Last week I received an e-mail from a friend and it was so powerful I asked her if I could share it with you in this blog. I’ll also put my response to her after her note.

Hi Christie,

I know you are super super busy, but I just had to email you. As you know, I have been praying for months that God would give me an answer regarding my wanting to homeschool our children. It has been a struggle that I have been mulling over for a long time. Last Monday, my mother-in-law broke both her wrists babysitting our kids. I now have no babysitter. I have looked and looked all over L__ for a qualified babysitter. The least expensive I have found is $100 per child/per week. It would cost me $800 per month to work. Leaving me with about $200 left over for gas and vehicle maintenance. It just doesn’t make sense to me to continue working.

Scott and I have been taking time off this week to watch our children, since there is no other option. So I am home today. Matt is really struggling with science and if he fails the class, he will be held back in 6th grade. This I find ridiculous because he is getting good grades in all of his other subjects.

I just pulled up your parent’s website and can’t believe how affordable it is. I just got this overwhelming feeling that this is where my children should be.

What to do now? I am totally inexperienced as far as what to do next. I have worked in the school system for so long, I really don’t know anything as far as how the whole homeschool education process works.

What is your opinion about doing the preschool program? Hunter is 4, and doing very well on his own with learning the alphabet and counting. Should I wait to start him?

I know you are super busy, I hope this isn’t too much on your plate right now. But as a friend, HELP!!!!

Amy

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Well, as you might imagine, I was NOT too busy to write back to Amy. My heart just went out to her. Here is what I said…

Oh Amy! First things first: Stop apologizing!!! I’m not so busy that I can’t visit about homeschooling.

It sounds like God is making it very clear to you that you have permission to stay home and minister to your boys. As their mother, you are the most qualified person to meet their needs in schooling. I agree with you that it’s totally ridiculous that Matt might be held back just because of his Science.

I’m totally excited that you’re going to homeschool!!! You’ll love it. Of course it’s hard sometimes, but no harder than what you’re doing right now. The beauty of homeschooling is that you’re not leaving your home each morning and being pulled in so many directions. The hard part about homeschooling is that you can’t escape the hard things about your kids. You’re face to face with them each day. It’s a sanctification process for you and them both! But God has given them to you, and He’s given you to them! I think God has a good idea of what He’s doing!

Here’s a really radical idea. You may not be able to do it, but it’s just an idea. If you’re able to quit your job right away, how about if you pull Matt out of school right away. Just relieve him of all the pressure! There’s no reason for him to continue struggling! Then, while you’re working out your curriculum choices, he can be doing lots of other fun things at home. You can get stacks of interesting books at the library. Pick stuff he’s interested in! He can work on craft and building projects. He can spend time outside observing nature. He can sketch what he sees and write about what he hears. He can take photos of things and scrapbook them. He can look up stuff on the internet about the stuff he sees in nature. He can plant a garden and study all about what it takes to make a successful garden.

Meanwhile, you can be looking into your various options for curriculum and homeschooling. There is TONS of stuff online. You will be encouraged as you read articles about home education.

Here’s a big mental block that you have to overcome though: Your homeschool does NOT have to look like a traditional government school. There doesn’t need to be a desk. There doesn’t need to be a lecture. Your students don’t have to sit inside in order to learn. Do NOT be pressured to make your home school look and feel like what Matt is leaving. There’s a reason you’re pulling him OUT of that situation!!! Matt will learn SO much more when his studies are “delight-driven”. Also, you can put him where he needs to be in each subject. If he’s advanced in one area, you can let him speed ahead. If he’s struggling in another area, just let him take his time learning those things.

I can’t wait to visit with you more about this!!!

YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!!

I wish I could give you a great big hug. I’m so so so excited that you’re taking this step!!!

Oh, and to answer your question, don’t even worry about preschool curriculum right now. Just get Hunter involved in everything that you’ll be doing at home. Give him his own little daily tasks to do. He can do all sorts of things around the house! Also, let him have his own little garden spot or flower pot. He will love getting to plant and water things. He’ll probably pull everything up too, but at least it will be his to discover. Let him do all those little preschool things you never have time to let him do these days. He can paint with water and a paint brush all over everything outside! He can help you put toppings on homemade pizza. He can color on a chalkboard or white board. Best of all, you can read to him as long as you want! He’ll soak up so much stuff. Read and read and read! You can even give Matt the job of reading some books to Hunter. It will help Matt practice reading, it will delight Hunter to hear more books, and it will give you a few minutes to chase the baby.

As you can see, I could go on and on and on.

Christie
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After a few days I heard back from Amy. I made the mistake of reading her next e-mail late at night. After reading it I could hardly sleep. Here it is…

Hi Christie,

I appologize for not getting back to you sooner.

Yes, you may quote my email on your blog…

I am so excited about homeschooling. I have wanted to do this for the longest time. It will be hard to give up my job, but the more I here about Matt’s school it makes me shudder.

As it is, I have to call his principal tomorrow because at dinner tonight he told me about his computer lab today and how he and his friends got on a website where they were able to pull up a video called: Tack Man. Matt proceeded to tell me about this video and how a man is laying on the floor with his head on thumb tacks and another man jumps on his head and he screams in pain, and then gets up and looks in the mirror and there is blood dripping down his face.

He also told me about a game all the 6th graders play where kittens are shot out of a cannon onto spikes, slicing them and killing them.

I was so angry when he told me this. I can’t believe a school would allow these websites to be pulled up on their computers. They must not be supervised while on the computers as any adult I know would forbid them to enter such a website. You can not believe how upset I am. What is wrong with these schools today?

Anyway, I love your suggestions. I thought about pulling Matt out of school now, but am I legally able to, this close to the end of school? I don’t know how any of this works. I have a ton of questions…

Amy

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I was so shocked after reading this note from Amy. When we put our kids in school, we look for good teachers, a good principal, and good curriculum. But the one thing we cannot control is the other students.

You might argue that you don’t object to the websites that these kids were visiting, because after all, kids will be kids. I went to each of these websites to see them for myself. The kitten one was not as bad as it could have been. But I don’t like the idea of desensitizing kids to the ideas of killing animals by torturing them. The other website was one that had quite a few interesting videos, some inappropriate, but many of them were harmless. The big red flag for me at that website was all the ads that surrounded the “harmless” videos. Not only would I not want my child to click on these websites offering any number of inappropriate things, but the titles themselves were very suggestive.

I feel even more passionate than ever before about homeschooling and protecting my children until they are old enough to make wise choices.