Why we have chosen Home Education

I have been thinking about the reasons more and more, since people are asking where Boog is going to school. He turned 4 in the summer, so with many friends and family and co-workers we have had to “come out of the closet”. :)

Gus and I discussed prior to marriage and in early marriage what sort of education we wanted for our kids and had settled on public school. We both made it through pretty much unscathed and Gus even had a really good time at school. I did not really care for school while there and have none of those dreams, some have, of going back and doing it again. I did not have a hard time, but I think I was bored. In the end neither of us really learned much, education wise.

One day when Boog was about 2years old (and I was pregnant with Baby Girl) I saw a 20/20 episode done by John Stossel about public education. In the end they talked a bit about home education and my interest was piqued. I had never thought or really knew about this form of education, but was really enjoying having Boog at home with us. They gave the title of the book “So Your Thinking About Homeschooling” by Lisa Whelchel (the lady who played Blair on the Facts of Life). I went to the library soon after and found it there. It is a simple book that tells about her family and 14 other families venture with home education. It was really good and gave a book list in the back to read if you wanted to know even more about homeschooling. I started reading all I could on the subject.

As my research went on I started dropping information I was learning to Gus. He was not totally sold on the idea. I started praying about it and told God if this was the path he wanted us to take in education for our kids to give Gus the answer. Over time he just started telling people who asked that we were going to educate our children this way. We knew we had our answer.

Now onto the reasons.

First, we feel that God has lead us in this educational choice.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7-- 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 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.

Proverbs 22:6--Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

I do not believe that sending your kids to public school or Christian school is wrong, but I think educating them at home makes these commands above easier to accomplish. It just allows you more time with them.


Luke 6:40--A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

We want to be the biggest influence and guidance in our children’s lives, we feel this can be done with home education. We remember school being a time of friends being the biggest influence. Their opinions mattered more than those of my parents and sometimes did things to make sure I kept their friendship, that I knew was wrong.

Second reason is the freedom it allows. We will be able to get done with all schooling in a short amount of time, compared to regular school. We get to make our own hours and there will not be hours of homework in the afternoons. We can travel in down times or anytime we want for that matter and not be constrained by school hours.

This freedom also includes that we can learn what we want, when we want. If the kids are interested in a certain subject we can learn about it until they move on to something else. If there are things we don’t find necessary we can cut those things out.

Third reason is the changes it is going to make in ourselves. There is no where to hide our bad days or bad and wrong behavior from the children. I feel through this journey God is going to have to change me in many ways. I am not built for this in and of myself. I am not a patient person, I am not organized and lack in many ways. I know that through this God has already started changing me and in the end cannot wait to see how it all turns out.