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[In Christ]

Hey all...I wrote an article that I have had on my heart for some time...I am not an accomplished writer, as you can tell ; )  So I wondered if any of you "smart peoples" could help me edit it....I have no other motive than to get your thoughts...not to convict anyone, please believe me.  Now if you read it in a magazine    it might be different...but I would NEVER post it here to tell anyone something...if that makes sense?

This is very much a HOMESCHOOLING article, so please don't read it if you might get offended...I certainly would NOT want to offend anyone nor start a debate...I just thought some of you might have some better proofing skills than I....thank you and PLEASE do not take this as condemning anyone that doesn't do it "my way"...  In Christ  (oh, I still need to add Scripture references for a few points and it will NOT past and show up here as I wanted it to).  Well Tell Me  what you know ; )

Is Homeschooling Enough?

This has been on my mind for quite some time and the Lord keeps laying it on my heart to share my thoughts and concerns with others. So here I am, feeling uncomfortable and very unqualified to write what God has shown me over the last few years.

I really cannot say exactly when or where I began to ponder this question, "Is Homeschooling Enough?" I cannot point out any one situation, experience, family, or individual that caused me to start asking myself and the Lord this question. Over the years I have held differing opinions regarding homeschooling from one extreme to the other. I have been a very strong proponent of homeschooling for many years now, believing that it certainly is best for most children, if not all. Although, somewhere along the way I began seriously to wonder if our "homeschool" children are not lacking in some areas in which they were once considered to "stand out above the rest." Everything I will say from here on out will pertain mainly to Christian families because for me personally, homeschooling is a conviction, not just a choice. So, let us pray and I will explain what I mean.

Father in Heaven, help us to see and hear You and not give that deceiver, Satan, a foothold by being offended or full of pride. Let us not deny Your Holy Spirit speaking to us. Open our hearts to You Lord. In Jesus name we come to You. Amen.

I have been around homeschoolers long before I even considered homeschooling for my own children. When my seventeen-year-old daughter was about nine months old, being a single mom I hired a homeschool mom of two girls, with one on the way, to keep her while I worked. I was barely twenty years old myself, yet I recall asking the infamous question, "What about socialization?" I doubt I knew what the word really meant, and in my ignorance, as many today do, I assumed those children were missing out on something good and positive by not being in a school setting.

As the years went on, I met others who had stepped out and accepted full responsibility for their own children and their education. One was my daughter’s public school bus driver, who also became her babysitter. Eventually, one of my closest friends decided to homeschool her three children. Then my husband’s job began taking him across the country for weeks at a time, and since we were still newlyweds, he wanted us to go with him for a couple of months. I talked to the school, of course, because we all know that all children belong to the government and the Board of Education. I asked for permission to take my daughter out of school, and they explained to me that she could not miss that many days. Their answer was to withdraw her from school in Georgia, place her in school in Arizona for the six weeks we would be gone, then vice versa when we returned. This sounded very stupid to me to put her in a new school for such a short time, especially since she was only in the first grade. So, I just decided to withdraw her from school and homeschool her while we were gone. Fortunately, she had a very nice teacher who shared with me the things they would be covering while she was gone and gave me some of her materials. In addition, I bought some curriculum myself, and shipped it to Arizona. Thus, our first experience with homeschooling began, little did I know it would be about more than books.

Out west we had a hotel room right on Lake Powell, which also became our school room each morning, and then in the afternoon we would walk across the state line into Utah and help Daddy work. Our location was great for learning with animals and plants we had never seen on the east coast. The mild weather in the middle of winter in the desert was amazing. If we had only stayed right there the entire six weeks it would have been enough. However, we also visited Pheonix and Las Vegas a couple of times, saw the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, traveled portions of Route 66, enjoyed the beauty of the desert, learned about the Navajo Indians and had an amazing experience.

When we returned home, I did exactly what I was expected to do, I put her back in school and went back to my good factory job. I did what millions of other parents do every day, I took her to some type of childcare at six in the morning and went straight to work. In the evenings, I picked her up about six-thirty and took her home. I reasoned that I only worked four days a week, therefore I had three days a week to spend with her plus every evening. I did not count on mandatory overtime and most of all I did not count on homework every evening. I also did not factor in the time rushing to cook and eat dinner, take showers, clean up and get ready for bed by eight so we could be up about five the next morning to start again. I rarely spent any quality time with my own child due to a lot of stress and work to do when we were home. Then I found out I was pregnant and I realized I cannot do this to a baby and I do not want to do this to my seven year old anymore either. I finally broke the news to my husband that I would go back to work after the baby was born IF he wanted me to, but I could not stand to go back to my factory job and be away from them both for twelve hours a day for four, five and sometimes six days a week.

Our great God opened up a door and we went through and ended up in Kentucky where my husband’s job and the change in the cost of living would make up for me not working. I hated leaving my family and friends and all I had known all of my life but it was worth it for my children and my marriage. Now I was home when my daughter went to school, I was able to take care of the home while they were away, and I was home when she returned, best of all, I would be home with the new baby all day. This lasted through the end of the second grade for my daughter, but we had met some other families in our new church that homeschooled, and I decided that is what we should do. I jumped in, head first, without any prayer or discussion and we made homeschooling our way of life for the next year, my son was just nine months old. This might have been a great idea if it was: first of all, from the Lord, and second, something my husband was on board with or at the very least, not against.

I spent a lot of time on my face before the Lord in those early days praying for help and asking for answers. Just six weeks after we started, God very clearly told me to put her back in public school, to which I flew up off the floor absolutely convinced that someone had let Satan in and he was deceiving me. Well, we barely made it through the third grade and I finally surrendered to pray seriously and sincerely about what the Lord wanted me to do and promised if He would tell me I would obey. He very clearly led me to put her back in school, I nervously obeyed and I know it saved my marriage and family. From that experience came my first lesson regarding homeschooling; that my husband must always be first, even before my children, and I must not do my own thing when I know he is against it even if he never actually "tells me I can’t" or there will be no peace. I learned homeschooling will never benefit my children more than my obedience, honor, and love towards my husband.

For the next two years while my daughter was in school and God was preparing my husband and her dad for homeschooling, I stayed very involved with homeschoolers. I continued to visit our local co-op, go on field trips with the group, even taking my daughter out of school for many of them. Over the last seventeen years I have met hundreds of homeschoolers from different parts of the country in many different settings and heard many stories and observed many children. I have spoken with homeschoolers over the years about many things, some I knew long before they homeschooled, some I met because of homeschooling or other activities. I have shared, listened, watched, taught, visited homes, and I have also homeschooled my own children collectively for seven years. After all these years I am convinced that we cannot just "homeschool" our children and expect them to be better off than their public or private school counterparts, especially if "homeschooling" is just an alternative form of the "education" they might have received from the government or the church.

I have seen many homeschoolers, homeschooled children, and homeschool proponents, myself included, take great pride in fact that "homeschool children are better..." than children in public or private schools. You can finish the quote however you want, but one thing I have noticed more and more is homeschool families may turn out better students when it comes to academics but they are no longer turning out better "Christians" when it comes to godliness, purity, and holiness. I have to believe that if the Lord has led so many to teach their children at home He must have intended for them to be taught something more than academics and a head knowledge of the Bible. He surely wants our children to live holy, pure, godly lives that overflow with love, honor, respect, obedience, and hearts ready and willing to serve Him first, but also their fellow man.

As of late, it appears that the new goal of many homeschoolers is to make sure their children don’t look different from the other children in the world. We now seem to take pride in the fact that our children fit right in with the rest of the kids. They look like them, dress like them, talk like them, act like them, have all the same toys, gadgets, games, and forms of entertainment, so we can sit back and say, "See, homeschoolers aren’t social misfits, you cannot even tell the difference." What a terribly sad but true statement that is. This is why I am asking, Is Homeschooling Enough?

Is God pleased that our children are no longer "set apart" from the world? Does Romans 12:1,2 mean less today than it did ten years ago?  Twenty years ago?  Are we as parents so unwilling to be different that we no longer insist our children strive for holiness? What has happened? I am asking myself these questions about my own family as well.

There was a time I was able to spot a homeschooler almost anywhere just by their appearance, with which they honored God and their fellow man. That has changed, now our children don’t stand out, at times I even wonder if the public schools have higher standards for their students than homeschool moms and dads do for their children. I also could once recognize homeschool children because of their character, the respect they showed their parents, the way siblings treated each other with love and consideration, and the polite manner in which they spoke to others. Now, I am often shocked at the things I hear come out of the mouths of these children whose parents are "training them up in the way they should go" for we can rest assured, when they are old they will not depart from it, but teach it to our grandchildren. These kids don't place a higher value on their family relationships as they once did, nor are they as polite or respectful towards others. So, I can no longer recognize homeschoolers by their appearance or their character.

But one would think, well, homeschool parents certainly still want to guard their children’s hearts and protect them from the pitfalls that many young people fall into; sex, drugs, vandalism, pregnancy, numerous broken relationships, etc. We may let them dress like the world, we may let them talk like the world, but surely we will still have higher standards for their recreational activities and their relationships. Yet, we find more and more homeschoolers are involved in activities that no Christian should allow their children to participate in, much less make it a way of life.

As homeschoolers, parents and children, we don’t stand out from the crowd anymore. We aren’t leading others, we are following. We aren’t changing our culture, we are succumbing to it. We aren’t evangelizing the world, we are entertaining them. We aren’t saving ourselves for God’s use and for His glory, we are impatiently plowing ahead, desperately trying not to be too different and joining ourselves with society instead of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I believe this is because we, as Christians, have lost sight of the purpose of our lives. We are all created to glorify God and bless our fellow man. Every one of us, at all times, in all places, in all circumstances, should be striving to reflect the image of God and the character of Jesus Christ. This will never come just because we are homeschooling, although many of us seem to think it does, that is our pride. It will only come when we believe God and take Him at His Word and are willing to RISK being different, not fitting in. We must do it because we love God more than the attention and praise of man. If we, the parents, the teachers, have lost sight of our purpose then we cannot teach it to our children. It is no wonder while they may be academically growing stronger they are spiritually becoming weaker and weaker.

For many of us, myself included, we have already made so many mistakes and our children will live with the consequences. But we still have a God full of mercy and grace. I am not at all suggesting that anyone quit homeschooling. I do not want anyone overwhelmed with guilt and giving up either. My hope and prayer is that starting at this moment, we will change our goals for our children and ourselves to fulfill God’s purpose and please Him at all cost.

Presently, we do ‘things’ we want to believe are pleasing to God often because we enjoy them. We make plans that we assume God will agree with because they are "good."  We like to say God is leading us to make choices because it is really what we want. At some point we have to lay aside every single thing we enjoy or love and without those distractions take some time to see what God has for us and our children. Our talents are not always gifts from God, and sometimes we must be tested to see if it is something we are willing to lay down on the altar. If it is from Him, we must be willing to give it back to Him. You can be sure that all feelings, even good ones, do not necessarily come from God either. We must give up those things, relationships, and activities, and be an empty vessel God can fill and use. We must let go, no strings attached, and give God full possession of our bodies and full reign of our lives. Until we are stripped naked and clothed in Jesus Christ we will never really know if we are truly hearing Him and obeying Him.

Is this part of your daily homeschool schedule? If not, we can all be sure, Homeschooling is NOT Enough!

Romans 6:12,13

[CountyCork]

Change nothing!
Add Scripture!
Print It!
Go Public!
Praise the Lord!
Thank you for saying what many of us are thinking . . .
A suggestion would be to submit it to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

[lovingmomof2]

Wow!  That was good.  I know this to be true.  I was homeschooled for most of my school years as were my brothers and sisters.  I have thought about this a lot too.  I have 2 toddlers that I am planning on homeschooling, but I believe that as long as the parents are raising their children properly in the scripture that it doesn't matter if they are homeschooled or go to a public school.  Although I believe it is the responsibility of the parents to teach and train their children.  I like that you touched on the feelings thing.  It seems like a lot of people feel that what they are doing is right.  Sometimes I think people confuse feelings with desires.  Anyway, I thought your article was great.

[SarahLaRae]

I liked it.  It was very convicting.

[In Christ]

Thank you for your help so far.  You just don't know how encouraging you are to me.  I feel so very unqualified and uncomfortable even writing it, much less sharing it....but I feel I must...at least among fellow homeschoolers.

I have printed it and will try to work on it some more.

Any comments I will appreciate...I think I went COMMA crazy but not sure...I will have to get the English book out for that one, ha! 

In CHRIST

[mom24boys]

One thing, Phoenix is the proper spelling.

You have 5 or 6 places where ; is called for instead of ,  and one or two places where there was no space between a , and numbers.

Really, it looks pretty good for a long article  -- so far, I have only proof-read but not read for content.

My suggestion to you is to adjust your word processor program settings to correct for grammar.  I find all my mistakes that way.

In fact, I just went and did that and here is a copy of the corrected document. 

Is Homeschooling Enough?

This has been on my mind for quite some time and the Lord keeps laying it on my heart to share my thoughts and concerns with others. So here I am, feeling uncomfortable and very unqualified to write what God has shown me over the last few years.

I really cannot say exactly when or where I began to ponder this question, "Is Homeschooling Enough?" I cannot point out any one situation, experience, family, or individual that caused me to start asking myself and the Lord this question. Over the years I have held differing opinions regarding homeschooling from one extreme to the other. I have been a very strong proponent of homeschooling for many years now, believing that it certainly is best for most children, if not all. Although, somewhere along the way I began seriously to wonder if our "homeschool" children are not lacking in some areas in which they were once considered to "stand out above the rest." Everything I will say from here on out will pertain mainly to Christian families because for me personally, homeschooling is a conviction, not just a choice. So, let us pray and I will explain what I mean.

Father in Heaven, help us to see and hear You and not give that deceiver, Satan, a foothold by being offended or full of pride. Let us not deny Your Holy Spirit speaking to us. Open our hearts to You Lord. In Jesus name we come to You. Amen.

I have been around homeschoolers long before I even considered homeschooling for my own children. When my seventeen-year-old daughter was about nine months old, being a single mom I hired a homeschool mom of two girls, with one on the way, to keep her while I worked. I was barely twenty years old myself, yet I recall asking the infamous question, "What about socialization?" I doubt I knew what the word really meant, and in my ignorance, as many today do, I assumed those children were missing out on something good and positive by not being in a school setting.

As the years went on, I met others who had stepped out and accepted full responsibility for their own children and their education. One was my daughter’s public school bus driver, who also became her babysitter. Eventually, one of my closest friends decided to homeschool her three children. Then my husband’s job began taking him across the country for weeks at a time, and since we were still newlyweds, he wanted us to go with him for a couple of months. I talked to the school, of course, because we all know that all children belong to the government and the Board of Education. I asked for permission to take my daughter out of school, and they explained to me that she could not miss that many days. Their answer was to withdraw her from school in Georgia, place her in school in Arizona for the six weeks we would be gone, then vice versa when we returned. This sounded very stupid to me to put her in a new school for such a short time, especially since she was only in the first grade. So, I just decided to withdraw her from school and homeschool her while we were gone. Fortunately, she had a very nice teacher who shared with me the things they would be covering while she was gone and gave me some of her materials. In addition, I bought some curriculum myself, and shipped it to Arizona. Thus, our first experience with homeschooling began; little did I know it would be about more than books.

Out west we had a hotel room right on Lake Powell, which also became our school room each morning, and then in the afternoon we would walk across the state line into Utah and help Daddy work. Our location was great for learning with animals and plants we had never seen on the east coast. The mild weather in the middle of winter in the desert was amazing. If we had only stayed right there the entire six weeks it would have been enough. However, we also visited Phoenix and Las Vegas a couple of times, saw the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, traveled portions of Route 66, enjoyed the beauty of the desert, learned about the Navajo Indians and had an amazing experience.

When we returned home, I did exactly what I was expected to do; I put her back in school and went back to my good factory job. I did what millions of other parents do every day; I took her to some type of childcare at six in the morning and went straight to work. In the evenings, I picked her up about six-thirty and took her home. I reasoned that I only worked four days a week; therefore I had three days a week to spend with her plus every evening. I did not count on mandatory overtime and most of all I did not count on homework every evening. I also did not factor in the time rushing to cook and eat dinner, take showers, clean up and get ready for bed by eight so we could be up about five the next morning to start again. I rarely spent any quality time with my own child due to a lot of stress and work to do when we were home. Then I found out I was pregnant and I realized I cannot do this to a baby and I do not want to do this to my seven year old anymore either. I finally broke the news to my husband that I would go back to work after the baby was born IF he wanted me to, but I could not stand to go back to my factory job and be away from them both for twelve hours a day for four, five and sometimes six days a week.

Our great God opened up a door and we went through and ended up in Kentucky where my husband’s job and the change in the cost of living would make up for me not working. I hated leaving my family and friends and all I had known all of my life but it was worth it for my children and my marriage. Now I was home when my daughter went to school, I was able to take care of the home while they were away, and I was home when she returned, best of all, I would be home with the new baby all day. This lasted through the end of the second grade for my daughter, but we had met some other families in our new church that homeschooled and I decided that is what we should do. I jumped in, head first, without any prayer or discussion and we made homeschooling our way of life for the next year, my son was just nine months old. This might have been a great idea if it was: first of all, from the Lord, and second, something my husband was on board with or at the very least, not against.

I spent a lot of time on my face before the Lord in those early days praying for help and asking for answers. Just six weeks after we started, God very clearly told me to put her back in public school, to which I flew up off the floor absolutely convinced that someone had let Satan in and he was deceiving me. Well, we barely made it through the third grade and I finally surrendered to pray seriously and sincerely about what the Lord wanted me to do and promised if He would tell me I would obey. He very clearly led me to put her back in school, I nervously obeyed and I know it saved my marriage and family. From that experience came my first lesson regarding homeschooling; that my husband must always be first, even before my children, and I must not do my own thing when I know he is against it even if he never actually "tells me I can’t" or there will be no peace. I learned homeschooling will never benefit my children more than my obedience, honor, and love towards my husband.

For the next two years while my daughter was in school and God was preparing my husband and her dad for homeschooling, I stayed very involved with homeschoolers. I continued to visit our local co-op, go on field trips with the group, even taking my daughter out of school for many of them. Over the last seventeen years I have met hundreds of homeschoolers from different parts of the country in many different settings and heard many stories and observed many children. I have spoken with homeschoolers over the years about many things, some I knew long before they homeschooled, some I met because of homeschooling or other activities. I have shared, listened, watched, taught, visited homes, and I have also homeschooled my own children collectively for seven years. After all these years I am convinced that we cannot just "homeschool" our children and expect them to be better off than their public or private school counterparts, especially if "homeschooling" is just an alternative form of the "education" they might have received from the government or the church.

I have seen many homeschoolers, homeschooled children, and homeschool proponents, myself included, take great pride in fact that "homeschool children are better..." than children in public or private schools. You can finish the quote however you want, but one thing I have noticed more and more is homeschool families may turn out better students when it comes to academics but they are no longer turning out better "Christians" when it comes to godliness, purity, and holiness. I have to believe that if the Lord has led so many to teach their children at home He must have intended for them to be taught something more than academics and head knowledge of the Bible. He surely wants our children to live holy, pure, godly lives that overflow with love, honor, respect, obedience, and hearts ready and willing to serve Him first, but also their fellow man.

As of late, it appears that the new goal of many homeschoolers is to make sure their children don’t look different from the other children in the world. We now seem to take pride in the fact that our children fit right in with the rest of the kids. They look like them, dress like them, talk like them, act like them, have all the same toys, gadgets, games, and forms of entertainment, so we can sit back and say, "See, homeschoolers aren’t social misfits, you cannot even tell the difference." What a terribly sad but true statement that is. This is why I am asking, “Is Homeschooling Enough?”

Is God pleased that our children are no longer "set apart" from the world? Does Romans 12:1, 2 mean less today than it did ten years ago?  Twenty years ago?  Are we as parents so unwilling to be different that we no longer insist our children strive for holiness? What has happened? I am asking myself these questions about my own family as well.

There was a time I was able to spot a homeschooler almost anywhere just by their appearance, with which they honored God and their fellow man. That has changed, now our children don’t stand out, at times I even wonder if the public schools have higher standards for their students than homeschool moms and dads do for their children. I also could once recognize homeschool children because of their character, the respect they showed their parents, the way siblings treated each other with love and consideration, and the polite manner in which they spoke to others. Now, I am often shocked at the things I hear come out of the mouths of these children whose parents are "training them up in the way they should go" for we can rest assured, when they are old they will not depart from it, but teach it to our grandchildren. These kids don't place a higher value on their family relationships as they once did, nor are they as polite or respectful towards others. So, I can no longer recognize homeschoolers by their appearance or their character.

But one would think, well, homeschool parents certainly still want to guard their children’s hearts and protect them from the pitfalls that many young people fall into; sex, drugs, vandalism, pregnancy, numerous broken relationships, etc. We may let them dress like the world, we may let them talk like the world, but surely we will still have higher standards for their recreational activities and their relationships. Yet, we find more and more homeschoolers are involved in activities that no Christian should allow their children to participate in, much less make it a way of life.

As homeschoolers, parents and children, we don’t stand out from the crowd anymore. We aren’t leading others, we are following. We aren’t changing our culture, we are succumbing to it. We aren’t evangelizing the world, we are entertaining them. We aren’t saving ourselves for God’s use and for His glory, we are impatiently plowing ahead, desperately trying not to be too different and joining ourselves with society instead of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I believe this is because we, as Christians, have lost sight of the purpose of our lives. We are all created to glorify God and bless our fellow man. Every one of us, at all times, in all places, in all circumstances, should be striving to reflect the image of God and the character of Jesus Christ. This will never come just because we are homeschooling, although many of us seem to think it does, that is our pride. It will only come when we believe God and take Him at His Word and are willing to RISK being different, not fitting in. We must do it because we love God more than the attention and praise of man. If we, the parents, the teachers, have lost sight of our purpose then we cannot teach it to our children. It is no wonder! While they may be academically growing stronger they are spiritually becoming weaker and weaker.

For many of us, myself included, we have already made so many mistakes and our children will live with the consequences. But we still have a God full of mercy and grace. I am not at all suggesting that anyone quit homeschooling. I do not want anyone overwhelmed with guilt and giving up either. My hope and prayer is that starting at this moment, we will change our goals for our children and ourselves to fulfill God’s purpose and please Him at all cost.

Presently, we do ‘things’ we want to believe are pleasing to God often because we enjoy them. We make plans that we assume God will agree with because they are "good."  We like to say God is leading us to make choices because it is really what we want. At some point we have to lay aside every single thing we enjoy or love and without those distractions take some time to see what God has for us and our children. Our talents are not always gifts from God, and sometimes we must be tested to see if it is something we are willing to lay down on the altar. If it is from Him, we must be willing to give it back to Him. You can be sure that all feelings, even good ones, do not necessarily come from God either. We must give up those things, relationships, and activities, and be an empty vessel God can fill and use. We must let go, no strings attached, and give God full possession of our bodies and full reign of our lives. Until we are stripped naked and clothed in Jesus Christ we will never really know if we are truly hearing Him and obeying Him.

Is this part of your daily homeschool schedule? If not, we can all be sure, Homeschooling is NOT Enough!

Romans 6:12, 13

You can compare the two documents and do your corrections.
I have printed this out and look forward to really READING it.  [I don't comprehend anything when I am proofing  ]

[strawberry]

I took this request seriously, In Christ.  I *love* to proof.  I majored in English and don't get to do this much anymore. I hope my way of laying it out makes sense.  I originally made the changes red (in Word), but it didn't show up here  ...pm me if you want me to email you the word version.  It's the same, just has red spots on it

Paragraph 1, 1st sentence, there should be a comma (This has been on my mind for quite some time, and the Lord keeps laying it on my heart to share my thoughts and concerns with others.) They are two complete thoughts, so they need to be separated.

Pargraph 2, (I began seriously to wonder if our "homeschooled " children are not lacking) You might want to add an “ed.”

Paragraph 5, (Then my husband’s job began taking him across the country for weeks at a time, and, since we were still newlyweds, he wanted us to go with him for a couple of months.) Add a comma, to separate the clause.

Also, (This sounded very stupid to me to put her in a new school for such a short time, especially since she was only in the first grade. So, I just decided to withdraw her from school and homeschool her while we were gone.)
Either connect the sentences in order to use the word “So,” or drop it and make it a sentence on it’s own.

Ie: This sounded very stupid to me to put her in a new school for such a short time, especially since she was only in the first grade, so I just decided to withdraw her from school and homeschool her while we were gone.

Also, (Fortunately, she had a very nice teacher who shared with me the things they would be covering while she was gone and gave me some of her materials. In addition, I bought some curriculum myself, [no comma] and shipped it to Arizona. Thus, our first experience with homeschooling began,  [I’d make this  a period and start a new sentence]   Little did I know it would be about more than books.)

Paragraph 6: (Out west we had a hotel room right on Lake Powell, which also became our school room each morning, and then in the afternoon we would walk across the state line into Utah and help Daddy work.)
I’d cut up this run-on like this:
Out west we had a hotel room right on Lake Powell [no comma] which also became our school room each morning.  In the afternoon we would walk across the state line into Utah and help Daddy work.

Paragraph 7:  (When we returned home, I did exactly what I was expected to do. I put her back in school and went back to my good factory job.)  You might want to separate these thoughts.

Also (Then I found out I was pregnant, and I realized [here you need to either put quotations around these “realizations,” or change the tense of the word “cannot” to “could not” I cannot do this to a baby and I do not want to do this to my seven year old anymore either.)

Also (I did not count on mandatory overtime, and, most of all, I did not count on homework every evening.)

Paragraph 8 , last sentence: the colon is unnecessary.  Use it when there is a list of at least three, as in paragraph 14, the semi-colon there should be a full one.

(But one would think, well, homeschool parents certainly still want to guard their children’s hearts and protect them from the pitfalls that many young people fall into; sex, drugs, vandalism, pregnancy, numerous broken relationships, etc.)

Paragraph 10:  are the quotations around “homeschooling” and “education” show what you are trying to say better than if they weren’t there?

Paragraph 13, last sentence, “So” is a connecting word, not intended for the beginning of a sentence.  Same with the above sentence & “And.”  I’d omit “well.”

Paragraph 15, technically these commas need to be semi-colons (they separate complete thoughts):  (We aren’t leading others; we are following. We aren’t changing our culture;  we are succumbing to it. We aren’t evangelizing the world;  we are entertaining them. We aren’t saving ourselves for God’s use and for His glory;  we are impatiently plowing ahead, desperately trying not to be too different and joining ourselves with society instead of our Lord Jesus Christ)

P 16: (This will never come just because we are homeschooling, although many of us seem to think it does[either period & new sentence, or semi-colon] ;that is our pride.)

Also 16, (If we, the parents, the teachers,) the red comma needs to be an “and.”

Paragraph 17, ‘things’ should be with double quotations(“things”), matching your others.

[Jesus_Princess]

Haha...I just found this and am finally getting back to looking over it and maybe finishing it, LOL

Thank you for the help...my computer is still down and actually, I'm not even signed in as myself, oops...anyway, thanks for those of you who helped with the article...

IF you have any verses to suggest for me that go with the article, do share them...Thanks again.

In Christ

[Homeschool_Newbie]

This is a great article, In Christ I will think about whether or not I would change anything... but in the mean time I wanted to say: KUDOS for writing this.

I totally agree that homeschooling is NOT enough... Just this week, I had a light-bulb moment. I realized that when I am under spiritual attack, I am best served by the scriptures that I have put to memory. Looking them up in the bible is wonderful, of course, but when I am in the thick of an attack, I am best served with the truth of God's word hidden in my heart. So I guess my personal most recent conviction is to get back to teaching my children to memorize scripture. We read the bible all the time, but I don't think it's enough. Satan snatches those words away so quickly... but once they are hidden in our hearts they become a gold mine.

Thank you, again for sharing what is on your heart... It has been my personal conviction recently that homeschooling will definately NOT be enough.

[Homeschool_Newbie]

Ok, a bit of constructive criticism   I think you need a different opener. Something to really catch the attention of people, and help them to understand the jest of what you are trying to say. Maybe something along the lines of: I have been pondering homeschooling latley, and whether or not it is enough to keep our children from walking away from the faith....

Again... great thoughts. I hope you can get it published... and might I add: I really appreciate the wisdom of the more experienced homeschoolers who are willing to encourage those who are behind them. It is my personal goal to become a homeschool author someday.

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