When it comes to your kids’ education? What are you looking for and what do they need? The response I hear the most is “I want my kids to be well educated so they can get a good job.” But is that it? Is that enough?

DETERMINE WHAT YOU WANT

Let’s press further. What else do you want? Brainstorm a list. On my list, I added points such as:

• Skills to pursue their calling
• Knowledge that turns into understanding and leads to wise living
• Kids who love learning and develop curiosity about the world around them
• An ability to teach themselves
• Freedom to set the pace of study
• Ability to self-manage
• learn to think critically, ask good questions, wrestle with big ideas
• write well, express, thoughts with clarity and persuasion
• freedom to explore the world through the lens of a Biblical worldview
• Integration of subjects such as history, literature, geography, science, art, and music

My list grew but so did my fear. Many moms dismiss homeschooling because of the fear until the need outstrips self-doubt. But when you sense God is calling you to a deeper role in the life of your kids, you can do it with His help.

DETERMINE YOUR WHY

The next step is to determine your “why”. Why are you homeschooling? Is it to more fully teach your values or your faith? more time to pursue a skill such as gymnastics or dance? To provide better academics, a safer social climate, meet a short or long-term need?

Take time to write down your “why”. You will need to go back to it on difficult days, and we all have them! Victor Frankl in his book The Search for Meaning wrote that “when you know your why you can endure any how.” This applies to homeschooling. Remembering the big picture carries you through challenging seasons.

We began our home school journey when our kids were entering 2nd and 4th grade. I surrounded myself with mentors, experienced moms who patiently held my hand in our first year. With God’s help and theirs, I decided we could do one more year. And then one more. And then one more. Just one year turned into a decade of discovery brimming with benefits and by-products of engaging in home education.

10 BENEFITS OF HOME EDUCATION

1. Intentional Parenting
Let’s face it. Life is busy, we get distracted, we can slide into parenting by default. Homeschooling is a great vehicle to maximize your impact as a mom. You have the time and the context for influence.

No one knows or loves your kids as you do. You hold a unique position to equip, encourage, and inspire your kids to live into their calling as you learn together at home.

2. Joy of Learning Restored
The world is filled with so much wonder, kids should not be bored in learning. When outdoor exploration and books replaced to fill in the blank and multiple choice worksheets, the joy of discovery bloomed in my kids.

One day a robin built her nest on our windowsill. Daily we observed the laying of eggs, hatching, feeding, and flying away. Though she laid one egg every day they all hatched the same day. We marveled at God’s creation under close observation.

3. Customized Curriculum
Do you need to slow down the pace to better grasp a math concept, or are your kids ready to skip ahead to a more challenging reading level? Does your child want to take a deep dive into the Middle Ages or dolphins? You can! No two kids are alike and you don’t need a cookie-cutter approach to education. Enjoy painting outside the lines!

4. Richer Learning
When my kids were in school, the teacher needed to allow a large amount of time to prepare the students for standardized testing. At home, you don’t need to teach to the test. While each state has its requirements for home school testing (which you must fulfill), you don’t have to spend weeks practicing for it. Instead, you can invest your days exploring ideas and concepts more deeply and fully.

5. More Efficient Learning
It was hard at first for me to grasp that I didn’t have to do school from 8 AM-3 PM every day. Learning at home is more efficient and therefore you get MORE done in LESS time. If you finish math in 20 minutes, you can move on to the next subject. You don’t have to wait for 20 kids to get out their science books and turn to page 47. You don’t have to wait for 20 kids to get through the bathroom line or the lunch line, or the recess line. With busy work and wasted moments aside, you can move at a quicker pace. Some kids finish before lunch!

6. Less Hectic Schedule
Don’t get me wrong, my kids played an instrument and sports, but we could do many of our activities during the day, which meant we were often home in the late afternoon dinner hour. We were busy, maybe even busier, but our days felt less hectic creating less crankiness and calmer evenings.

7. Nurture the Soul
Education goes well beyond the pragmaticism of getting a job, or at least it should. True education develops the whole person. It is growing character, developing morals and values to live by. It is becoming a responsible citizen who will create a positive impact on the world around himself. In the context of a loving atmosphere at home, you can guide your children to develop strong character and discover who God has created them to be so they are equipped to live their calling for God’s glory.

8. Teach Life Skills
Running a household well provides great practice for running a small business. It takes responsibility, diligence, planning, a budget, roles and responsibilities, leadership, mission, and contributing members. Children can learn to contribute with age-appropriate chores.

Yes, on the front end it takes MORE time to teach them, but trust me on this one, in the long run, you will love kids who are able to manage laundry, start dinner or mow the lawn, and your kids will feel a great sense of satisfaction with their skills. I know a number of homeschool kids who have started their own businesses as a result of this kind of training.

9. Shared Learning
I had no idea how much I would enjoy learning alongside my kids. I didn’t love every concept or subject we studied (like Latin), but I loved the joy of shared discovery. One unit on astronomy and a field trip to peer at the moons of Jupiter through a high powered telescope led to years of pondering the vast expanse of the night sky, lingering under starry nights, contemplating craters on the moon, laying on our backs in speechless wonder. Priceless.

10. Richer Family Relationships
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” Charles Dickens famously begins his novel A Tale of Two Cities with this phrase and it aptly describes a homeschool family. Sometimes the kids play and help one another and your heart bursts with gratitude. Other times they fight and quarrel and you want to rip your hair out. This is life.

Through it all, you learn to live, love, negotiate, apologize, and forgive. You learn how to work through conflict and serve your brother. The shared experiences provide the potential to lay a strong foundation for lifelong relationships, even among siblings who are farther apart in age.

After a decade of learning together at home, my kids are pursuing higher education at college. My kids are prepared for the world that awaits as they commence a new chapter of education.

I have been stretched and grown in skills and character as I struggled to lead my kids well. I look back and treasure the rich years at home, and look hopefully to future flourishing friendships with the humans who call me “Mom”.

My list grew but so did my fear. Many moms dismiss homeschooling because of the fear until the need outstrips self-doubt. But when you sense God is calling you to a deeper role in the life of your kids, you can do it with His help.