Don’t Homeschool If…

Lots of people homeschool for religious reasons. That’s true. I guess you could call our reasons religious. Although if you asked me, I’d more likely tell you the reasons weren’t our own but God’s.  However, if you think you can lump us together with those homeschooling simply to shelter their children from the sin of this world, you’d be wrong. While there are some egregious things happening out there that my children are not ready to face, that’s really not what it’s about for us. Because you know what? The sin of this world can be found right inside our own four walls. Anger? Check. Pride? Check. Lying? Check. Laziness? Check. Envy? Check. Greed? Check. Selfishness? Check.

If anything, homeschooling has actually revealed what desperate, needy sinners we are. The whole lot of us. With me being the chief. Daily my senses are assaulted by my sin. I sometimes feel crushed under the weight of my own sin. I can begin the day with the best of intentions and then rapidly descend into frustration and disappointment expressed through impatient and angry words. My children can look so cute and behave so poorly. Each of them seems to have their own brand of easily entangling sin. It’s a big, dirty mess around here. But thankfully that’s where the beauty lies too.

Does it surprise you to hear we’re sinners? I hope not. We all are. But I’m realizing more and more that their sin and mine is exactly why God called us to stay home. Because sometimes I forget that I am in desperate-moment-by-moment need of my Savior. Sometimes I oh-so-wrongly think I have this all well in hand. But, believe you me, if I believe that for even one moment, the next moment proves me wrong. Or perhaps I should say that very moment is an indictment against me.

Since I can see my sinfulness and theirs, I am ever so grateful for God who sent us the Savior. A Savior for the world. I’m so grateful for the grace, forgiveness, and salvation found only in the gospel. It removes the weight of sin from my shoulders and theirs. Praise the Lord the gospel is working in our lives daily. It is my joy to tell them about Christ. To teach them who this Savior is that I know, love, and seek to follow, but also who I fail.

So while people in the world need a savior, oh man, so do we. So do we. Homeschooling is not a way to avoid sin, but it certainly is a way to expose it, confront it, resist it,  and pray over it. I’m praying with you that if you are homeschooling or are thinking of homeschooling, that you are not doing it to avoid sin, but rather to see the gospel more clearly working in the hearts in your home.