homeschooling

i have something on my mind. actually, i have a lot on my mind. i'm not really sure what is going to end up on this page though. class this morning was interesting but the prof lost me after the first hour. that's not to say didn't get anything out of the second half of the lecture -- i did. however, i was better focussed in the first half.

the subject was essentially education. it's intriguing to me how that subject has been coming up very consistently throughout the past week. i am not generally overly concerned with the subject but it seems to me that maybe God is trying to cause me to be decided as to where i stand in correspondence with education.

i was homeschooled. i liked it until about middle school. i was really rather sheltered. that's not a bad thing up to a point but there does come a time when you have to start letting your kids be out a little more in the world so that when they turn eighteen years of age they aren't unable to cope with what is in the world. for me, i began to want to get out there a little prematurely. we changed churches and i suddenly found myself without friends and i didn't really know how to go about making friends. before, all my friends were kids i'd grown up with and competed with in gymnastics. there was no effort needed to really build those relationships. but when you start from scratch it's a whole new world.

in retrospect, i don't want my kids to have that struggle. i want them to be easily able to make friends and keep them and that not based on the fact that they are among the outcasts but because they are good well rounded individuals who can relate easily to people. this isn't entirely learned. i realize that but some of it can be.

now, what does all of this have to do with education? it comes to this. i don't want to sacrifice education for social skills. previously my mindset was lazy. i took the position that it would be better for my kids to go to a school -- any school. i'd help them with their homework and make sure that they studied and actually learned but they'd go to school and learn to develop social skills. but i have reexamined that. i am quite certain now that i will homeschool. likely, it will be from K-6th grade at the very least. that way i have the time to raise them up in the truth of the gospel and give them a solid foundation for the rest of their education to be based on. i think that is bare minimum. i want to train them up so that they are responsible and mature and able to know what they believe and defend it if need be.

socially, i think that children learn from their parents how to interact. so keeping my kids out of school when they're young will not injure them. they will have plenty of interaction with kids in church and cousins, Lord willing, and neighbors and the like. as awful as middle school and highschool were, i think that i did turn out alright. i had a couple rough years but i learn quickly.

i actually look forward to homeschooling. Lord willing, i can begin cultivate in them the love for God's work in the world, and other cultures and languages that i have. what could be better than to train up missions minded children with a great love for the Lord and His peoples.