Lessons I've Learned Through Homeschooling

Our homeschooling journey started from a defensive posture: wanting to protect our children from being exposed to things with which we didn't agree. Somewhere during the years, it transitioned to an offensive position. We realized that we could give them much more at home than a traditional school setting was able to give them. But one of the most important things that we now understand about why the Lord called us to this path is what it has taught me.

I graduated from The University of North Texas with a BS in Elementary Education, a kindergarten endorsement and a reading specialty through the eighth grade. All of those classes taught mostly methodology. I learned much more about teaching, though, by being a mother. In fact, when people ask me about homeschooling, I hesitate to tell them I'm a certified teacher. They tend to think that that is what makes me qualified to teach our children at home.We have been deceived to think that only a "certified teacher" is qualified to teach children. I believe God equips parents to be the very best teacher their children could have. Over the years, I have heard so many parents say things like, "I could never do that because ____________." Fill in the blank with any number of possibilities such as: not enough patience, not knowing enough themselves, having children that wouldn't listen to them, etc., etc., etc. My position, likely a very unpopular one, is that if we as parents believe the government run schools are harmful to our children because of the foundational humanistic philosophy on which they are based, then we must seek His Provision for an alternative. He is Faithful and will provide everything we need to accomplish the task He sets before our feet. If a parent does decide to delegate the education of their children to someone else, they must be actively and intimately involved in the entire process and are still ultimately responsible for the outcome. They must not believe they can drop their child off at school for twelve years and pick up the finished product at the end of an assembly line. 

One additional point must here be made: I am very thankful for the many, many wonderful public school teachers who do try, against almost impossible odds, to do their very best for the students entrusted to their care. They often fight a losing battle on many fronts as far as educational principles go because of the government's power to control so many aspects of what education looks like in this nation. Thankfully, though, the way they love their students testifies to Truth. They are to be commended and encouraged on every occasion.

Our journey as a homeschooling family has been one of much trial and error as we have fleshed out what it really means to learn and how that is accomplished. I have come to understand that the true aim and purpose of "education" is to see God as the Author of all "content" areas, and for that knowledge to bring Him glory. Education is not mastering a body of facts or processes. Education is a mastery of the tools of learning. Dorothy Sayers, in "The Lost Tools of Learning", says "For the tools of learning are the same, in any and every subject; and the person who knows how to use them will, at any age, get the mastery of a new subject in half the time and with a quarter of the effort expended by the person who has not the tools at his command. To learn six subjects without remembering how they were learnt does nothing to ease the approach to a seventh; to have learnt and remember the art of learning makes the approach to every subject an open door."

So my focus as mother/teacher must first be to build into my children an understanding that the underlying, foundational purpose of education is to see God and know Him better, and for the acquisition of that knowledge to bring Him Glory. Second, the goal is not mastery of content, but mastery of the tools of learning, resulting in life-long learners who, because of their wonder and awe, desire to see Him revealed more fully through their study of every part of His Creation. I want them to feel like they are on a life-long treasure hunt filled with the joy of Wisdom that is revealed through seeking Him everywhere.