School Time Again..

Yes, it is getting to be that time of year again - Back-to-School. The sales fliers are advertising all the latest in back to school clothing and school supplies. Schedules and classroom assignments are in the mail. "I'm bored!" is commonly heard in homes everywhere.

This time of year also involves interesting conversations with store clerks, friends, and neighbors - especially with those who do not know that our children do not attend the traditional brick and mortar school.

Once such conversation happened to me this weekend. This was the first time I met this woman and we had the usual "get-to-know-eachother" conversation. She learned we were moving and started asking about changing schools in the middle of the year. The look of surprise was (and always is) priceless when I told her that we home-educate. She then did a quick survey of how many were going to be school aged (6 - if you count Mathias as preschool age). Her jaw dropped and the questions started coming.

With brick and mortar schools being the norm, it is hard for people to understand home-education. Is it legal? Why would parents CHOOSE to stay home all day and teach their children? Wouldn't it be better to send them to school where there are qualified teachers? Think of all the free time you would have! Do you have any free time? What about socialization? How do you do with all those children and all the subjects? What about curriculum? The questions go on and on.

God is good. Just when I'm trying to battle through and explain the answers to people, He puts in my inbox an email. "The Odds Against Homeschooling" This article from crosswalk.com answers a lot of these questions. Here are some other articles that delve into the why and hows of home education.

Reviving our vision

Homes Schooling Today articles

http://www.hslda.org/

This Little Light of Mine... (excellent list of resources on Home education at the end of this blog post - Thanks, Stacy, for putting this list together!)

"Why do we Hate Homeschoolers"

Ultimately we can't do it on our own. No man or woman possesses the strength to run a home, be a helpmeet to her husband, school a handful or more of children while taking care of babies, and keep her sanity - all at the same time! It just isn't humanly possible! That is why we need to rely on God's strength - daily - to help us through.

Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths."

There it is in a nutshell. Trust Him and He will direct our paths.

THE TEACHER
by: Leslie Pinckney Hill (1880-1960)

LORD, who am I to teach the way

To little children day by day,

So prone myself to go astray?

I teach them KNOWLEDGE, but I know

How faint they flicker and how low

The candles of my knowledge glow.

I teach them POWER to will and do,

But only now to learn anew

My own great weakness through and through.

I teach them LOVE for all mankind

And all God's creatures, but I find

My love comes lagging far behind.

Lord, if their guide I still must be,

Oh let the little children see

The teacher leaning hard on Thee.