Why We Chose to Homeschool

A few months ago I shared how God had His hand in our decision to homeschool (catch up here if you missed it). I’d mentioned how I wanted our kids out of public school for some time, and today I’ll share why. I also mentioned how my mindset had shifted from focusing on the negatives of public school to the positives of a home education and I’ll share those too.

Why we chose to homeschool our kids

I think it’s important for homeschool parents to remember their “why” – the reason you chose to and continue to homeschool. In a nutshell, our “why” is that we want our children to be surrounded by positive influences and taught from a biblical worldview. Children are going to be most influenced by who they are a round the majority of the time. If they spend 7-8 hours a day for 5 days a week around children who are a negative influence or a teacher who doesn’t have their best interest at heart, they are likely to pick up on these traits or a worldly way of thinking. Our goal by having them home is to instill truth (God’s word) into their hearts, so that when they are inevitably introduced to worldly issues, they will have that biblical foundation and can then navigate it with a biblical worldview

This is our big “why” and below are some other reasons why we decided to homeschool.

Reasons we want our kids out of public school:

• Agendas, agendas, agendas –  While the rainbows weren’t too prevalent at the elementary level, I had heard more than a few reports of issues at the middle school and high school levels. Teachers wearing rainbow pins, hanging alphabet soup flags in their classrooms, and “safe space” signs on doors. One positive I’ll mention is that when the flags and signs that had been displayed by teachers were brought to the attention of the superintendent, he ordered that they be taken down. The problem is that he gave this order in August/September time frame, and in February it was found that teachers still had signs displayed on their doors, yet nothing was done about it by the principal. It wasn’t until that was brought to the attention of the superintendent that anything was done. Instances like this don’t give me much hope that my Christian raised children are going to receive respect and support by their teachers as they get older. (I know that not all teachers are bad, and that probably there are more good than bad, but I can’t overlook these things.) I also know that kids are allowed to pass out pride flags and there is are gay clubs sponsored by teachers.
• Lack of God in school – Teachers aren’t allowed to pray publicly. There are FCA clubs and the students can lead prayers, but it’s quite sad that teachers can’t be that positive adult example by leading students in prayer. I actually heard recently about an instance where an elementary child got in trouble for talking about Jesus to a classmate whose family is atheist. The family threatened to sue the school. The teacher had to tell the poor boy to stop talking about Jesus. What kind of message is that sending our young disciples who are learning to be bold in their faith?
• SEL – Madison City adopted curriculum that teaches SEL (social emotional learning) a couple years ago. Within this, social and emotional concepts are introduced rather than just teaching basic math and grammar. Again, I didn’t see much at the elementary level, but had heard of it getting worse around 6th grade, and in the county I heard of an assignment that had gender theory snuck in there.
• Negative friend influences – The things talked about on the playground and the bus are shocking. Upper elementary aged kids are talking about sex, homosexuality, transgenderism, using foul language, singing horrific songs, using sexual innuendo, etc.  Kids bully the conservative kids for being “babies.” Back during the mask era, people (students and teachers) would accuse kids of trying to kill people if they didn’t wear their masks correctly (I wish I were making this up). I don’t want my kids around those type of influences.
• The amount of time on computers (!!!!) – Aside from the negative influences and agendas, this was the biggest deciding factor. In third grade, Raley had at least an hour and a half of required work to do on her computer each day (math and ELA). She also got extra time on her computer when they had indoor recess if it was too hot/cold/rainy or when they had “Fun Friday.” She actually told me one day that she wished it rained so they could stay inside and play on their computers instead of play on the playground (how sad is that?!) I also found out toward the end of the year that they were allowed to get on YouTube during their free time. I also know that as they get older, the time spent on the computer grows, as many classes use the computer as their textbook now. So all day long their little eyes are staring at a screen. That can’t be good for their developing brains to look at a screen that many hours a day.
• Not working to full potential – I fully believe that covid policy put kids behind. It took me probably too long to realize that Raley was struggling with spelling and with reading. I believe that the spelling issue stems from not getting a good grasp on the phonetic and spelling rules back when they were hybrid and had teachers in masks. I also think that because kids are on the computer and click answers, this effects their spelling and their handwriting. For math, they can easily guess an answer without doing the problem. I also recognize that it’s difficult for teachers to work intently with kids who are making A’s and B’s and doing “ok” when there are 20 kids in a class.

I’m not trying to knock teachers here. I do think that most of them are good and work very hard. We have been blessed to have very good teachers, but they are limited to what they can do.

Positive reasons to homeschool

• Time together – Wow! I didn’t know how much I needed this. Once I sat and thought about it, I realized how little time we actually spent together as a family while they were in school. There were some days when I would barely see Raley. She would get home from school, go to dance for 2 hours, come home, eat dinner, and go to bed. For Audrey, there were some days we went straight to tumbling, then to the ball field where we’d get a hotdog or nachos for dinner, then home to bed. The time we did get to spend with them, they were exhausted and not at their best, so we’d get frustrated at the attitude, which would end up with them getting in trouble, which made for a worse attitude, and it was a horrible cycle. Now I get them when they’re at their best and their worst.
• Strengthened relationships – Because I get to be with them at their best and their worst, our relationship has grown so much. I feel that attitudes are better all around. More love is shown. More attention is given, so there’s not (as much) negative attention seeking behavior. Their relationship with each other is so much better. And I mean sooooo much better. Sure they still fight sometimes, but they communicate and work together infinitely better now.
• Time in The Word – As I mentioned before, this is our biggest reason why. We start every day in The Word of God. It is so important to us to lay a firm foundation in God’s Word. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 is one that we live by – we are instructed to talk of His Word when we get up, as we walk on the way, when we sit down, and when we go to bed. We weren’t doing this before. We would try. We’d pray on our walk to the bus stop, at bed time and at dinner. We’d try and squeeze in a bible study here and there and we’d instruct them in the Word where appropriate, but this foundational instruction was definitely lacking. We simply didn’t have the time.Our goal is to teach them who God is, what He has done for us, and what He expects from us. I want them to WANT to obey Him because they love Him and He loves them, not because Mom and Dad say so, and not because they’re scared of hellfire and brimstone. What we want for them is to be able to extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one when they inevitably encounter temptation or the many lies of this world.
• Subjects taught from a biblical perspective – I wanted for science to be taught from the view of creation, rather than them being taught that the earth is millions of years old and it started with a big bang. I love that in our ELA curriculum that biblical principles are interspersed with their lessons. History can be taught with a biblical perspective in mind. We can learn from the good and the bad of history and then look at what does God say about the actions of these people? You’re not going to get that in a public school. As Christians, we view the world through a biblical lens, and I believe that teaching subjects through a biblical lens can help shape this for all aspects of life.
• Opportunity to train – I’m able to stop and take the time to train them when their behavior is not what it should be. After all, we’re raising adults here. It’s not just about consequences in the moment, it’s about training that will shape them into good, kind, considerate humans. If we’re in a situation where they’re not using good manners or do something that’s impolite, I can correct that in the moment. Sometimes they just don’t realize that what they’re doing is impolite or inappropriate. How do kids know unless they’re trained in how to behave properly? (If you know me personally and are around my kids ever, you know that this is still a work in progress.)

If you homeschool, what are your biggest reasons? I love hearing why people chose to homeschool, whether it’s something they chose before their kids ever entered school, or if they pulled their kids later like we did. I’d love to hear your “why.” If you’ve made it this far, thanks for listening to my rambling 🙂