Reflections on Homsechooling-part two

While we lived in Cupertino, dubbed Silicon Valley, our two girls did attend public school. I can tell you every day was bathed in prayer and before school we spent time in God's Word. When the time came to move I had decided that even if it was my heart's desire to homeschool them that my submitting to my husband was more important. I never lost my fervor for it and continued to be an advocate. As we began to look at moving out of the area to a smaller city and slower lifestyle we wanted our girls to enjoy their childhood and be little girls, for time catches up with children soon enough. My husband got a transfer up north, an hour outside of San Francisco to the Agilent plant in Santa Rosa. Because I was so active in the schools, volunteering and serving on different committees we were able to choose an elementary school nearby where both girls could go. After going through a major earthquake in San Jose, having our girls together at school and nearby was a high priority. Although the school was a good one and ranked high there were still things that grieved my heart. When our oldest daughter was in sixth grade the school did some testing for learning disabilities which ran in our family. By the end of that school year we had decided that the school system could no longer meet her needs and we enrolled in a christian school's Independent Study Program. This was such a miracle in and of itself. That first year of homeschooling we only kept our oldest at home; I wanted to settle in with her and get a handle on the schedules, books, learning styles etc before attempting to homeschool both girls. Dear hubby was still not 100% behind it and wanted to take each year as it came, watching to see how it would go and how the girls would do. Each year the standardized testing came back with phenomenal results showing academic growth in all areas. What strikes me the most about this journey was that the Lord took something that the world looked at as a negative(our daughter's learning disability)and used it to answer our prayers. His grace was so abundant during these years~not that it was always smooth sailing but He led us each step of the way. When my oldest first came home she was a non-reader but I was able to find out her passions-at the time it was horses-and teach reading around that area. We were also blessed at the time to be able to lease a horse and give the girls riding lessons. Beyond that though the primary focus of all our schooling and learning was the Lord and His Word. I wanted every subject to have a spiritual application and I kept stressing that our girls needed to give it their best, whatever they were doing as unto the Lord.
There continued to be much prayer on my behalf that the Lord would bless our efforts and hubby would see how this choice was the right one. One of the greatest achievements that our oldest attempted and successfully put together was hosting, with her future husband, a conference for highschoolers given by Eric and Leslie Ludy. This was the first of many conferences they hosted and for a 17 yr old to put together a conference for 200 youth with advertising on the radio, papers and at churches astounded me. I'm not sure I could have organized such an event as an adult. Needless to say after both girls graduated dear hubby said he wished we had started when they were in Kindergarten. He is an advocate now and does whatever he needs to do to help our girls homeschool their children. One of the biggest blessings for our family was capturing our daughters hearts. When children go to school it is easy for them to foster bad attitudes and as parents we don't always see them. When at home you can see a problem and deal with it immediately. Many have asked me if I think that God wants everyone to homeschool. I have only walked this journey of faith in our family but yes, I do believe that the Lord's perfect will is for parents to educate their children at home. Is it always possible? No there are situations that make it impossible and in those circumstances if a parent truly seeks God's heart and will on the matter I believe He will guard the children. As a young christian mom I remember saying I didn't think I could homeschool our girls because one of them had a very strong will. A dear Titus sister looked at me and said "that's probably the reason you should homeschool her". Am I still an advocate-100% and I would be disappointed if my daughters and their hubby's choose to educate out of the home but what others choose for their families is between them and the Lord. Today my daughter's continue to demonstrate the organizational skills they learned from homeschooling in their homes and the lives of their family.
If this is something you desire but are unsure of due to learning difficulties please feel free to contact me by email.
Noreen
werhis3@gmail.com