I have been asked by several people why we home educate our children. Today I have been doing research on the Waldorf approach and comparing it with the Charlotte Mason method. Then I sat back and asked myself exactly what...how....do I want to teach my children...which then lead me to the question of why do I home educate my children. I believe starting with the 'why' will help lead me to the 'how' and 'what'.
I. myself, was not home educated. I spent most of my school years in the private school system. In grades 7th through 9th I was in public school. In high school I had 2 friends that were home schooled..one full time, the other went to school part of the week and the rest of the week worked on her studies at home. I was intrigued!!! I even asked my mom if she would consider teaching me at home. Unfortunately, I had younger brothers and sisters and she worked in the school office to help pay for our tuition and books at the private school. I found boys to be very distracting and most girls to be catty and fickle. I knew I wanted more for my children!! After graduating from high school (my younger siblings being in middle school) I came across an article that was given to my mom concerning the influences that a teacher has on his/her students. The teacher is with the student(s) almost 8 hours or more a day...therefore the teacher's attitudes, character traits both good and bad, and beliefs will begin to effect the life of the child. This concerned me. I could not be sure that what I would be teaching and training my children at home would not be undermined at school. While just 19 years old I determined that I would home educate my children based on those facts alone. The longer I have home educated my children the more I have come across disturbing statistics that just deepened my reasons for doing this.
The percentage of illiterates, teen pregnancies, suicides, killings, premarital intercourse, crime, etc have sky rocketed since taking Bible and prayer out of our classrooms. Why would anyone want to put their children in such a sess pool? It is time to start thinking outside the box of education!!! The government's system is tearing down our homes and ruining our children's lives! We as Americans are more interested in material things than the spiritual welfare of our children. Education just doesn't effect the mind, but also the heart and soul. If done properly children will grow into mature, responsible, well rounded. well balanced individuals. Isn't that what we would like?! That is my goal!!
Home education is not for the faint hearted (though you may experience that from time to time). It is for the strong in spirit that want more for our children..that want more for America and that want more for God!!!
Why do you home educate?
Angela,
ReplyDeleteMany of your reasons are mine as well. My oldest went to Kindergarten at Grace, 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. I want them to love learning. I want them to realize that they will never know everything, but they can know where to look. I want them to have an entrepreneur's heart that seeks out challenges rather than being afraid of failure. 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 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.
In short, I want to give my sons every opportunity to find what God wants and requires, and the strength both of mind and character to become that man.
Thank you for commenting, Becky! I couldn't agree with you more! I like the fact that I can individualize our children's studies to their way of learning and thinking! It took me a long time to think outside of the box but I am glad that God has showed me and is showing me how!! It has been very rewarding for both me and our children! ~Angela~
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