I had the privilege of being home schooled my entire school life, along with my seven siblings. This was done because my parents saw the evil state of the school system and they wanted to do better and protect us from those dangers. I'm grateful for that choice they made for me...when I was too small to make my own decision:-) And of course I'd want to do it myself if it was the Lord's will to ever have children of my own.
I know homeschooling is frowned upon by the government (at least over here in Australia). I am not sure about if there are any legal requirements etc so I am not going into them. I know Christian parents will want to raise their precious children in godly and biblical ways so I hope that can continue to be done. I wouldn't be surprised if it was totally outlawed one day but I know we must obey God rather than man.
I won't go into all the minute details of how my homeschooling worked but I enjoyed it myself and it was very thorough.
I've heard quite a few excuses as to why homeschooling is apparently "bad" but all when examined in scripture and real life examples prove to be nothing but excuses. A main one being an apparent lack of "socialisation" for the children, which isn't a real problem if you are walking in the Lord's ways vs man's foolish ways. Yes I may well be the quietest and most shy, and lack the most "social skills" in my family but in Christ I strive to be useful for Him and that is what matters. Every child is different and really only needs to be with parents and siblings and, if blessed to have them, other true believers.
The other one was to do with higher education and can they go on to do this. I'm not going to discuss that here other than to say "education" in our culture has become all about study and college etc and it's a wrong focus in my belief. Some of my siblings have gone on to greater studies for their work etc and I did an online course/certificate in business admin after I had finished school. But we got a good solid education on what matters in terms of being able to function in life and earn a living...and much more. No homeschooling-hater could say that we cannot function in society. But for godly parents it's about protecting the children from evil and doing what parents were meant to do to train their own children in God's ways most of all. Yes we need to learn things to get along in life and be useful for the Lord but coming from a biblical and eternal perspective we will not see education as the world does.
My parents chose a range of publishers for our learning etc. Most of which were Christian in some form and so we were kept from some of the obvious unbiblical things that might come with secular sources. Of course all resources anyone chooses to use will need to be tested and any corrections and adjustments put in place.
At the height of our schooling, it was obviously quite a large operation with most of us at school at one point for a small time. There were a whole two rooms of the house dedicated for these purposes. One was the teaching room and the other room where we did our own work. As I said I enjoyed it...from what I can remember at least as I admit to having a very poor memory.
I remember having fun with my brothers as we were studying the stars. We would go out at night (in the countryside away from the city lights) where we lived and watch the beauty of the night sky. We learned the names of the constellations and waited to see meteors.
I'm in awe of God for what I know the night sky looks like. I have not seen a good starlit sky for FAR too long! It makes you speechless to be honest. It's so awesome. It makes you feel so small and God so big.
We studied plants around the property and many other things, and the adventurous brothers did scary science experiments with chemicals.
We did math, algebra, English, spelling, science, geography, history, Bible, and much more.
A large part of our curriculum was conservative Anabaptist but as it wasn't teaching theology for the most part, it was just good in the way that it was pure and free from what might come with secular or liberal Christianity.
Of course homeschooling can be, and is, more than just books and study. It can be anything to do with running a household like cooking, gardening, animal care, cleaning etc, and just learning how to live together and hopefully be taught from scripture how God wants us all to live.
So being the second oldest of eight children, I got to help and teach the younger few once I had basically finished (and our mother got a break:-) So I have a good experience in this for if ever I need it again. Perhaps I might get to help teach some other little ones one day. Only God knows.
So that's the basics of my homeschooling. Perhaps I might think of some other aspects to share in time.
I know it is even more important to grow to know and obey the Lord, to be born by the Spirit to follow Christ and His holy ways.
