Homeschooling Focuses Our Faith

I Was Terrified to Homeschool

When I first set out to homeschool our children I was terrified. I did not know where to turn for advice. I had family who thought that I would harm my children socially and scholastically if my husband and I set forth on the homeschooling path. If it were not for conditions in our local schools and the support of my husband (who advocated homeschooling from the time our kids were born), I would have never been able to make that transition.

After many, many hours reading and planning and worrying, we made the leap. At first it seemed horribly hard – I tried to ‘run’ our homeschool as a micro public school room and was afraid that I was going to forget to teach my children something really, really important. I was up late each night planning and grading and writing. I was terrified that ‘men in dark suits’ would show up and tell me that homeschooling was illegal. I knew the fear and uncertainty and doubt plaguing me was unfounded at an intellectual level, but I was still afraid.

Christ Crept Up On Me

As I searched for something that would assure me the path my husband and I had chosen for our children was a good choice, I began to understand my faith more deeply. Searching inside myself and asking questions, even when I didn’t realize who I was asking, lead me on a path to discovering and defining my faith.

Christ crept up on me and when I wasn’t specifically seeking Him, I ended up centering everything we do around him.

And There He Sits

Our homeschooling strengthened and grew. Our marriage deepened as we shared our love and faith. As we continued, our homeschool melted away and homeschooling is now just as much a part of our family life as making coffee and breakfast each morning. It no longer feels like ‘school’. It is just our family being ‘home’ and raising our children with strong values and faith.

Now that we have homeschooled our children well into their teen years, I find that our faith drives pretty much every decision we make. Beyond that, we read, we discuss, and we plan with Him in mind. Every subject we teach our children is led by our faith.

So I have found that Christ has gently worked His way into the Center of our little homeschool.

And He is there to stay.

I linked this post to Making Christ the Center of School Round-up on the Homeschool Review Crew blog. They have lots great resources there to help you choose curricula and ideas and encouragement for homeschooling families.