So Why Did You Start Homeschooling?

(UPDATE) I've just added this post to Kelly's Korner SUYL. So if you are visiting here from there, this is a post I wrote awhile back about our adventures in homeschooling. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. I am far from being an expert, but we love homeschooling and are very passionate about teaching OUR girls!

Let me begin by saying we absolutely love homeschooling. Since we began I've had numerous people ask me questions about why, what, and how, so I finally began copying and pasting the following information about our homeschooling adventure:

Nothing really happened at our former elementary school that made us leave and homeschool. We had an American Christian Heritage seminar at our church back in May of 2008 and it was like an eye opening thing for Brian and myself. It is not about what is happening in schools right now. It is what has happened in the last 100 years and how the enemy has used government and wealthy influential people to place their agenda in society (SOCIALISM - where the government rules). When they took the role of educator away from parents and churches and gave it to the state it removed God out as the Primary Source for education. Like what Bro. Don Pinson (who held the seminar) said, "If children don't realize WHY they are learning the things they are then there is going to be no desire to learn." They should be taught to read from the Bible, because they should want to have the desire to read God's word.

It is a pure joy to know that you are sharing the education with your children that you want them to have, because it is our command from God that WE teach them (Deut. 6:4-7) from sun-up to sun-down. We first started September 2008 and I don't regret a single second of it. To be honest I wish that we would have started them earlier. The entire social aspect of it bothered me before they started homeschool, but when you think of the types of "social experiences" that they will have at school, I'd much rather our girls get that with our church family and like Christ minded people. I know many homeschooled kids that are more polite, intelligent, and can carry a conversation better than most adults I know.

Another thing that Bro. Don said was that we as parents have the authority to filter to our children what we want to be around them (even family and friends that don't have the same beliefs that we do.) Year before last we even cut our satellite off and now barely even watch t.v., except for movies occasionally. But I also share with the girls about worldly sins that are out there. Like abortion, homosexuality (they just know what it is, not what they do), and other things that are currently going on with movie stars like Hannah Montana, Lindsey Lohan, etc. I want the girls to be able to compare these things with what God's Word says about them and then decide for themselves if it is wrong or right and if it lines up with what God says. When it is time for them to step into the "real world" I want them to be rooted and grounded in what their beliefs are so that they know how to defend their faith and can share it with others. It is not really sheltering them it is giving them the roots and foundation that they need. I also want them to love all people and share the love of Christ, but loving people does not mean that they love the sin in the lives of others.

**UPDATED to add that we are now using My Father's World curriculum and Rod & Staff for Math and English.
(The curriculum we use is The Noah Plan that uses the Principle Approach. It is more of a method of teaching than an actual curriculum. It is a way to teach your children God's Principles and Biblical truths through each subject so that they can eventually be self learners. It uses what is called the 4 R's - Research, Reason, Relate, and Record. This method of teaching is how our Founding Fathers were taught and just to see some examples of their writings just made such an impression on me. These were very godly and intelligent men that learned everything they know from learning things Biblically. It is hard to explain everything in a blog post! The link to their website is http://www.principleapproach.org/)

For us to homeschool was just a conviction that we felt like God was calling us into. It has been a struggle at times and to be honest there are days that I know I fail. But I know that we are doing what God wants us to do as far as teaching them HIS truths and I feel like He blesses us for doing so.