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LifeWay Community Homeschool Getting Started Introduce yourself and tell us how you got started homeschooling|
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Moderator Member |
New question, ladies: Let's introduce ourselves and talk about how we got started homeschooling. Was it a friend that inspired you, or a speaker you heard?
Christine |
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Member |
OK I'll go first!
My name is Julie. My husband is a pastor and also a seminary student. We have 4 children. 3 boys and a girl. I homeschool my oldest son who is 8 and in 2nd grade. My other boys are twins, they will be 5 in April and they are in a public school preschool. My daughter will 2 in April. We decided to bring Samuel home for 2 different reasons. One was my reason, I don't believe that the administration in this school system cares about the children. Samuel went to 2 years of preschool and kindergarden and that was enough here. The other reason was my husband, he had substituted in the school system and saw what was being taught and wanted our children OUT!!!! So this is our 2nd year to homeschool. Next year we will bring the twins home and homeschool them. Just thinking about that scares me, but I know God will take care of us and help us through any difficult times we may have around the kitchen table "doing school" |
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hello, i'm laranda. i've been (technically) homeschooling for about 2 years now. i have two boys 5 and 4 (the five year old recently gave his life to Jesus!!
 ). Praise God!the decision to homeschool really started with a conviction from my husband. as our first son was nearing the age of headstart, we were in constant prayer about which school we should send him to. not ever thinking that homeschooling could be an option- we just always thought they would go to 'school'. we believe we are called to homeschool our children. to train them in the way they should go and to teach them in the ways of the Lord. my husband is a bivocaitonal youth pastor and an employee of the local public school system. after gaining this employment we are even more confident in knowing that, for now, homeschooling is where we need to be and it is something we should be obedient in doing. this is why we homeschool- in obedience to God- not really because of the public school system. (even though what you hear on the bus from 4 and 5 year olds could make a sailor blush!!) in our youth group we constantly have kids come to us and say that some of their teachers are atheists or agnostics and debate and demean them about their Christian Faith. a teacher has even stated that she wants to start an "anti-christ" club because "someone needs to get all these Christians off the campus" and also because there is a Christian club. but, i listen to Jay Sekulow Live... she can't start a club like this... but what's sad is: a student can. |
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Hello all! My name is Amanda and I will start homeschooling this fall. My daughter is almost 5 and my dh and I decided to homeschool her instead of sending her to public schools for many reasons. It is something that I think the Lord put in my mind when she was born. My family is very supportive so that helps a lot!! I think with all that is going on in this world....my daughter is safest with me! Period. Not only that but I want to teach her morals and values that she would not get in a public school. Thanks for having me.
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Hi, my name is Phoebe and I have two children, one in 4th and one in K. We started homeschooling when my oldest was in preschool. Our main priority was in teaching our children the Bible and we knew that sending them to public school, they would not hear or learn anything from God's Word. I also feel that as a parent it is a gift to teach our children to better prepare them for God's purpose for their lives. I thank God that He allows us to teach our children. We really feel led to be doing this. Also, we are part of CLASS. (Christian Liberty Academy School System) We love their materials and their statement of faith.
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Moderator Member |
Hello to Phoebe, Amanda, Laranda and Julie! I'm so happy you found our little place on the web! Hope you check back often - and tell your friends.
I noted that each person mentioned something like "God told me to do it." What an awesome and sacred trust we have been given - to teach and train our children. I try to keep that in focus on the rough days - the calling is from God, it's not up to me to quit when it's tough. We have four kids, daughter 16, daughter 14 1/2, daughter 11 and son 8. 3 are adopted, one is bio. One has a significant learning disability and ADHD, so life is always interesting at my house. I have a web site too at www.HomeFieldAdvantage.org. OK, who else is here? Step up and introduce yourselves! Christine |
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I guess I sort of skipped over this thread. I've pretty much introduced myself on another thread, but here goes. My husband, Ricky, & I have homeschooled our four kids since our oldest was about 4 years old. This year they are 18 (12th grade, our only son), 15 (9th grade), 13 (7th grade) and 11 (6th grade). We began homeschooling because it was what I believed God was calling me to do. I still believe that, and plan to continue until our youngest graduates. We've lived in Washington, DC, Nebraska, California, and now Florida, but have only "officially" homeschooled in California for 2 years and the rest in Florida since we moved here in 1995. Sometimes it has been very hard, probably the hardest thing I've ever done. But the rewards are well worth the effort!
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New Member |
Hello LifeWay Homeschool Family!
Sadly, I am one of those homeschooling parents that did not receive the "call to homeschool" while my daughters were pre-schoolers. The first person to plant the seed to homeschool was actually my older daughter's third grade public school teacher, a very dear Christian woman! We became very close that year, as I spent many hours volunteering in her classroom. That was the year of the Columbine shootings, and our school district in Allen, Texas made the national news by having to close the school year early, because of all the bomb threats. At the same time, we were having many highschoolers in the Plano/Allen area dying of drug overdoses, again making national news. I didn't pull her out then, but the seed had been planted. In the middle of her fourth grade year, while I was in the school's volunteer room making photocopies, her teacher came up to me out of the blue and said that my daughter was failing reading. Her first and ONLY solution to the problem was to put her on Ritalin. She told me her daughter was on it, and that she was a completely different person! I was horrified! What about a reading plan, tutoring, remedial phonics, ANYTHING but prescription drugs?? Well, horribly, I assumed it was that my daughter was just being lazy, as I never saw her read after school, for pleasure. I grew up loving to read, and just couldn't understand. Thank goodness, we didn't take her teacher's advice and medicate her, but mysteriously and miraculously her grades drastically improved anyway! Come to find out later, it wasn't because of her improved performance, it was grade inflation to raise her "self-esteem". Astonishingly, we allowed her to enter fifth grade, but our eyes were wide open this time. On day two of the school year, the teacher began reading Harry Potter to the class. Our family had already been having the dicussion on whether to read these books are not, praying for guidance, and made the firm decision not to read or allow these books in our home. We immediately wrote a letter of complaint to the teacher and principal, as did several other Christian parents, and the book was discontinued. By this time my husband and I were aggressively researching homeschooling curricula. We decided to take advantage of the free, online, evaluation for placement tests offered by a couple of the providers, and were absolutely horrified by how far she was behind academically. We had financially sacrificed for years to live in that neighborhood, with an exemplary rated school district, in which my daughter had just made straight A's. The final straw came right before Christmas break, when she brought home a spelling test her teacher had graded. The teacher missed several words that my daughter misspelled! I re-graded the test, sent it back to her teacher, and informed her that my daughter would not be back after the break. My younger daughter only went to kindergarten and first grade, and I after-schooled her during this time. I needed one semester alone with her sister to raise her reading level. God abundantly blessed her during this difficult period of transition, and now she really is excelling in a very advanced, Christian-classical high school course, David Quine's Worldviews of the Western World. www.worldviewclasses.com She loves to read now, and has learned valuable study skills. We discovered that she is simply an auditory learner, and this learning style clashed with her fourth grade teacher's. She was also taught to "read" by a mixture of whole-language and phonics, "developed" by her first grade teacher. I taught her younger sister to read myself, and she devours books. Although our family's initial reason to homeschool was academic, instead of spiritual, we feel an obligation to continue homeschooling because of the spiritual training! It is hard work, requiring perseverance and much encouragement, but God is clearly blessing our efforts. College presidents and professors have told me that the homeschooled students in their freshman classes are the "cream of the crop" and they are aggressively trying to recruit all they can. You are not harming your child by homeschooling them. Instead, you are giving them the greatest gift possibly, second only to their gift of salvation. The church needs to come along side and support the Christian homeschooling community. We are training the future servant leaders of the church! Love, Elizabeth Southern Baptist Church & Home Education Association, a homeschooling ministry |
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I finally read 2/17 issue of the homeschooling newsletter from Lifeway, and I was so excited to read about this new community. I am new to homeschooling and am a bit overwhelmed right now.
Here's why: My wonderful husband is active duty in the air force and we are preparing for a move this summer. We currently live in San Antonio, Texas and our kids are in a Christian private school. School hasn't been fun during our stay here. Life got very out of balance - too heavy on the school and too light on the free time. My 3rd grader has 2 hours of homework every night. My kids are A students, but they are also kids who want to play. Anyway, during the last 18 months, God has moved us toward the homeschooling idea. The plan now is to begin homeschooling after we move this summer. We are all so excited about this adventure. I have begun to research homeschooling and have found great helps on the internet. Still there is a lot I need to figure out between now and August. We are moving to the Chicago area this summer and I am very hopeful at finding a support group there. Having moved several times over the last 19 years, I have leanred a lot. For instance, if time permits look for a church first and then a house. I have been to the SBC website looking for a church near where my husband will be working (Argonne Natinal Lab in Lemont, IL). I am also searching for a strong Christian home school support group in that area. My home schooling friends here tell me a support group is a must. We have two children: a 6th grade daughter and a 3rd grade son. Their school uses ABeka and we will likely continue with that curriculm next year. But I love to research so I am looking at other curriculums too. I am excited about learning from those who have gone before me on this homeschooling path. May God bless you all. Amanda PS Is there a spell check somewhere? If so, I haven't found it yet. |
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New Member |
Hello my name is Holly. I am planning on homeschooling my oldest 2 children starting this fall. I have for kids 11 boy, 8 girl, 21 months boy, and a 6 month old baby girl. My husband and I have just recently decided to start homeschooling our children. My oldest son is in the 5 grade and is really having a hard time. He has always been a straight a and b student until this year. He has made is first C on his report card and his grades are up and down. The teachers refuse to help him, they will explain something one time and if he doesn't get it; too bad. He has brought home two books to read this year and both have had cusing in them. When we confronted the principal about the first book, she very quickly took that book off of the shelf. But the book that he brought home this week, he took it back to the teacher and showed her the word _ _ _ but used in the form of calling someone that. All she had to say was that word was in the Bible. We had my son tested and found out that he is very behind in conprehension. I was so upset with myself for not listening to my son. I would get onto him for his grades and I thought that he was just being lazy and not paying attention. I broke down and cried and prayed that God would lead me in the right direction. We are currently building a house and the schools that my kids would attend had VERY low test scores and the ethnic ratio was very unbalanced. I want my kids to have courage, disipline, and love for God and others. I truly believe that homeschooling will be the only way my children will have a chance in this cruel world. Please pray as we will pray for all of you. God Bless
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Southern Baptist Church & Home Education Association, a homeschooling ministry |
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Elizabeth,
I thoroughly enjoyed your personal history about homeschooling your children. It just was very encouraging. I do think that the churches seem to agree with homeschooling but tend to not understand fully why we do it. Like, I have parents at church still ask my children where they go to school and they say they homeschool and the parents start saying how wonderful that must be and go on to say how they certainly couldn't do that. The biggest excuse I hear is that they could never teach their child. It would never work. Their child would never listen to them. Or that homework is hard enough doing with them. All day would be horrible. I have a niece in 9th grade that my husband and I are currently guardians of for the next 6 months. She was expelled from her school for some things she got "socially" caught up in. My sister would love to homeschool but her husband is against it. He told me that he is not against anybody else homeschooling their children but for his kids it wouldn't work. Since I have guardianship, I have permission in my state to homeschool her for the next few months. She has joined our youth group at church. Her family was not going to church. So, I am hoping and praying that she can turn her life around and to realize that God has a purpose for her life. Right now she doesn't mind homeschooling with me but she is ready to go back to her school next year. The school they just did a lock down on to find drugs because they are having so many problems with students possessing and using right now. She says that she couldn't take instruction from her mother with homeschooling. But she doesn't worry because she knows her dad is against them homeschooling. I do wish that the church would make a stand when it comes to homeschooling. I just think it is a lack of understanding on their part. It is just a decision that this particular family has made is what they think. I was in the church office last night with my niece and the pastor met her and asked her if she would be attending our local county public school. I wanted to say, "Are you kidding?" The school has been on the news lately. They arrested two teachers for "messing around" with a student. A third teacher was suspended for being involved some how too. Three teachers in a high school acting so inappropriately with our young people. Oh my! No, she will be homeschooled pastor. Phoebe |
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Hi, all, Anji here. We have homeschooled continuously since 1990. Our six blessings range in age from 25-5.
It was in my heart to homeschool waaaaaay back in 1980 when my first was born. Of course, the practice was underground then and I was not terribly bold, neither was I a Christian. When my oldest reached 6th grade at the age of 10, his teacher protested that he was so immature for her sex ed class! Couldn't he repeat fifth grade? No, we were firm, he was on the honor roll in fifth grade and making him repeat a grade would crush his spirit. My husband brought up the idea of homeschooling. We did the research, enrolled in an umbrella school for reporting purposes and we were off and running...well, walking that first year anyway. To God alone be the glory, Anji |
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Moderator Member |
Welcome Anji! Welcome, Holly! I will pray for your endeavours.
Phoebe, I know the Southern Baptists take a stand on homeschooling. Elizabeth, maybe you can tell our members about that???? Elizabeth, thanks so much for sharing your story. Amanda, I live in the Chicago area! Maybe I can help you hook up with some support groups. Please email me privately at christinefield@sbcglobal.net. Christine |
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New Member |
Yes, Christine, I have been very, very encouraged over the last two years, as the Southern Baptist attitudes toward homeschooling have begun to shift. We have all of our research and advancements posted on the ministry website, www.sbchea.org, which would be hard to duplicate here. However, this is a brief synopsis of what has happened. God is moving in a mighty way through the Church. You can read a little about the movement in Dr. Albert Mohler's commentary, Revolution This revival has started first in the hearts and homes of our homeschooled families, and then moved up and out, unlike great revivals of the past which started in the pulpit, and moved down through the laity. Interestingly, it is also very active in the majority of our Southern Baptist seminaries, which seem to be extremely homeschool friendly and have extensive support on campus for the families. The problem is in the middle. There is a whole generation of pastors, mostly 40 and up, that have been taught all through their ministerial training to send their children to the public schools, encouraged their wives and daughters to be public school teachers, structure their entire youth ministry around evangelizing the public schools, etc. (Read SBCHEA Advisory Board member Dr. Voddie Baucham's comments recently about youth ministries, Home: Center of Discipleship) All of these efforts were in the name of evangelism, which is what we ALL should be about. However, we are to do it God's way, not man's. God only ordained two institutions for education, the family and the church. I have yet to find a scripture in the Bible, where it mentions sending our children to the state for education, or where children are used by God as missionaries. Look at our culture and public school system, the plan has failed horribly, and we are losing our children and our cultural influence. The problem is we have many public school administrators and teachers tithing in the local churches, preventing pastors from speaking out on this issue. The tide has turned, however, and the Southern Baptist leadership is starting to speak out. Dr. Albert Mohler and Dr. Paige Patterson, both presidents of our largest seminaries are very pro-homeschooling and have spoken out publicly in our support. Exit Strategy Much of the leadership of LifeWay/Broadman & Holman homeschools, and the new Vice President of the International Mission Board, Dr. Tom Elliff, is also extremely supportive. We are still working on the NAMB.  Last year, at the 2005 SBC Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN, homeschoolers achieved a major breakthrough. We co-hosted with SBACS Ex. Director Ed Gamble, the 1st Annual Kingdom Education Summit and Reception. This was the very first opportunity for homeschool leaders, LifeWay & B-H leaders, etc. to meet face to face. It was reported in the Baptist Press, SBCHEA's first mention there, another huge achievement, thanks to Tammi Reed Ledbetter. story SBCHEA would like to encourage all Southern Baptist homeschooling families to attend our summit this year in Greensboro, NC, June 14th, your state conventions this fall, http://www.sbc.net/stateconvassoc.asp, and your monthly associational meetings. They are NOT for pastors only! If we will only show up, we can make a positive difference in our denomination. God continues to bless our efforts, if we stay focused on Him first, and building His kingdom, not ours. Please review the research on our ministry website for more details. SBCHEA Gratia et pax, Elizabeth Southern Baptist Church & Home Education Association, a homeschooling ministry |
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Moderator Member |
Churches I have attended have been careful not to offend homeschoolers, but have not been active supporters. What a blessing that would be to have that encouragement!
Thanks for the info and links, Elizabeth. Who else is here? Come on - don't be shy - introduce yourselves! Christine |
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I'm not sure what happened but somehow my log-in information got messed up and I had to re-register. So "Lori in FL" and "Lori D in FL" are the same person. Just wanted to clarify that.
Lori D Visit our family web site: http://birkdalebunch.com/ |
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New Member |
HI, I have 2 children, 11 year old boy and a 9 year old girl. My son has been homeschooling since to beginning of the school year and my daughter just started 3 weeks ago. The reason we chose homeschooling was because of some problems my son was having in public schools. He is a smart boy and has no problem acedemically or socially, but for whatever reason has always been unhappy in school. He has asked us to homeschool him since kindergarten. We finally realized he was actually starting to struggle with depression, that certainly got my attention, and we opened the idea of homeschooling. Once we opened our minds to it, God did the rest! As for my daughter, she didn't want to homeschool at first. She is a very social person who loves her friends and teachers. But half way through the year, she, too, began dreading school and asking to come home. I didn't hesitate to bring her home! Now we are all home together and loving it. God assures me all the time this is where we are supposed to be. We have never been happier! I come from a smaller town where homeschooling is not well known. I haven't had problems with people being negative, but I don't have anyone else experiencing this that I can talk to. We also have no homeschool associations or programs for us to be involved in. The only resource I have is my sister who homeschools and she lives 3 hours away! SO...I am thankful I found this forum and am looking forward to meeting some people that can share with me in this experience.
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My name is Julia C. I've homeschooled my three children in the past, but found it challenging as I am working mother. I've recently moved to the shool district we live in now, and found the school is not helpful with my 12 year old son who is ADD and Bipolar. The school was failing him and he was becoming increasingly frustrated. So, I reverted back to what I know is best for my son.
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Hello my name is Tara
I have two children, my son who is 6 just started in public school-kinder, I will be homeschooling my daughter in the fall, who is soon to be 5. I will be homeschooling my daughter since she has severe allergies to peanuts and many other allergies, plus asthma. My husband and I both feel it will be safer for my daughter to be homeschooled. I know I will need all the advice and encouragment I can get, and look forward to the support from this site. |
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