It is incredible to me where God has led us.  I've been overwhelmed at the task, and blessed by the journey.