"And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Deuteronomy 6:5-6 

Before my husband and I were married, he asked me if I would consider homeschooling any children we might have. I had not considered it but told him I was open to the idea. I found out later that my husband felt so strongly about homeschooling our children that he probably would not have married me if I had said I was opposed to homeschooling. So when I first began to homeschool it was "an act of submission" to my husband more than anything else. Now, however, his convictions have become mine and I now feel as strongly about homeschooling as he does.

Our first and primary reason for homeschooling our children is that God has given parents the responsibility to teach their children. My husband and I believe that we can not do this properly if they are away from us for 6 to 8 hours each day. God has given my husband and me five children. He placed these particular children in our particular home for a reason. I don't know all of God's reasons but I do know that one of them was so that we could raise them in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord".

Our second reason is that we want to be sure that our children are taught every subject from a biblical perspective. In school they may be taught evolution, socialism, sex education and many other unbiblical subjects. We want to protect them from this. I once heard a greenhouse used to illustrate this point. A young plant needs to be protected from the wind, extreme temperature and other elements. If a plant is protected in a greenhouse until it is fully grown, then it is capable of being transplanted into the outdoors and can withstand all that comes their way. The same is true with our children.

The third reason is that we also want to protect our children from peer pressure. Most children can be brought down by their peers. Peers can lead children to make choices that they will regret the rest of their lives. My husband and I feel it is very important to know with whom our children are spending time. This is impossible to do if they are in a school setting. 

It is my firm belief that no one understands and loves their child as well as his or her parents. There are things about our five children that my husband and I know that no one else would be able to figure out. This is our forth reason. I know that when one of my sons starts rubbing the top of his head he feels uncomfortable with what ever situation he is in. I know that when another son stares into my face that he has done something wrong and is trying to work up the courage to confess his sin to me. I know, by a certain sparkle in my daughter's eyes, when she is about to tease her brother. Because we know our children so well, we are the most qualified person to teach him or her. No degree can prepare me to teach my son as well as the simple fact that he is my son. 

Fifth, My husband and I want to teach our children to have godly character. We can not do this as effectively if they are away from us for most of their waking hours. My children's character should be more important to me then their academic schooling. It is important that my children have a good education but it is far more important that they live a life that pleases the Lord. If my child is having a hard time learning to read and is also in the habit of being unkind to his brother, I should be far more concerned about his unkindness then I should about his poor reading skills (though we should certainly be working on his reading skills). I often have to remind myself of this when I am in the middle of teaching my oldest son and one of his younger siblings is being unkind to a sibling. I need to stop the teaching and go deal with the one who is sinning. The academic education can wait a few minutes, the character building can not.

Last, one conclusion that my husband and I have come to is that we must raise our sons and daughters differently. They should all learn to have godly character and to honor and fear the Lord but we are raising sons to be future leaders, fathers, and providers. We are raising our daughters to be godly wives and mothers. We realize that there is the possibility that not all of our children will marry but, whether they marry or have the gift of singleness we want our daughters to be ladies and our sons to be gentlemen. (As I wrote that last sentence our three year old daughter ran by chasing her brother and holding a toy sword yelling, "Get him! Get him!" Obviously we still have some more work to do in the "lady" department!) At home we can teach our children to fulfill their God ordained gender rolls. In schools there is often a "unisex" approach to teaching children.

Those six reasons only scratch the surface of why we homeschool. I could go much more in depth with each of them and I could also list several more reasons, but those will give the general idea. Basically, the reason we homeschool is out of obedience to our Heavenly Father. However, we have found several "side benefits" to homeschooling.  Here are a few of them: 1) As a result of homeschooling we have a stronger family bond, 2) Our children are closer, 3) We know our children better, 4) We see all the "special moments" that parents who send their children to daycare and school miss.

I failed to mention one more side benefit of homeschooling: It is a joy! I enjoy homeschooling my children so much. Yes there are days that are frustrating and discouraging, but over all, homeschooling my children is one of the things I enjoy most. Seeing their eyes light up when they grasp a new concept, having them come to me with questions and comments, laughing with them at something funny in a story, wondering with them how the latest mystery book we are reading will end, all those things are a blessing to me. I would miss much of this if they were away in school all  day. I thank God for the opportunity to homeschool my children!

If you feel it would be an encouragement or a blessing to someone, you have the Stilwell's permission to forward this article in its entirety. They just ask that you include this note at the bottom of the article with their name and e-mail address (Jeff and Kim Stilwell, jkstilwell@juno.com) in case someone wishes to contact them. Thank you.

Note regarding our links -- We've programmed our site to open external links in a new window so you won't lose your place here.  If you have a pop-up blocker installed on your browser, you may need to open links manually (right-click with your mouse over links).  We do not use any pop-up advertising on our site.  Contact us with questions!

This site is hosted by  Web design by Anne Elliott.

Copyright © 2000-2008 Anne Elliott.  Clipart ©2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement  Used by permission.