Home vs. School

An exercise:

Elizabeth's Reasons to Homeschool:

*Connection time with your most precious of all assets, your children
(Can you tell I'm a quality time girl?)

*Time for you to model behavior and beliefs to your children instead of their predominant influences being that of 25 other 6 year olds

*One on one instruction. You may have other students in the home, but it's unlikely you have 25

*Customized learning plan created by someone who has known the student since birth and had ample time to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses

*Freedom to travel, go places as a family, take school on the road, field trip, drive to Gettysburg, whatever.

*A teacher who is the most passionate, concerned and dedicated to their pupil. In fact, perhaps even fanatical when it comes to their well-being, best interests and success in life.

*Closeness of family as the core nucleus of a child's peer group, creating close bonds between siblings and true appreciation for one's family.

*Interaction time children get with adults, including parents but also with grandparents, friends and people in the marketplace. Homeschoolers are not confined to people of the same age to feel comfortable and engage in meaningful conversation.

*Options for diversity of learning opportunities. Everyone does not have to sit still in the same classroom. The pile of dirt in the backyard, the city park, the mountains, the zoo - any of these can become the classroom. Books are not minimized to required reading, but rather the entire library and Internet are available to use. Whatever ignites your passion can be your school work. Davy Crockett for history, why not? Learning literature through dragons, of course! Whatever strikes your fancy you can do.

*God tells us to "Train up our children in the way they should go". Doesn't it seem obvious that to do that we need to spend time with our children? Sending them away from us for 8-9 hours of their most creative energetic time of day seems to squander so much time for training. Especially when you add required homework to that - what remains for quality time seems to be just the leftovers.

Elizabeth's Only Reasons She Can Think of For Sending Her Kids to Public School:

* A debilitating accident renders her blind, mute, deaf, dumb and paralyzed, while a simultanious market crash leaves her too poor to send her children to private school or hire tutors.

* Because she felt like God told her to.



And at last my friends, I have found a reason to be profoundly grateful! I am not blind, mute, deaf or paralyzed! Praise the Lord!

Which brings me to our scripture of the week: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Prov 3:5

And just in case you weren't convinced:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Is 55:8,9