30 Days of Thankful- Day #7
"Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates..... Fear Yahweh your God, worship Him, and take your oaths in His name. do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God..." Deuteronomy 6:4-9,13-15a HCSB
That passage of scripture did a mighty work in my life. I am not a Bible scholar. I am not a theologian. I have never had any formal schooling in Biblical studies, BUT I do know when God is speaking to me about an area in my life that needs changed. And that section of scripture right there haunted me for 7 years.
When Emily was very young, we had a pastor that homeschooled his children. I was fascinated. I had never heard of families schooling their children at home and the two hundred million questions I had about it must have driven him (and his wife) crazy. I was a public school teacher and as far as my thinking went, you either sent your child to public school, or you were rich and sent them to private schools.
But homeschool? Never heard of it. Seriously.
Once I did, I heard it all over the place. Of course in the setting I spent most of my time, it was a bad thing. Only lazy parents that couldn't stand the school's rules would pull their children out, "homeschool" for a short period of time, and then send their children back to public school where underpaid and overworked teachers would have to "fix" whatever the parents had done.
True Story. True Beliefs.
But my pastor and his wife were anything but lazy. They had no problems with authority and they took raising their children very seriously. And in one of my many questioning sessions, he quoted the above verse and asked me, "What better way to fulfill that scripture than to be with your kids all day and be the one that teaches them His ways? We are their main influence, not their peers."
Um.....good question; good point.
And so I sent my 5 year old off to public school while I continued to teach public school and that verse filled my thoughts almost daily. DAILY I tell you!!
I managed to shove that to the back of my head and carry on. Kind of.
When God gave us an adorable little tow headed boy to raise we were thrilled, but that scripture came rushing back to the front of my thoughts. When that adorable little boy's personality showed that he was a follower and easily swayed by his peers, I stepped up my prayers for him and shoved that verse to the back of my mind. Again.
Then our circumstances changed. I would be staying at home. YIPEE!!!! We moved and enrolled our children into public school and the world came crashing down. HARD.
In one month our sweet little boy's personality changed. He was no longer happy-go-lucky and came home with his head filled with terminology that would make grown men and women blush to hear a child say. He came home telling us about how we evolved from apes and the earth was millions and millions and millions of years old because it took that long for it to be made and change but no one knows how.
WHOAH!!! STOP THE PRESS!!!
Long story short...... we now homeschool.
There will be many of you that will not understand that decision and you don't have to. There will be a couple that think we are keeping our kids hidden from the world and you are wrong. There will be some of you that think we are freaks and you are probably correct.
But...I get to be with my kids. I get to be the one that sees the joy come across their face when they FINALLY understand something. I get to be the one that encourages them to better themselves in areas they lack knowledge and understanding while growing their strengths. I get to be the one that knows them.
We go as a family to help those in need. We study as a family the brokenness of society and ways that we can help make a difference. We do not ignore the world, but we do not embrace all its ways either.
We are learning as a family to be Jesus. To love your neighbor as yourself. To be a light in the darkness. To say I was wrong. To say I forgive you. To love the unlovable and to encourage and edify others.
We are learning to talk about God's ways when we rise up, when we lie down, when we are walking (running) along the road, when we are playing, when we eat, when we are at dance class, when we are in the local theater productions, when we are playing JFL football and when we are interacting with others at church.
I am so very, very thankful I have the opportunity to be with my kids.
I am so very, very thankful I get to homeschool my children.
That passage of scripture did a mighty work in my life. I am not a Bible scholar. I am not a theologian. I have never had any formal schooling in Biblical studies, BUT I do know when God is speaking to me about an area in my life that needs changed. And that section of scripture right there haunted me for 7 years.
When Emily was very young, we had a pastor that homeschooled his children. I was fascinated. I had never heard of families schooling their children at home and the two hundred million questions I had about it must have driven him (and his wife) crazy. I was a public school teacher and as far as my thinking went, you either sent your child to public school, or you were rich and sent them to private schools.
But homeschool? Never heard of it. Seriously.
Once I did, I heard it all over the place. Of course in the setting I spent most of my time, it was a bad thing. Only lazy parents that couldn't stand the school's rules would pull their children out, "homeschool" for a short period of time, and then send their children back to public school where underpaid and overworked teachers would have to "fix" whatever the parents had done.
True Story. True Beliefs.
But my pastor and his wife were anything but lazy. They had no problems with authority and they took raising their children very seriously. And in one of my many questioning sessions, he quoted the above verse and asked me, "What better way to fulfill that scripture than to be with your kids all day and be the one that teaches them His ways? We are their main influence, not their peers."
Um.....good question; good point.
And so I sent my 5 year old off to public school while I continued to teach public school and that verse filled my thoughts almost daily. DAILY I tell you!!
I managed to shove that to the back of my head and carry on. Kind of.
When God gave us an adorable little tow headed boy to raise we were thrilled, but that scripture came rushing back to the front of my thoughts. When that adorable little boy's personality showed that he was a follower and easily swayed by his peers, I stepped up my prayers for him and shoved that verse to the back of my mind. Again.
Then our circumstances changed. I would be staying at home. YIPEE!!!! We moved and enrolled our children into public school and the world came crashing down. HARD.
In one month our sweet little boy's personality changed. He was no longer happy-go-lucky and came home with his head filled with terminology that would make grown men and women blush to hear a child say. He came home telling us about how we evolved from apes and the earth was millions and millions and millions of years old because it took that long for it to be made and change but no one knows how.
WHOAH!!! STOP THE PRESS!!!
Long story short...... we now homeschool.
There will be many of you that will not understand that decision and you don't have to. There will be a couple that think we are keeping our kids hidden from the world and you are wrong. There will be some of you that think we are freaks and you are probably correct.
But...I get to be with my kids. I get to be the one that sees the joy come across their face when they FINALLY understand something. I get to be the one that encourages them to better themselves in areas they lack knowledge and understanding while growing their strengths. I get to be the one that knows them.
We go as a family to help those in need. We study as a family the brokenness of society and ways that we can help make a difference. We do not ignore the world, but we do not embrace all its ways either.
We are learning as a family to be Jesus. To love your neighbor as yourself. To be a light in the darkness. To say I was wrong. To say I forgive you. To love the unlovable and to encourage and edify others.
We are learning to talk about God's ways when we rise up, when we lie down, when we are walking (running) along the road, when we are playing, when we eat, when we are at dance class, when we are in the local theater productions, when we are playing JFL football and when we are interacting with others at church.
I am so very, very thankful I have the opportunity to be with my kids.
I am so very, very thankful I get to homeschool my children.
Comments
Post a Comment