As I have been scrolling through Facebook over the last few days and weeks, I've noticed something a lot of my friends in the US are doing. They are all posting photos of their kids going "back to school." This is the time of year I'm really happy that I homeschool!
A few years ago we sent our five kids to the public school near us to learn Spanish. They went for 9 months and it gave them a great foundation in the language. That is the only school they have ever attended.
I realized soon after I was even thinking about it how broken the school system is. This was about 10 years ago (he's just about to turn 14). The system is so much more broken now than before, and this is coming from someone who used to be a public school teacher! There is no way I'd want my kids to have teachers like the people I taught with!
We have gone through a few different curricula during our years of homeschooling and we are currently settled on Easy Peasy. It works well for us, and I have changed some stuff to make it where I teach everyone a few of the subjects. We tend to homeschool in the afternoon during rainy season to avoid the rainy time and spend time outside in the morning.
Image by EB Pilgrim from Pixabay
I am so glad that I don't have to dress my kids up and send them to school for at least 6 hours a day (in the US). I am glad that I get to help them learn and watch their personalities develop...not someone else. I'm glad that I truly love my kids, way more than a teacher ever could. I'm so glad that I get to be with them every day...even the days when it is hard and I want to ship them off to school. Ha!
I am thankful to God for each one of my children. I'm glad that I am one of the main contributors to their development. I am there to help them learn about our beliefs, instead of sending them into an institution to be indoctrinated in someone else's beliefs. God has given these children to ME and my husband, not to the state or government. They are my responsibility and I gladly accept that by educating them myself at home.
I pray daily for my kids and their futures. I pray that God will prepare them and equip them for the future he has for them. I am thankful that He has allowed me to be a part of that process of preparing them. I wouldn't want anyone else to have such an influence on their lives (like a public school teacher).
Have you seen a lot of the back to school photos? How do they make you feel?
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
(Emphasis mine)
