If you read my wife's blog - and I strongly encourage to do so - you know that we've decided to home school Jonah.
First of all, let me say that I have been quite surprised by the reactions of people as we've told them. Naturally, our families and close friends have been nothing but supportive, but I've been a bit taken back at how many "Oh, no!" statements I'm hearing. In the more recent conversations about this thing, I've formulated an answer that tends to shut down most cynics:
A homeschooler is only as weird as his parents.
Kristen and I aren't weird. (Not that weird.) Jonah will be okay.
Secondly, I'd like to share WHY we opted to do this now...we had thought about it at the end of last year, but decided to go ahead and give public education a try. We actually have nothing against public education. Kristen came through it all right, and I spent the back half of my schooling there and we're both people with a somewhat consistent level of integrity. But over the past few weeks, here are the things that began to concern (and maybe even "convict" us.)
TIME: Long before we had kids, we decided that Krist would stay home with them. After we had kids, we did this, and truly began to appreciate the miracle of time - the joy and contentment of spending as much time as possible with your offspring. A few years ago, when I began working for county government, I began to appreciate this time thing even more as I was surrounded by women who either chose to work full-time or had to do so to support their families. (Again...nothing against a workin' gal, okay?) But from the very beginning, Krist and I made a committment that we wouldn't be a family that passed each in the halls on the way to our days. We would make time a priority. Plain and simple - we didn't like Jonah being gone for 7 hours a day. Maybe it makes us weird, but we felt there had to be a better way.
INFLUENCE: From the time concern also comes the "influence" factor. As soon as Jonah started school, Kristen began to feel really convicted about influence. It was as if God began telling her that it wasn't time for us to give up so much of our influence on Jonah. That doesn't mean he'll never go to a public school - but for us, and for now - God wants him to spend those crucial influential hours with us.
ACADEMICS: I'm not gonna' brag on my kid. I'll just say this - he's really smart. And we feel that we can do more for his academic growth at this time by teaching him from home.
TIME, PART 2: Another factor is Jonah's strong desire to do "stuff." Jonah wants to learn guitar, he wants to play soccer, he wants to learn karate. We would love for him to do this, but for a kid who normally crashes every night by 7:30, there simply wasn't enough time for us to let him begin pursuing his little dreams. We believe that home school will give us the opportunity to try some of these extracurricular things without undue stress>
THE FUTURE: We don't know what the future holds for us. Honestly, I believe that the next two years are going to be very odd for us. I think the release of the CD is going to increase the travel aspect of my ministry, and although those things take awhile to take effect, we want to be prepared to be a family that can mobilize for ministry. I've decided I'm not going to sacrifice my family on the altar of career - even when the career is ministry. We do this together or not at all.
That's essentially where we stand. We're excited, Jonah's excited and the curriculum gets here Monday. I'm sure you'll be able to find lots of upcoming updates over at Kristen's blog.
Okay, anti-homeschoolers...start griping!
Friday, September 21, 2007
What We've Done...
Posted by Todd Wright at 12:14 AM
Labels: family, homeschool
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
OK, Todd, this is easily the most polarizing, opinion/controversy-charged topic i've ever seen on here.
By simply saying that I think this is an incredibly brave and God-honoring decision, I'm going to probably set some people off (though that's absolutely not my intention). So let's just set some ground-rules, if that's ok.
Or should i say ground-rule. Because there's really just one. And it's this:
Everybody calm down.
That's the rule, and it includes people on both sides of the issue.
Nobody, simply by being in favor of homeschooling, is overtly, intentionally telling you that you're wrong or evil if you don't do it. And nobody, simply by not homeschooling their child, is saying that it's always wrong for everyone to do it.
Got it? I hope so.
Either way, Staci and I applaud this like crazy, and we've been praying for you guys to have peace about Jonah (no matter what educational path you chose for him) since we read your blog about his first week of school. I'm serious, we've really been praying, because we could tell it was a big struggle.
That's all I'll say for now. I simply wanted you to hear an "oh yes!" in the midst of any "oh no!" talk.
We love you guys, and we're glad you've made what WE BELIEVE (I refuse to put IMHO here) is usually a pretty great decision.
I am grateful to God that He has led you to this decision. I actually prayed for y'all after your first post, too. Hmmm.
You have a fine opportunity to glorify God in Jonah's education. Paul, in his epistle to the Ephesians instructs us to raise our children in the paideia of God. This is total-worldview inculturation. It sums up all the instruction about teaching the Law to our kids and training them up in the way they should go.
Almost everyone at our Church, and the majority of my friends, give their children a Christian education at home. I know of tons of great resources, and would love to help y'all in whatever way I'm able.
So here's my "OH YES" too.
Some of my most socially aware, intelligent and winsome kids (in student ministry) have been homeschooled. And, as you know, some of the absolute wierdest kids I have ever met have been homeschooled. So, I tend to think that there are other factors beside the choice to educate at home that determine overall wierdness. Parents are put in charge of their child's development by God. That's it. If it's your responsibility... then, it's your choice.
Weird legalistic Y2K well-diggers raise kids that shoot up the planned parenthood office. I have a feeling that you guys are raising a thoughtful, talented, intellegent boy who will be a change agent in the lives of those who know him.
So, we support you. (I just feel strange typing "Oh, yes")
Come on, Lance...let me hear it.
Oh... YES!
Todd...bottom line is that if you feel God is calling you to do this then it really doesn't matter what others think. Kelley, a public school educator for 18 years, and I thought about home schooling our children but decided against it.
In my experience, I have seen some families who are perfectly capable of teaching from home. I have also seen those who have no business home schooling their children.
Having said that, you and Kristen, without a doubt, are very capable. You guys will do a great job. I applaud you (though it doesn't matter) for taking this stand for your kids.
So...here's my "OH YES!", too.
Just dont put him in Keds and denim dresses. ;)
already ordered some of that "Wholesome Wear," Los.
I work in higher ed and think more students would be prepared for college (most of them are not) had their parents invested more time into their education. I'll add my "OH YES!" now too.
I applaud anyone who has the mental capacity and patience to homeschool their kids. Like Lance said, weirdness is not a result of the "homeschool-ing" rather a result of the homeschool-er and homeschool-ee. I know people who have no business homeschool-ing a cat, let alone a child (me) and others who could homeschool a PhD student (you and Kristen).
All this being said.....Gig'em (That's Aggie for Oh Yes! I use it here since apparently it doesn't work for the football team)
Post a Comment