Home-schooling. . .a great blessing!

Mothers here is a fact. . .No one loves or cares for your kids more than you do.

 (excepting the Lord and maybe their Dads)

God gives us what we need to train up our children IF we'll let Him. 

So many young mothers today reject making the sacrifice of time and

the willingness of accountability it takes to be a "full time parent". 

Women want a job AWAY from home where people can SEE what they are doing.

Women want to have fellowship with others their own age and the work place provides that for them without them having to be hospitable.

  Women want more money for things and are willing to hand over their children's minds (to people they don't even know) for eight hours a day so they can dress in fashion.

These people who teach our children plant thoughts into their

little minds that will shape their thinking for rest of their lives.

There are a few mothers who are dedicated to home schooling their children. 

It is a blessing that too few are willing to receive. . .

but those that do (I mean really do apply themselves to it like the full time job it is) find a peace in knowing they are doing God's work, God's way.

I know there are real reasons people can't teach their children, for instance some have no husband so they have to work. 

Some have other legitimate reasons.  Some have excuses.

When my kids were little and school age I didn't even think about home-schooling. 

 I was  so steeped in the

"wisdom of this world" that I didn't even consider that God had a better plan. 

Then as my kids grew older,

and their teachers started wanting them to read books that were about witches, etc. I began to feel uneasy. . . what all was going on in the classroom?

I would write letters requesting that my kids

 be excused from reading certain kinds of literature but let the teacher know I was

willing for them to read something else in it's place. 

 Teachers didn't like this. They wanted me to go along with their agenda. 

Both of my kids made good grades in school

 They got along with their classmates. . . but I kept feeling uneasy. 

Then one day my son came home upset.  He had a stomach ache and needed to go to the restroom during actual class time.  While he was in the restroom stall, some "big, older kids" came in and were doing drugs.  He heard them talking.  

At first they didn't realize he was in the stall but when they did they threatened him. 

He was scared.  He wanted to get help and let an authority know the situation.

When he left out of the restroom one of the first people he saw was the principal,

 a man we knew, loved and trusted. 

Stan went straight to him to tell him what happened and seek help. . .

 but he wouldn't even listen to Stan. . .

The authority just cut him short and told him to go back to his class. 

Stan didn't bother to tell his own teacher since he felt rejected from someone he trusted

. . . but when he came home and told us, Tom and I knew it was direction from the Lord.

The Lord watched over my child that day.  Yet. . .

He  was showing us that other- really good - people  just don't watch out for your kids like you would yourself.  (and this man really is a good man)

Stan could have been introduced to drugs right there in the restroom. 

He could have been hurt by those older boys. 

 He was intimidated by those older boys.   

Stan was in the sixth grade at this time and it was close to the end of the school year.  

 I talked to Carl Doades, a trusted life long friend, about the whole situation as he was involved in the schooling program. He gave us sound advice.

Tom and I started making plans to home-school that very summer. 
We wanted to do a certain program but weren't able to get all the hours of training they required before the deadline. 
 We did the next best thing.  We put our kids in our church school. 

It was lots of fun for us all.  I helped teach at school and was "supervisor" of the

high school classroom. 

I put my whole self into it and was able to keep an eye on my own kids daily. 

(Back then the church school was only two days at church and the three days were home-schooling
or maybe two days home and three at church. . .can't remember.) 
 We loved the school.  I loved working with the other church folks. 

I probably would have never went on to full home-schooling but for the fact that even in our own church  people have many different standards of conviction.
Some things I consider sin, others don't.  Some things I consider necessary others don't.

 My kids started wanting to do things that the other "church kids" were allowed to do and were upset when our home rules were stricter than many of their friend's rules. 

During this time the parents of a child I was responsible for was upset because their child was corrected. (I won't tell about.)  It did need correction. 

I told the parents the situation and they got upset over it. 

This was a child they were asking me to take back and forth to school for them.
Then the child would stay at my house until one of the parents got off work that night.  They were upset at me over what the child had done and they said they didn't believe me. . .they called in others at the school who knew about it and I was proved right. . .
but it was lots of tension and these people were my friends. (?)

 The bottom line. . .God was telling me to home-school. 

 I wasn't responsible for all those other people's kids schooling. 

I was only responsible for my own. 

I was bearing a load for all these other kids  and though I loved it. . .

it wasn't God's best for me. . . or for Sarah and Stan. 

 I needed to focus on my own responsibility. 

 I needed to be investing my time with my own kids being the main focus.
It was hard for me to quit the church school because I really loved it.
It was hard for my kids because they loved it too.
But the best things are really hardly ever the easy choices.

So, for the final years of my kid's schooling we home-schooled. 

Bill Gothard says, "The good things in life are the worst enemy of the BEST things in life."  I am so thankful for God's plan.  His way is far above our way. It is best. 

He knows how to build character into our lives at the same time we are trying to build character into the lives of our children. 

We want them to be built on Jesus, the Rock. 

 We want their lives to have discipline. . .so we must be disciplined as examples. 

We want them to endure hardness as soldiers . . .so we must endure.
We want them to give their best when no one is even looking. . .so we've got to do it.

These are some of my good forever friends.
Glenn Walker (Church School Board Member ?)
Betty Walker (Church School Principal)

Anyway, I just wanted to share my thoughts and
 give a portion of my testimony in this area. 

I am grateful for all  God allowed me to go through in finding His will. 

I'm glad He cared enough to keep on dealing with my heart. 

I am blessed to say the Lord allowed my children to grow into adults with character. 

They both were able to get really good jobs in life and make good money. 

Did they make mistakes in life? . . .

Some. . . but I know what they have as the foundation of their thinking. . .God's Word.

Like Moses, they don't  just see God's acts, they know His way.

Sarah stopped working when she had her first child so she could be a mother.

Stan's wife, Becky also quit work just a few weeks after her first child.  

I am thankful they have chosen to home school their own children. 

We may not always have the opportunity to enjoy this privilege, but while we do it is a way to bless God and your children at the same time.

I don't feel badly at those of you who don't share this opinion, I just feel sorry for you.
You don't know what you're missing. 

I don't usually make my thoughts on this subject so open.

I am always disappointed to hear people give up trying but it may be too hard for some. 

I wanted to let all who read my blog and strive to teach your child at home
 know I support your willingness to try.
Jesus will help you and He will open doors of opportunity for you and for your children.

Each day more and more of the "world's wisdom" is taught in the classroom.

If you do send your child to public or even private schools

make certain your child knows your values.

Don't expect your child to be able to stand against pressures that you can't stand against.

Morality is almost obsolete in our world today.

Don't expect someone else to teach your child values.

A person without values cannot really teach them to others.

I mean,  my kids were attending school and listening all day long to people giving them their own values and beliefs.  These weren't people who shared my "vision".

How much of what they were learning from those teachers  was totally against what God values?  Was that what I really wanted for them?

Did I want them to be filled with things they'd have to "unlearn" to go on with God?

"This world never gave me the peace that I have. . .
You just can't find it out there.
It's sweeter than all of the thrills of this world
Just to feel His cleansing power."      
 song- author unknown