Got any ideas to help our churches become more homeschool friendly?
Blessings,
Christine

Hello Christine

I have found that unless your leaders understand that family comes before service in the church, they will have a hard time accepting any homeschooling friendly ideas.

Most churches, from my experience, want the woman to go to X-amount of Bible Studies, serve on X-amount of committees and be invloved in the children's ministry. While this is all well and good, it cannot replace our first calling - to be wives and mothers.

I see so often families in church leadership whose family life is falling apart, just for lack of really close and deep family relationships, which we all know is what homeschooling does.

But if your church is already sold out on homeschooling then a good place to start is asking them to build a lending library full of homeschooling books to equip parents. Then you can ask them if they will offer their halls for Homeschool Co-ops etc.

Just some thoughts,

Wendy,
You're so right!
We are at a new church the past 2 years and one of the pastors is a hs dad. We're working with him to put on a back-to-homeschooling day of encouragement for the church and others in the area. I am so thrilled to be in a community that understands homeschooling!
Christine

PS - Here's another thought - donate your homeschool parent books to the library to help build up their collection.

We go to a church with lots of public school teachers. Some of the teachers don't think much of homeschooling and my wife feels antagonized by some of them.

How can we change or deal with the attitudes of members towards homeschooling?

We have had similar feelings. There are still so many misconceptions about homeschooling, even within the church. While I've never really felt antagonized, I have felt like people are internally questioning my adequacy. I remind myself that God entrusted us with this responsibility when he gave us our children. We are simply outsourcing the job when we put them in school. We are still ultimately accountable. I find my confidence in knowing that this is a matter of obedience to Him. I just smile and keep on lovin' those folks because they are usually well meaning people who just don't understand.

Just to add to what has been said...we also found it necessary for a long time to shield our children from those in our church who did not understand that we were not just teaching our children (anyone can do that) but discipling them too.

We did not tell everyone "We're homeschooling" we rather played our cards close to our chest.
We did not let our children go to Sunday School either. So this was another whole area of contention in our church.

So the advice is, don't cast your pearl before swine, protect your family by only sharing with those who God prompts.

I understand the frustrations being voiced here. However, I also was a skeptic once so I think I have a little insight.

One of the big reasons that people question is simply that they don't have correct information about homeschooling.

The best way to approach a questioning person or even a harsh comment is with a soft answer. Try not to be on the defensive-- most times questions and comments are not intended as a personal attach (though they can be really hurtful). Try to approach the comments and questions as a teachable moment.

I have had the opportunity to educate many people regarding why I chose to homeschool. I find that when I am willing to (calmly) dialogue with people they are willing to listen, and I have seen many people change their minds about it.

The same is true of interactions with public school teachers. Often times they do not have correct information regarding home education (remember, the national teacher's union sees homeschoolers as a threat). Many times if you take the opportunity to dialogue with them you may find that they are not as opposed to it as you may think.

Lastly, it is of utmost importance that when we talk to people about homeschooling we be aware of our tone. Often times we come across (unwittingly) with an arrogant tone that will immediately put others on edge. I think most of us would agree that we feel strongly about home education and the benefits, but it is not appropriate to treat others as though "we are too good for public school". Truly there are a lot of strong Christian families who choose to put their kids in public school and they are not lesser Christians than we are.

I hope that this has been encouraging