A Fall Priority
In a little over a week, two mamas have lamented to me about the changes they see taking place within homeschooling. They talked about a negative trend that saddens me, too.
When our family made the decision to homeschool, our reasons were spiritual ones. We wanted to rear our children in an environment that would help them follow God better and that would protect them from the evil influences inside public schools, evil influences that we could see in the schools in our town.
Just yesterday I spoke with a grandma about her granddaughter. Over the years we have had several conversations about her grandchildren’s homeschool experience and a couple of years ago we saw one of her grandchildren graduate from homeschool. Now the younger grandchild is in public school. The grandma noted that she is learning “some things she shouldn’t.”
As we all know, the opportunity for evil influences can come from many directions, but public schools (and, frankly other kinds of schools, too) can be a particularly menacing one. Curriculum is sometimes purposely designed to undo Christian teaching. Schools require children to spend much time away from home and much time with other children. Some of those children are from godly homes; but some of them are being reared by parents with very different values, and some children are hardly being reared at all.
While I knew that my children could grow at a faster pace academically by being homeschooled, that was not our primary purpose in making what was then a very unusual and misunderstood educational choice. Making that choice opened a beautiful door for us. In the homeschooling community, we found many like-minded people and many who helped us see clearer and deeper paths into a life of faith.
While I applaud the growth of homeschooling, I fear that the positive spiritual focus that once permeated the movement is not as central as it once was. It is still there in many people, but again it does not seem to be as central. Because of this shift, some mamas who are still committed to homeschooling with a spiritual focus are finding it difficult to find fellowship with like-minded mamas — and families — whose goals are the same as theirs.
As you make plans for the fall, I encourage you to make it a priority to stay on the path deeper into the will of God that you chose in the beginning. Don’t let other mamas tempt you to veer off course.
I also encourage you to pray for the fellowship that you and your family need, to look for lonely people of all ages who may be longing for it, too, and to realize that sometimes being in a lonely spot is an opportunity for each of your family members to draw closer to one another.
If you are in a lonely spot, please know that I care and that these suggestions are meant for encouragement. I am not saying that those feelings don’t matter. They do matter. You matter.
My steps have held fast to Your paths.
My feet have not slipped.
Psalm 17:5
This post reminds me of Jeremiah 6:16 “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good ways, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.”
Keeping the first things the first things will make everything else fall right into line.