Homeschooling - Is it for you? Homeschool mother, Laura, tells of the challenges and the benefits of homeschooling her children.

• What thoughts went into your decision to homeschool?
  Laura: We believe that God has intended for parents to be the ones who have the biggest impact on their children’s lives. In order for us to effectively disciple our children in the Lord, we need to have more contact with them than we would be able to have if we sent them away from home for eight hours every day.
• Did you always plan to homeschool?
  Laura: No, actually, we hadn’t even considered it until our oldest was about 3. The possibility of homeschooling hadn’t even entered our minds until some close friends of ours began homeschooling and shared with us the reasons that they had made that choice. It made a lot of sense to us, and at that point we began looking into it.
• How long have you been homeschooling?
  Laura: We have never done anything else with our children, and our oldest just turned 10 in February.
• How many children do you have, and what are their ages?
  Laura: Logan is 10, Cailyn is 7, Gabel is 4 1/2, and Jonah is 2.
• What is your biggest challenge?
  Time! I spend a lot of time preparing lessons and activities each evening for the next day, and it seems like we never have enough time to cover everything we want to do. And then, when you throw in the outside activities we’re involved in (sports practices, music lessons, church involvement, etc.) it can get pretty hectic.
• What is the biggest benefit?
  Laura: The privilege of discipling my children, and the way that it strengthens our family ties. It is difficult (if not impossible!) to teach my children if we have a poor relationship with each other. Homeschooling forces us to work on our family relationships (and our character flaws) in ways that other school choices simply don’t. And what a privilege it is to be there to witness the growth (both academic and spiritual) in my precious children! I can’t imagine turning that over to someone else.
• Do you have religion courses as well as the required courses?
  Laura: We spend a lot of time in scripture, weaving it into each and every subject. God’s word has a lot to say about every aspect of our lives, and we want our children to see how it impacts every area of life – not just compartmentalize it into its own little box.
• What additional courses are your children able to study as a result of being homeschooled?
  Laura: One of the nice benefits of homeschooling is that we can study whatever the children are interested in at the time that they are interested. My ten year old had a fascination with World War II history last year, and we were able to really dive into that and learn all kinds of things. If he was in public school, they would have to tell him, "Sorry, we won’t study that until 11th grade."

Continue on to the second part of my interview with Laura. I ask her about the question of "socialization" and the homeschooled child. Homeschooling and Socialization


A Walk With the Women of the Bible
E-Book by Lynne Chapman
Join me in getting to know some other amazing women of the Bible
while we extract valuable insights and lessons from their lives.