My proposal for homeschooling

So when I brought the idea of homeschooling up to my husband, he said to make him a powerpoint, a proposal, to sell him on the idea. I am not making a powerpoint, however here is my proposal, my "selling" of the idea. Or actually just my reasons and why I want to homeschool. :)

There are no perfect education answers. All of the education options have pros and cons; public school, private school, homeschool, charter schools, virtual schools, they all have things going for them and things that can be improved. So nothing is a sure fire 100% perfect choice for the education of our children.

So we have to figure out what is the best option for us, right now.

There are a ton of great sites about homeschool and the statistics on it. Here are a couple of them if that stuff interests you. Here and Here.

But again, there might be people who did wonderfully with it and people who bombed with it, so those statistics mean little to me when considering homeschool for my kids.

When I weigh the options and look at our life, I want to homeschool for a variety of reasons. One of those is that as a parent I have always been fascinated with homeschool and always loved the idea of homeschooling the kids, but had always thought "That's never goong to be an option for us" so I wouldn't really think seriously about it. Well now it can be an option for us. And in fact, it may be the last opportunity we have to do it. I do plan on getting a teaching job next year when Starla gets into full day kindergarten. So this year, this in reality would be my only opportunity to try out homeschooling, to just have the experience. I would love to try it and I want to take advantage of what will probably be my only opportunity to do so.

I also truley believe God is calling me to do it. That he put the desire in my heart, that he put it there at the same moment the homeschooling conference came to town, and that he provided that as an opportunity for me to learn more about it. I think he is telling me that before everything else, my family comes first, that raising my children in his word and pulling them out of "the world" for a season is what is necessary and right for us at this moment. I have prayed about it a lot and I believe that this is his answer, and he is telling me to do it. Because of this I have prayed that if this is the way he wants us to go, then he must also put it on Alan's heart and to make a way for us to make it happen. That if this is truly what God wants for our family, then he has to help me find a way to make it happen.

I know the arguement is that sheltering the kids isn't the answer, that they must learn how to deal with the bad influences of the world, etc. And I agree. I think at this pivitol moment in time, when Bourbon is turning 13, and is faced with a tremendous amount of peer pressure and bad influences in middle school, that I need to pull him away from it. But only for a season. In the conference I went to, I attended the "Raising Godly children in an ungodly World" and the whole idea was that we need to raise our children in a way that gives them the tools and foundation to make good decisions and to stay Godly before sending them out into the world, and then let them out to try out their skills a bit at a time. SO that's what I feel like we need to do. For a year, to pour into our children's lives like we've never done before. To help them understand God's word and his ways, to instill morals and values that we may not have been doing much of, to spend that quality one on one time with them, and then send them back into the world with their armor and their tools and weapons to help them along the way. I'm not trying to shelter them so much, as to just take the time to equip them with the tools they need to make good choices. Our homeschool curriculum would include Bible studies and time reflecting on God's word and about what it means to be a Christian. We've never done that as a family outside of church, and I really feel like as a Christian mother, it is my duty to do it. And although I know it can be done along with public school, a homeschool atmosphere would give me much more time and freedom to focus on it.

I also believe that they boys are falling behind, that their grades are slipping because they are bored, and dislike school. I want to take this year and make learning fun and challenging for them. I want to spark their natural curiosity about things, tailor their studies to their interests and pour into them academically as well. I have full confidence in my abilities as an educator, and I know that I can look up the Oklahoma PASS skills and make sure they are learning what they need to for their grade level, and perhaps even beyond. They are both very bright kids, and they are not living up to the potential that they have. I want to help them reach that potential. And I know the arguement here is that if you do all that for a year, how in the world do they go back to the public school system that they hate and that they were falling behind in? Well my goal is to get them into one of the charter schools that focus on stimulating creativity and academic interest after this year. Oklahoma city has several really good charter schools, including the Dove Science Academy that focuses on science and the Harding Arts academy which focuses on the arts. And the hope is that Life Church opens the one here in MWC and that I can work at that one, and perhaps get the kids in as well. The spots are limited, so all I can do is pray and try to get them into one of these places, but that would be the goal after this year of homeschooling.

Life is going by at a crazy pace these days for everyone, and I feel like homeschooling would unplug us from the hectic schedule of the world for a season, and let us live a simpler way for a bit. Not that homeschool is simple, but that we would have our own schedule, our own timetable, and not be on anyone else's hectic paced schedule. With Alan's crazy work schedule, homeschooling would actually give us more time with him, and time as a family. Since he has times during the week that he can be available, if we aren't tied to a school schedule, we can spend those days with him, we can plan trips that we couldn't if the kids have to get up and go to school, we can be free to live our lives the way we see fit, if even only for a year. We can decide what days and hours we devote to school, and we can take field trips and learn anywhere, not tied to a desk. In theory I would let Starla go to pre-k at Traub from 9-11:45am each day even if I homeschool the boys, because I think she would enjoy it, and it would give us that time in the morning to focus on the boys' studies without her to entertain. However, even if we started that and we found that having her in school limited us in any way, we can pull her out. Pre-k is not a requirement in this state, just an option. She doesn't have to go to school, and we can try it out and see if it works, but if it doesn't, we can adapt. I can homeschool her as well, she learns at a quick enough pace I wouldn't even have to do much with her and still have her up to speed for her age, lol.

I think this option is the best for our family because it would give us a year to focus on us a family. The boys would have that instense one on one academic time, they would have the time to dig into God's word, they would have more time with their father, and they would have their mother pouring into them each day. I also want to do it for purely selfish reasons of having that time with my kids. The boys are growing up so fast, and soon Bourbon won't want much to do with us, and I want to relish this year, spending it with them. I want to work on our communication with them, work on my parenting skills, and try to build an even better relationship with them this year, so that when the tough issues of being a teenager come up, we have already laid down a great foundation of communication.

I don't think it will be easy. Sending my kids to a public school and letting someone else worry about their education is easy. If I wanted to take the easy way out I would just send them out and let someone else do it. But I feel like it is my job, my duty as a mother, and as a Christian mother, to raise them, to educate them, to teach them how to be a christian. And really I want to have those bible studies right along with them, because that is something I need to do as well. I know homeschooling will be challenging, it will require patience, time & effort, but I also believe the rewards will be worth it. I believe my children are worth it, I believe my family is worth it. I'm quite certian there will be days that I will think "What in the world was I thinking?!" and will want to throw my hands up and quit. I don't go into it blindly like it will be all roses and sunshine. But I am prepared for the challenges, I am prepared for the battles. I know that God will equip me with the patience, he will equip me with the resources, he will give me everything I need to do what he calls me to do. So I don't worry about it.


My focus in life has always been on relationships. So I feel deeply that we need people more than we need money. Yes, we need money to survive, but it's like with Alan't current job. I believe we need him, healthy & happy, more than we need the money from that job. Yes that job makes quite a bit of money, but at what expense? I know we can live off of less, so if he had to take a pay cut and get a job that required less of him, that would be fine with me, because he is more important to us, spending time and having him rested and healthy, that is more important than the money he can make at any job. So when I consider my options of getting a job now and putting Starla in day care, or homeschooling for a year, to me it is a no brainer. My kids are way more important than any money I can be making at a job. When my life comes to a close, am I going to say "I'm so glad I went to work that year and made X amount of money" or am I going to say "I'm so glad I put off going to work for a year and poured into my children's lives and spent that time making sure they had the skills they needed to be successful in life." ? God tells us that people, and our relationships are more important than money and things. Yes it's nice to have money to spend on fun things, on nice things. But it's not what is important and if I had to choose time with my kids and money, I would choose my kids every time. Yes we need money to live and to make it in the world, but not at the expense of family. I believe God will always make sure we have a job available, for Alan or myself, that will meet the needs of our family, maybe not the wants, but the needs. I believe that with 110% of my being. He says, choose me and my ways and I will take care of you, and I believe that. His ways are raising the children in his word, and pouring into people. That's how I want to live my life. But I also recognize that I need to go back to work next year so that Alan hopefully can go back to school, and I can take the load off of him some. But if Alan works this job that he is now, that won't happen. For one he won't have time to go to school if he continues the hours and schedule of that job, and second if I too am working a full time job there will be little left of us for the kids, and I don't think that is acceptable, or responsible of us as parents. There might be people that will argue that it's not responsible of me to not work, but that's because they are looking at things from merely a financial stand point, and money does not rule my heart.

This is totally off of subject with homeschooling, sorry I didn't meant to go off on a tangent, but now that I am here I am going to finish it, lol. One of the Life Church pastors told us his story, of being in the bussness of financial planning and business, and that he had great skills, and he worked hard and he would train people and these people would make their big break and have quite a bit of money, driving expensive cars and living in big houses, and he kept thinking, my time is coming, my time is coming just keep working, and he kept plugging away at it and training people and those people he trained would keep surpassing him, and he kept praying and asking why he wasn't being successful yet the people he trained were? He says during this time he attended LC and that Craig kept asking him when he was going to come to work for LC, and the guy kept laughing it off, until one day he said when he prayed, he felt like God told him, you aren't getting successful at what you are doing because this is not where I want you to be. If I let you have that big break, and all that money, it would be really hard for you to walk away from it to come do my work, which is where I want you. And he realized he wasn't where he was supposed to be, doing what God called him to be doing. SO he quit his job and went to work for LC, and he may never have that fancy car and that big house, but he was doing God's work and he was crazy successful at it, and he was pouring into people. I really, really feel like this is what God is doing with Alan in a way. This job he is at, is klling him. Mentally & physically, it puts strains on our family life, it puts strains on our marriage, it had a big hand in his break down last fall. I think God is saying "This is so hard, because this is not where I want you to be. Follow me, and I will provide and things will get better, you must take a leap of faith." I think if we were able to just walk up to God and say "Hey, do you want Alan to be killing himself at the expense of his relationships just to provide for his family, or do you want him to be the spiritual leader of his household and invest that time in his kids and family instead?" it doesn't take a Jesus freak to figure out which one God would want. So I want Alan to quit that job. If that means we make less money, if that means we have to walk away from an extra $15,000 for the cost of the route, to me it doesn't matter. Because it's just money, and money is not what is important in life. My husband, and having him here with us, and raising the kids together, THAT is what is important to me. And maybe there are people that think that is crazy, and irresponsible, but I don't answer to those people, I answer to God, and he tells me that relationships are important, that people are important, that money is not. And maybe there is a way for him to stay at that job and still be a part of the family the way he needs to, maybe he needs to hire people and we need to budget and live off of less so that he can afford that, and maybe he doesn't need to quit. Maybe God has something else in mind, a different solution, but I don't think our current situation is what he had in mind. But that's just what I believe and what is in my heart and the way that I feel about it.

Ok, sorry to get sidetracked. Bravo if you have made it this far in reading, lol.


Ahem, so those are the reasons I want to homeschool, and why I think it is right for us for this year. :)