She Doesn’t Feel Led to Homeschool
We were discussing public schools in the chat room last week because one woman told me that the high school her son attends is the “darkest place” she’s ever stepped foot on. I drove past that school the other day and I saw young teenage girls with their stomachs and breasts half uncovered, tight jeans, and short shorts. I grieved for them along with the guys who were exposed to this all day long.
One woman asked what she should do since she doesn’t feel led to homeschool. Lindsay Harold responded to her this way:
“What do you mean by ‘feel led?’ Were you expecting God to tell you through your feelings what He wants you to do? Because that’s not usually the case. God doesn’t speak to us by our feelings. He spoke to us through His word. And His word commands parents to teach their children about Him and His word all throughout their day, wherever they go, and whatever they do.
“Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ‘These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.’
“Ephesians 6:4 ‘Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.’
“The teaching of the scripture to our children is so important. The public schools will not do it. And not only do they need the teaching of the scripture, but they need to be taught to apply it to every area of their lives so that they develop a complete and rigorous Biblical worldview. Not only do public schools not do this, they actively undermine a Biblical worldview by teaching a humanistic, godless view of the world.
“These factors – the Biblical commands about how we are to teach our children and the reality of the public schools – compel me to homeschool, not because I feel like that’s what God wants me to do or what I want to do, but because God has already told me in His word what I am to do as a parent.”
Nothing a believer does in their life should be decided by what they feel led to do. No, we are not led by our feelings but by the Word of God. God makes it clear that bad company corrupts good morals and that we are to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He would not have wanted the Jewish people to allow the Philistines to raise their children so why should we allow a godless institution raise ours?
We wonder why the Church is so weak today and this is one explanation. Children are influenced by what they are around. I believe this is one important reason that God calls women to be keepers at home. He wants THEM to raise their own children, not others. How have we so easily fallen into what culture finds acceptable instead of searching Scripture for how we are to live?
17 thoughts on “She Doesn’t Feel Led to Homeschool”
Thank you for this post today, Lori. I’ve been struggling with deciding on what to do for my son next year when he will be a freshman in high school. We have been homeschooling him since 2nd grade and I absolutely love it. However, he wants to go to medical school someday and I’m just not sure that homeschooling will adequately prepare him for this. I want him to be able to participate in labs and projects at school. I was looking into private high schools for him but there is just no way that we would be able to afford it, and public school seems like such a morbid option. Any advice?
I need to say when we began homeschooling a little over 30 years ago, we were pioneers in the beginning of the homeschool movement. The schools were not quite as bold in their anti biblical teachings, and I surely did not feel led to teach our own. My husband, though not forcing it upon me, thought we should try it. Well, I finally followed the leader and began homeschooling. It was the greatest blessing of our lives to influence and teach our own children. All of my now grown and flown children thank us for homeschooling them , and they turned out to be each other’s closet friend. Homeschooling helped bring our family closer to the Lord and one another. Like Lindsay stated, we don’t want to trust our feelings… prayerfully go to the Lord and your husband about it. Ask Him to change your feelings. Ultimately, He longs to give us the desires of our hearts.
Here in our province of Quebec, Canada, in September of 2018, it will be mandatory, without any type of exception, to be taught about sexuality at school, all the way from 6 to 17 years old ?. Children between 6 and 12 will be taught about sexual roles, sexual “stereotypes”, puberty’s changes, homophobia, etc. And between 13 and 17, sexual orientation, sexual relations, sexual pleasure… WHAT ????
As Christian parents, we must talk to our children about sex, but with God’s Word, and each subject taught about in a righteous way, and in the appropriate time!
Schools and teachers won’t do that, and each teacher will teach with her own personal view, because sexuality IS a very personal subject!
I REJOICE so much for the decision we made my husband and I many years ago about homeschooling our sons. They are now 16 and 18 and are walking with God. They didn’t had their mind and faith messed up with wordly and evil teachings…
Homeschooling is one of our greatest blessings as a family, and mamas, if you doubt about you as a homeschool mom, don’t doubt about our God, who is mighty in our weaknesses and who provides for each and every need you’ll have as a homeschool mom !!! Be of good courage !
I would add that we are taught by God to walk by faith, faith in God and His Word, and not by sight… The sight of what we are feeling, the sight of our weaknesses, the sight of what people would think about us if we homeschool, all those temporary and earthly sights. We are to look on the celestial and eternal things, and to keep are eyes on Jesus !!!
Hi Lori, Long time follower of your blog. I feel called to homeschool my two children, but don’t feel that I can at this time, and was hoping you would have some sage advice for my situation. My husband passed away when the kids were quite young and we need to live with my mom to help with the childcare since I have to work to bring some money into our home for food, utilities, and mounting healthcare bill since my mom is ailing and my health insurance doesn’t cover her). I know that often you advocate for a church to provide for a widow, but our church doesn’t have that kind of money to allow me to homeschool the kids and not work – our pastor is only paid part-time as it is! What would you recommend in our situation to avoid the public schools? My kids’ faith are challenged daily by being in that environment and I don’t want them to be educated in sin, but I can’t figure out a way out of our situation.
Peace and love this holiday season
Just to throw in my two cents: for those thinking private Christian school is the magic bullet that will shield their children from the things they would get into in public school…
When my husband and I were praying about schooling choices for our children about 10 years ago, I interviewed many adults who had been homeschooled and private schooled (I was public schooled and knew all I needed to about that). Those who were private schooled said all the same vices were there: drugs, drinking parties, sex, teen pregnancy, indecency, foul language, dark music, cutting, etc. Just because they had uniforms, prayer in school, religion classes, etc. they were NO different than the public school kids. Further more, the worst children from my high school who were expelled ended up at the local Christian high school.
Private school is expensive, we have 4 children, the answer became obvious to my husband and I: why would we go broke to gamble on our children’s spiritual heritage? Homeschooling was our only option.
There are many, many women I’ve spoken to at my church who say the same thing as the woman from the chat room: I don’t feel led to homeschool. I almost feel like they say this to me to cast doubt in my mind- if enough of them don’t feel led and I’m the only one who does, maybe I’m the one who’s wrong? Sorry, that won’t happen. It’s tough feeling like an outsider at my own church but that’s the way it is I guess.
Maryann,
There is an organization that helps by funding curriculum and other things to widows. I don’t know if you are familiar with it, I believe it is associated with HSLDA (Homeschool Legal Defense Association).
Here is the link: https://www.homeschoolfoundation.org/index.php?id=4
I hope this will be of help to you and your children!
Are there any homeschool groups you can become involved it that will provide labs and projects for him? I know when I homeschooled my children, we had a nurse who taught these things to the older children. Maybe he can take classes at the local community college. This may be a good option and they are usually very cheap plus they don’t have the negative peer influence because the students just come for classes then leave.
Your children are blessed to have you as their mother, Holly. Yes, it takes time, energy, and sacrifice but is so worth it in the end.
Wow! That’s very sad and hopefully, Canada will continue to allow homeschooling but they seem to be taking away more and more freedoms.
Children who aren’t rebellious to the ways of the Lord are thankful for parents who protected them from the wicked ways of the world and instead, helped grow their roots deeply in the Word of God. Your children are blessed!
AMEN!!! Beautifully stated.
Hi Maryann,
I asked the women in the chat room what there advice to you would be and here is what some of them said:
Is there a way for her to make money from home? Is her mom in a position to care for the children all day and she can work on formal lessons when she is not working. Homeschooling does not need to duplicate school at home. A couple hours a day of “lessons” is really all that is needed for formal education. They learn what they need to learn through every day life. If this is not an option due to her mothers failing health I would suggest seeking out a scholarship to her local Christian school. Most religious schools have scholarships.
No one is called to homeschool. We ARE all called to bring up and instruct our children in our faith daily and fully in all that we do. To me personally this seems impossible to do when children attend a public school. I know there are exceptions (like very small towns) but for the most part so much being taught in public schools directly counters the Bible. We can’t tell our children that the Bible is infallible and then send them somewhere that teaches them evolution, the Big Bang and wrong, scientifically incorrect and biblically abominable alternative biological “facts”. At some point that child is going to question which of these voices is right and let me tell you… a child in PS will absolutely choose wrong because they’re in school longer than they’re at home and awake. I believe wholeheartedly that parents will be held accountable for allowing their children to be led astray. It’s unfortunate that churches don’t support widows, especially in a situation where you’re clearly living frugally. However, you can’t let their failure or your circumstances keep you from doing the right thing.
I’d pull those kids like yesterday, then would find a good self taught curriculum. ACE is what we use, and though I am able to be proactive, the whole pretense of it was self-teaching to accommodate the children of missionaries. It’s about $30 a subject. We do Math, English, Word Building and Literature with them. I use answersingenesis for science and YouTube and Netflix/Hulu for history because we can’t afford the $60 more per child to do these subjects with ACE. This is absolutely something a kid who can read and write could execute themselves, leaving you able to work (which is its own issue, but I’m addressing homeschooling specifically).
See if they have a web academy/charter school where she lives. If her kids are a bit older they can be pretty independent and it’s free.
There are numerous programs online that she could look into it for actually being home is not an option. The curriculum are use, BJU Press, has a distance-learning program. Abeka also has an online Academy, as does liberty University. Also, Alpha and Omega mega has an online Academy as well. That would allow the children, if they’re home with grandma, to maybe get some of their schoolwork done before mom comes home in the evening. I know with BJU press, you can do distance-learning for some subjects and parent lead with others. Another thing to consider is that homeschooling generally does not take as many hours per day as going to a public school does. I can get through all of the normal subjects plus Bible with my kids in about 2 1/2 – 3 hours on a good day (and the curriculum I’m using is ahead of my state’s public schools).
I have known women who homeschooled their children even when working full time. That may be something she can do, but it is difficult. The children can be given assignments to complete when she is gone, with instruction and assessment being given when she is home. This works better for older children who can work independently. So if she wants to homeschool, it can be done this way as long as there is someone to supervise the children while she is away or if they are old enough to stay home without supervision.
If homeschooling is just not an option, Christian school is an option to explore. It can be very expensive, but not always. Many Christian schools have sponsorships for children from needy families or perhaps the mother could work at the school to offset tuition and perhaps even take money home as well.
When my children were school age I worked in the kitchen at the local Christian school for free tuition. You might want to look into that.
Manage
The Home School Foundation offers all sorts of grants to help homeschoolers, including one for widows: https://www.homeschoolfoundation.org/index.php?id=22
Manage
Do what she has to do for now and pray for a godly man to marry her!
I homeschooled as a single mom (admittedly a younger child, though I imagine older ones would be even easier). I worked 50 hours a week and had a 2 hour a day commute for most the time.
School doesn’t need to take 8+ hours. As far as I’m concerned that is one of the many benefits of homeschooling. At his age I used bits and pieces of different curriculums and supplemented with ABCmouse. He did some stuff with my mom and other things on my days off. Since he though it was fun we got to do some stuff together before/after work too.
Pull your kids out of school and determine you are going to figure it out. If it takes you a year to “get it right” – so be it. It’s still better than public school. Let them read books and play math games online for a while (coolmathgames is a good site if you pay the yearly $25 to block the ads). You CAN do it!
I would remind her of Luke 6:33 ” Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” Although we are to owe no man anything, it can be easy to make paying bills our top priority over training our children. We can prioritize going into financial debt or spiritual debt in ” poor/ inadequate training of our children’s souls. Our Lord is Jehovah Jireh- which means the Lord will provide. I would tell this mother to determine to homeschool her children, however that schedule looks like. Cry out to the Lord for specific wisdom on how to do this. Then, watch the Lord come through. He is an amazing provider!Sometimes, He requires us to lay our “Isaac “on the altar of sacrifice. Then, and only then, we will discover a ” ram in the bush.” This will show your children what is really important to you, that God’s Word and His ways come first, and just how faithful the Lord is !
We walk on the narrow path of self-denial and self-sacrifice, Lisa, and few want to walk on it. You are doing the right thing and your children will be blessed!
I just recently got up enough courage to follow God’s calling and homeschool my son. Amazingly things have been falling into place. I ran into a neighbor who homeschools and she was kind enough to invite us to join her co-op, I’ve found online class that fit my child’s educational needs. Although I’m nervous to take on this new calling I’m also astonished and grateful for God’s blessing.
Where I live, it is really hard to be allowed to homeschool your children. It’s possible, but it’s hard. The government doesn’t encourage it at all.
But I have 4 children in 4 different schools – 1 in a Catholic school, the others all in state schools, and I can honestly say, they are all doing really well. The primary school still has “religious instruction” (Bible studies), the one at Catholic school has compulsory religious studies (all sorts of religions, with a Catholic flavour) the whole way through school, and the other two are both good schools with good teachers and experienced, passionate Principals. They all wear uniforms, so no immodest clothing. The teenagers at both schools are mostly respectful and polite. All the schools value respect, kindness, and community, and focus on teaching/encouraging these values.
I can honestly say that my kids salvation is not at risk because of the schools they attend. At home, we love and serve God, and there isn’t anything they experience at school that can take that away from them. If I thought the schools my kids attend was harmful to them, I would pull them out in a heartbeat and jump through the government’s hoops to homeschool them, but they’re not.
My son was getting bullied at school and we did give him the option of being homeschooled but he didn’t want to – he likes school and the opportunities it gives him. So we worked with the school to stop the bullying, instead.
I don’t have anything against homeschooling. But I certainly don’t believe it is a sin to send kids to a good public school that has a kind, caring culture, has a uniform, insists on respect and high standards, and is drug and alcohol-free.
I’m super happy for you Lteefaw☺! God bless you and your family in that new adventure! You’ll learn so much, and your son too !!! Lots of blessings?!
I was homeschooled all the way through highschool and we didn’t have equipment to do labs or any of that. My high school biology was reading a Bob Jones biology book and raising guinea pigs. I went to college and completed a degree in biology with a 4.0 GPA. Actually, I had a biology comprehensive major, which is like majoring and minoring in biology, and is the same major that most of the pre-med students had.
The most important thing for med school is doing well in an undergraduate degree and on the MCAT test, not so much the highschool background. If your son has a good grasp of the principles of science or even just a good understanding of how to learn, he can do well in college science classes and get into medical school just fine.
You can certainly look for better science curriculums and opportunities to get hands-on experience such as a co-op laboratory to give him the best you can. But there’s no reason he needs to attend a formal highschool in order to become a doctor.