Learning to be Independent: Homeschooling Me! (part 4 in a series)
Originally published in 2014
Our choices, our decisions, our convictions, our priorities, and our goals for homeschooling and childraising were just that. They were ours!
I quickly learned, however, that there is as much peer pressure within homeschooling as there is in any other area of life and I had to guard against being unduly influenced by what others were choosing. Although I may choose different approaches, philosophies, curricula, and programs from another home educator, I must keep in mind what our family has talked through, studied, and decided was the best direction for us.
John and I had already talked about the goals that we had for our boys...the non-negotiables that absolutely had to be focused on in order for us to be obedient to God’s priorities as parents.The funny thing was...high SAT/ACT scores did not appear on that list. Being awarded MVP on the local sports team, being the star in the local theater production, or being an accomplished musician or artist was not on our list. And horror or horror, getting straight A’s did not even appear on that list. What did appear on the list? Items that centered on the hearts of our children. God laid on our hearts the priority of our boys’ hearts being turned toward knowing God and becoming like Him. God wouldn’t let us rest in the idea that it was enough to address the mental and physical needs of our children. We felt that God had called us to train their hearts. Now, that’s not always the popular thing to do. Even in home education circles, we may all SAY that training their hearts is important, but living it out, walking that talk is an entirely different matter. It is easy for us to get sidetracked with the latest trend. It is easy to be distracted by what is IN and what is OUT as far as curriculum, methodology, and philosophy are concerned. It’s easy to get pulled from side to side by peer pressure, societal pressure, activities and trends. It’s easy to get sidetracked from what is most important.....from what really IS the heart of the matter.
It’s been nineteen years since we sat down to write out what we felt God had laid on our hearts for our children. These items we felt were the “heart of the matter”...the items that we believed lined up with God’s priorities. We certainly failed many times, but just having them writtendown helped us stay focused on what is most important. Here are the things that appeared on that list that were common for all four of our boys.
To raise men after God’s own heart
To raise men who would seek to know God and become like Him
To raise lifelong learners
To raise and help develop each young man based on the unique and individual quali-ties that God had given them for their unique and specific God-given purpose
To raise up educated, discerning, culturally literate servant leaders of God’s kingdom
These things are what God laid on our hearts...they are personal for our family. These are priorities based on principles we learned during our journey and through our study of Scripture. Notice my emphasis. This is a list for our family...not necessarily for yours.
This is your journey
