Unique Family Vision

One of our homeschool moms has started a blog and website as a ministry to families and to homeschoolers.  Below is a post she recently published.  Please visit her site for further information at http://uniquefamilyvision.com.

“Hi everyone!

This is my first post on this blog and I think it might be the most nerve racking one. I have been trying to figure out which topic should be my first post based on the fact that I have two central themes…family vision AND homeschooling. I have decided to make this first post about homeschooling. For no such reason except that I have had an unusual amount of questions sent my way asking me to help them when their husbands or families do not agree with their desire to homeschool. For those of you not homeschooling, let me put your mind at ease. I will definitely be making posts on family. After all, that is my biggest passion, even more than home education. Home education is just a tool to my build family, but definitely not the only tool.

I realize this can be a very common issue among families. Even when both parents are involved, you still find that sometimes grandparents or close friends are giving you the evil eye. This makes your first or subsequent years a bit trying to say the least.

Let’s begin with the issue of your husband not being in agreement with your choice to home educate. Obviously, you should not insist in doing this without his consent. Homeschooling needs to have all parties involved in the decision process to be like minded. Spiritually speaking, it’s best to be certain that this is indeed the method God has chosen for you. If you know this and you and your hubby are on the same page spiritually, this should flow fairly easy for you. When a husband respects his wife’s walk with the Lord, trusting when she hears from God comes pretty easy.

However, this is not always the case as sometimes it is only the wife that has this type of intimate relationship with the Lord. So what are you to do when, “God told me to,” doesn’t carry the same weight? First, continue to pray, asking God to soften his heart and bring people into his life that will encourage him in this direction. Then, ask him to give you one year. Believe it or not, in the early grades, you can homeschool for one year and even if you don’t do a great job, it can be remedied in the future year. Elementary school is all about repeating last year while introducing some new concepts. Plus, with a good library near, even if you don’t find the best curriculum the first year, you will be okay if you read, read, read to them and them to you. One year is all your asking. If he will read books on the topic, I recommend, Homeschooling: The Right Choice, by Christopher Klicka. I also recommend you showing him my post called Homeschooling Study. Men love stats and these recommendations might be just what he needs to give you a chance at it.

Now, what if your parents or others in your family think you are off your rocker and that you are jeopardizing your children’s social skills and brain cells? I know the fleshly answer to them is “Mind your own!”, but I would never openly encourage that kind of communication. LOL! So, I recommend firmly, but lovingly, state that you and hubby have researched this adequately and understand any and all risks involved and that you are confident you have made the right decision for your children. Again, if they are overly concerned, send them a few books to put their mind at ease. If they care enough to research it, it won’t be long until they feel better about it. Time is what will ultimately convince them. Once they see that your kids haven’t changed for the bad, but actually the good, they will be on board. If that never happens, you can secretly think…”Mind your own”, but you didn’t hear that from me.
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