home schooling vision

I'm not sure when it happened exactly, but tonight I realized that somewhere along the line I've become a home schooling mom. Not a mom who makes sure her kids are learning all they can at school. Not a mom who's involved in her kids' education. Not a mom who does school with her kids at home. A home schooling mom. A change has occurred in how I view learning. I hadn't realized it was that different from public school teachers, school board members, or the average parent...until now.

Tonight I ate dinner with a small group of other moms from my church. Somehow we stumbled onto the subject of school, and three of the women at the table were teachers. As the conversation unfolded, I was surprised to realize that the difference between me and these teachers was not so much where we teach (they at public school, I at home), but our foundational approach to learning. The teachers were concerned that students learn "important" things like sitting still in a seat, raising your hand before you speak, how to ask the right questions, and how to take direction from non-parental authority figures. They laughed about the subjects you have to learn even though "you'll never use them in real life" (subjects like history, higher math, etc.!) and about the funny questions their kids ask, like, "Why does the earth rotate?" (the answer they gave their kids was, "I don't know!" before moving on to another topic). One brave gal carefully admitted that she is still not sure whether she wants to send her child to school or home school him. The looks of restrained alarm on the faces of the teachers was fascinating.

As the conversation evolved (complete with anecdotes about the friend of a friend who home schools her ten children who faced the world like deer in the headlights once they left their parents' home), I began to see that how I view home schooling, and the reasons we're choosing it, is a fundamental values difference that goes beyond what kids learn to the core vision of our job as parents to train and develop our children's character, intellect, and capacities for a rich life that brings God glory as they thrive and fulfill their greatest potential.


Home schooling is not simply doing school at home. It is surrounding your child with an atmosphere of curiosity, creativity, industry, and good habits that stimulates a voracious appetite for free thought, intellectual exploration, unhindered discovery, vibrant spiritual depth, and rich personal maturation. It allows us to concentrate on things the child will need in real life: a quick mind, a healthy body, a desire for obedience, and deep and broad knowledge that will equip him for a life of leadership, service, and sacrifice. Who cares if he knows how to sit still in a seat, regurgitate facts on a test, raise his hand before speaking, and ask the "right" questions? If he understands how to submit his will to God-given authority, he'll never have a problem taking direction from someone other than Mom or Dad. And he'll find that subjects like history and higher-level math will shed profound light on issues he encounters DAILY in real life, unlike the silly skills often emphasized in public schools.

Home schooling is a freedom-saturated approach--from where you learn, to what you learn, to how you learn, to how you measure learning, to how you determine what is valuable. Home schooling recognizes that parents, not the government, are ultimately responsible for their children's lives, and before God have complete freedom, choice, and authority to raise their children. It is this freedom-filled perspective that unnerves Type As, politicians, and liberal elitists, and anyone else who wants more control over our children than they've been given.

Home schooling can be a lifestyle choice; a vision cast; a declaration of independence. It can separate friends or unite them. It can be an unhealthy shield or an ever-flourishing garden. It is to step out of one world and into another.