When I first decided to home-school, I did it because I was a teacher in a local high school.  Even way out in rural America, our school was full of problems.  We had gangs, drugs, and a high teenage pregnancy rate to name a few issues that existed.  I remember walking the halls knowing that I did not want my children here.  In addition, this public school did not have the best educational record.  Getting students to pass the state’s test of minimal skills was all-consuming.

I knew that I could do a better job teaching my own children.  I was convinced that they would get a much better education at home.  I did not begin homeschooling because of religion.  In fact most of the negative comments about my choice I received from members of the church we attended at the time.

Saying this, I realize that every homeschooler does not choose to home educate for religious reasons.  I was one of them.  I was raised in a church.  There are few Sundays in my entire life where I have not gone.  I knew my Bible stories and even a few memory verses.  I taught Sunday school.  I did all those things, but seeking God first was not my initial reason for homeschooling.

Even so, we started each day of our first year of school reading the Bible.  After all, it was the first activity listed on my Sonlight schedule.  We also had Bible memory work.  I learned probably more than my children that year.  The more I learned and studied, the more that my reasons for homeschooling began to shift.  Our next two years, we continued reading and studying the Bible.  We enjoyed three very fulfilling and exciting years of homeschooling.

During our fourth year of school, I became pregnant with Isaac.  I do not do well the first half of my pregnancies.  I am sick most of the time.  Honestly, I was just happy to get school done that year.  I read the read-alouds.  My kids worked through their math, copywork/dictation, etc. on their own.  I, of course, would help them if they got stuck on a problem.  The older kids even read their own Bible assignments.

A few months after Isaac was born, we were completely shocked and surprised to learn that I was expecting again.  Overwhelmed morning sickness in addition to a small child, we continued on our path of getting school done.  I still liked homeschooling, but the personal fulfillment was gone.  I no longer felt a huge sense of accomplishment.

The quality of my children’s education never suffered and still remains high.  They are learning well and beyond grade level in some subjects.  Their academics were not the problem.  I could not put my finger on it, but something was missing.  Something was different.  I decided it was just having such little ones to care for and being ill for months at a time.  That must be the problem!  Life will get easier as they get older.

Recently I ran across the website, Heart of Wisdom.  As I was reading some of her teaching philosophy, I was completely struck by her wisdom.  She nailed my problem to the wall.  I literally looked around to see how she could possibly know my problem.  I’ve never talked to her or seen her.  This was my first time on her site.  How did she know?  How could it be so plain to her?

God was not first anymore in our life.  Yes, I know that He is everywhere.  He is present, but we were not seeking Him every morning.  We no longer started our day with Him and His word.  What a light bulb moment when all the facts start falling in to place and making sense!  What an epiphany!  I am going to conciously start our day with God again.  Together we will read, study, and discuss His word again.  We will work on memorizing verses again.  He will start our day.  I cannot wait to see the difference.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” – Matthew 6:33

Tags: Homeschooling, putting God first, Sonlight curriculum

This entry was posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 7:30 am and is filed under Homeschooling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.