It was mid-morning on December 29th, 2006 – less than 48 hours after giving birth to my first baby. The nurse came in to do her routine checkup and ask a few questions. One question I didn’t expect to be asked: “Have you decided what you’re going to do for school? Public school, private school, or homeschool?”

Eeerch! Um, what did you just ask me?! Was I supposed to know the answer to that question by the time my baby was only ONE day old? Sheesh.

For most moms the decision on how they’re going to educate their child doesn’t have to be made before they’ve even figured out how to breastfeed! But it is true for all of us that one day the harsh reality of school will awaken us to the fact that our babies really do grow up faster than we thought they would.

Personally, I have chosen to homeschool. In part, I feel like the choice was made for me when we had planned on moving to Kenya… it was either homeschool or teach my four and five year old daughters Swahili – I chose the easier of those two options! After great success with the first year I decided to continue (even though we didn’t end up moving to Kenya) and am now in my fifth year of educating my children at home.

I don’t know what the future will hold, but for now I am committed to this ministry of homeschool. Yes, I said ministry. If I begin to see my role as Teacher as anything but ministry then… well, things go south, let’s just put it that way.

Obviously the opinions about education are numerous and vast, all with their own lists of pros and cons. And, to be frank, not everyone has the luxury of choosing how they’d like to educate their children. The choice is made up for them by their circumstances. This is why I don’t have a strong opinion about what is the best form of education. Parents have to make that choice for themselves and for their children given their particular circumstances.

What I do want to offer in this post is an honest look at three reasons why parents SHOULD NOT choose the path of homeschooling their children.

Reason #1: Homeschooling your kids means you’re better parents.

Sad to say, educational preferences can become their own form of prejudice. Homeschool parents can sometimes take on self-righteous attitudes that imply, “I care about my kids more than you do.” Or, “I’m a more devout Christian than you are, therefore I homeschool my children.” And prejudice comes from other sides as well, from those who falsely accuse homeschool parents of being child-abusers, slave-laborers, and extremists. As with all stereotypes, there are elements of truth and elements of ignorance.

All prejudice and stereotypes aside though, we need to honestly evaluate our own motives for homeschooling.

Am I doing this because I believe God has called me to this ministry and given me the gift of teaching?
Or am I doing this out of peer pressure and as a means of keeping up with the Jones’s?

I’ve heard people say that if you’re a Christian parent than you are called to homeschool your kids. In my opinion, that’s as ridiculous as saying that if you worship Jesus than you are called to lead worship in your church. We all know that some people should not sing on a stage with a microphone – ever! God gives everyone different gifts to be used in their proper capacities for blessing and building up the body of Christ. When we try to do something we’re not called or gifted to do then… well, like I said earlier – things just go south.

Reason #2: Homeschooling your kids safeguards them from evil.

No broadcast television or rated-R movies.
Multiple internet filters and accountability software.
Only educational games and supervised courting.

All of these are good ways to protect our kids from some of the temptations and dangers that invade our homes. There’s just one problem. You can’t actually protect your kids from sin, regardless of how well-constructed and securely locked your shelter is… because sin lives inside your home. It’s in Mom. It’s in Dad. It’s in Brother and Sister. And it’s definitely in the cat. 🙂

I agree that it’s a violent, perverted world out there. But homeschooling our children won’t protect them from the inevitable reality that’s gonna smack them in the face when they leave home. So, again, what’s our motive for homeschooling? It is to shelter them from evil or to equip them to deal with evil?

Reason #3: Homeschooling your kids equals success in life.

“Johnny’s only in third grade and he’s doing calculus!”
“Sally just finished Kindergarten and she’s already read Homer’s Illiad!”
“George finished highschool at sixteen, graduated from Harvard at 20 and was a millionaire by age 23!”

Seriously people… you get the point.

How often in an attempt to avoid the rat race of public school do we do as much damage (if not more) through caging our child like a hamster to run the wheel day-in and day-out. Kids need to be allowed to be kids. They get one shot at childhood, one opportunity in life to play and get bruised and scratched, a mere eighteen years to explore and sample without obligation and commitment.

When we homeschool our kids for the sake of pushing our own agenda and pushing them towards a specific trajectory that, for us, defines success then we rob them of their childhood in some ways. I’m not saying kids get to run the show and become the center of their own universe doing whatever they please whenever they want. No, it is our job to steer and to guide, and of course this will be done according to our personal value systems, etc. But, again… I must urge us to consider… what are our motives? If I homeschool my child in an effort to form them into what I want them to become then I am fighting against One who has already claimed that territory. He – HE – is the Potter who shapes and molds His children like clay to become what He has formed them to be. His plan for your child might possibly look VERY different from yours.

Ultimately, our children aren’t ours – they are His. That is why I call homeschool a ministry… more on THAT in the next post!

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**This post originally appeared at beautifullymessedup.com Author: Niki Schemanski