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reasons to homeschool???
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Question:
I am in the middle of a debate with my husband regarding homeschooling from
September, but in a homeschooling debate generally.
I think that to school a child at home is the best thing you can ever do
for him, my husband thinks that because he enjoyed schooling thirty years
ago he wants to give our children that opportunity now. We live in an area
of America that has a good reputation for public schools.
Our children are three boys aged 2, 4 and 6. The oldest has been
homeschooled through Kindergarten and I want to homeschool him through 1st
grade.
Please help with reasons why we should continue homeschooling, especially
biblical ones.
Answer:
- Here's my two cents, for what they're worth...
I don't think that homeschool is a biblical mandate. (That
doesn't mean that it may not be a sincere religious conviction
for some people. It certainly is not contrary to scripture.)
Our biblical responsibilities toward our children are quite
clear. The usual scripture used to support homeschool that
I've heard is the one about talking to our children about God
when they get up and lie down and walk along the way (or however
that exactly goes). The idea is that when our children spend
all day with people other than ourselves we are not able to
do this. At any rate, each person will have to decide themselves
which parental responsibilities may or may not be delegated and
under what circumstances they may be delegated.
I must admit, also, that I'm a bit leery of scriptural arguments
that attempt to prove issues that are clearly not specifically
addressed in the Bible. The best we can do is to look for
general principles and judge if they apply to our situation.
Chances are there are no new arguments to present to your
husband. So what can you do? This is the hardest, the
very hardest thing possible... and that is to trust God
and submit to your husband's spiritual authority. As someone
on this website said recently, that doesn't mean changing your
mind. It means saying plainly, "I disagree but we will do
it your way." And then not undermining the effort but actually
supporting the other person with a good attitude. (I really do
know what I'm suggesting and how hard it truely is to submit
to your husband on an issue of religious conviction. The
end result is Peace, however.)
Enrolling your child in a classroom school is as much a
yearly decision as deciding to homeschool him. I offer this
as comfort to you if your husband decides your son should
attend first grade at a school. And, as you said, his experience
with school is 30 years old. Some first hand experience with
schools today might be exactly what he needs. At least he knows
that you have the option to homeschool. A generation ago our
parents had never heard of such a thing.
BTW, if he has the time he could always read this group for
a while. (For better or worse!) I really do think that homeschool
is best. No doubt. And the best reason I can possibly think
of to _continue_ to homeschool once you've started is that there
isn't any logical reason to stop. Kind of the idea that if
something isn't broke you don't fix it.
I don't suppose any of this is what you were looking for. And
I should say that only you know your situation and what may
be helpful or not. And thinking of my own husband at the
moment... sometimes they need to hear it from someone other
than their wife. Does he know any men who homeschool their
children? Support groups can tend to be girl's clubs sometimes.
(Who do you think stays home with the kids so Mom can go?)
There are several very smart, articulate men who participate
on this website and I'm sure that one or another of them
would be happy to answer questions or just talk about why
they homeschool if they were asked.
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