THE WHOLE STORY...

It used to be that when someone would ask me if I planned to home school, I would quickly respond "Oh, no...that is not for me." But "that's not for me" or "I am not cut out for it" are not good responses because God often calls people to do things that are out of their comfort zone. So I began to ask Joey, "do you think we need to consider homeschooling?" I had no desire whatsoever to home school our kids, but I did not want to make the decision based on what I desired. Joey simply said "no, we are not going to home school." Now, that right there is enough to make the decision final since Joey is the head of our household and he makes the final decision. I could end this here, but the Lord made it even more evident to me even after Joey's decision. As a mother who often found myself in the minority with a group of women who had decided otherwise, I really began to desire that God would give me complete peace in our decision. Comments from people close to me like "well, you used to insist that you wouldn't have plastic toys in your backyard but you have them now...maybe you will change your mind on the whole homeschooling thing too" really didn't sit well with me. I really wanted God to give me a definite answer as to what HE wanted for our family. I prayed a lot. One day, as I was praying, I began to consider all that the Bible says about it. Obviously, there is not a command in scripture that says "thou shalt home school your children." In fact, school is something relatively new. Times where different then. Most people were, in fact, illiterate. "Schooling" as we know it was not the same if it existed at all. In the Bible, moral training was something that was considered an important job of the parent. But moral training, discipline, spiritual training and the like are things that Joey and I had already recognized as part of our job responsibilities as parents. Schooling our children at home or sending them to school does not change our duty to train them in righteousness at home. Whether our kids are in private school, public school or home school, we have every intention of continuing our duties in the area of building, molding and influencing their spiritual character at home. That is the job of a Christian parent, not just the job of a homeschooling parent. So, back to what the Bible says. As I was mediating on my job as a mother and all that scripture has to say, I asked the Lord again for some kind of confirmation that Joey and I had made the right decision for our family. It was almost a slap in the face, like the Lord just said to me, "Kelly, what did you name your children? Look at the scripture that led you to name your children after people in my Word. Isn't it obvious what I want for your children based off of the names that you chose for them?" I thought about Hannah in the Bible. Hannah wanted a child so badly it hurt. She petitioned God so passionately. No doubt she had plenty of time to dream about how she would raise him, what she would do with him, how she would train him and so on. In her desperation, she promised that if only he would give her a son, she would give him over to the Lord's service for all of his days. When she had a son and it came time to take him to the temple, she did it with joy. She allowed Samuel to be raised (or maybe we could say "schooled") by the temple. Eli the priest was a Godly man, but the sons of Eli (who were also being raised in the temple) were evil and wicked men. I imagine it crossed Hannah's mind that maybe since these men were so wicked, she should shelter Samuel and keep him home. Surely God wouldn't want her to expose her son to such evil and wicked men! And yet, she did not go back on her promise to give her son to the Lord's work. I am sure she had to trust the Lord and pray plenty to be able to reign in her fears of what could happen to Samuel while being raised near those wicked sons. The same is true for a parent who sends their children to school away from home. We have to trust God that even in the presence of evil and wicked people (in either public or private schools), our children would be kept pure and safe. Next I thought of Jonah in the Bible. Joey and I really hesitated to name our child after the "disobedient prophet" Jonah. But as much as we wanted to steer away from it, the positives about the prophet Jonah seemed to win out. Jonah was a man of God willing and able to be used by God. Jonah was an example of God's great forgiveness. Jonah was humble in his willingness to tell about his failure. Jonah was a great teacher who brought people to repentance. All of these are great, but Joey and I finally concluded that we wanted to name our son after Jonah mainly because Jonah was called by God to be the first foreign missionary. Up until that point, God was interested in mainly the Jews. A big part of the reason Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh is because those people were non-Jews and in fact anti-Jew. And yet, God had mercy and compassion on even the non-Jews and wanted to bring them to repentance. There are some that would say that the schools now days are so anti-Christianity that all Christians should pull their kids out and home school. Can you imagine what would happen if there were no Christians students, no Christian parents in the PTA, no Christian volunteers in the public school system? Don't you know that the same God who had compassion on the wicked and sinful Ninevites also has a heart for the wicked and sinful in our school systems? I know he does.

So, after my slap in the face, I realized how clearly God has chosen the path for our family to take based on the very names he prompted us to give our children. Joey and I did not choose their names at random. We really put a lot thought and prayer into it. Now we know why. We are to trust God the way Hannah trusted God with Samuel and we are to be salt and light to a lost people the way Jonah was to the the people of Nineveh. Whether this means private or public school or a combination of both, we don't know yet. What I do know though, is that the Lord has given me the peace that I have asked for in confirming to me that we are not supposed to home school our children.