Why homeschool?

I recently posted a blog from Matt Walsh about homeschooling. His was a blog about a very specific benefit of home schooling, to reduce government influence on your children. The article spurred some very lively discussion which I love but some were getting tripped up on the tone of the blog so I decided I would take to my own blog to share my thoughts. I hope you all will continue your discussion here.

So here it is, why we plan to home school and why we think all Christian families should consider it as well. (Don't stop reading yet...)


The benefits of homeschooling are well documented. I could go on and on about how they excel in school, high graduation rates , how well prepared they are for college, and how well adjusted they are, but that's not exactly what I want to talk about here. I want to specifically address first why home schooling can save you from the dangers of public school. as this was the topic of the original article I posted.

First let me lay out for you what specifically are the dangers of public school.

Students spend on average 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 13 years at school. To think they aren't being influenced and formed by their surroundings during such a large amount of time would be naive. One of the biggest dangers in public school is the information that will form them, most recently directed by common core. Be sure that the government has its agenda and their beliefs are reflected in the curriculum, see this example as one of many. Children who attend public school will receive formation from the government. I see this as a huge danger in this country that is becoming more and more morally depraved and anti-Christian. Can a Christian family counteract the teachings that contradict their faith? Sure, but it will be a challenge. Children look to their teachers and peers for so much guidance and we ourselves tell them to respect their teachers. At young formative ages it it will be tough for them to distinguish between what they are supposed to believe as true from a teacher and what is false. This can be confusing for a young child. We plan to home school in part reduce that confusion. No they will not be sheltered from the whole world so some influence will undoubtedly be there but not sending them into that potentially confusing world for the majority of their awake hours will certainly help.

Intellectual formation is not the only type of education students receive in school. Plato said that education is the acquisition of virtue. The information being taught to students will without doubt be taught through the lens of the teacher. The personal beliefs and biases of the teacher will come through their lessons. As a teacher I know this to be true first hand. It is also not uncommon to find schools directly seeking to give students moral formation. In many cases this may be great. Teaching kids to be honest and kind are wonderful lessons but we find countless examples of moral formation in the public schools going beyond teaching the golden rule and many of these teachings do not mesh with the goals of a Christian family. This danger is much more pressing than when this generation of parents was in school so we may not realize the degree of severity. There are some amazing teachers out there no doubt but even they are limited in what they can say. Parents are the primary educators of their children and home schooling can help parents better realize and live out that role.

Another reason we want to home school and believe other Christian families should consider it is that absence of God in the public schools. Children need to be completely seeped in the faith to soak it all in. We want our children to know that God is the primary focus of everything they do. If God is void at school they will have a huge part of their life compartmentalized away from the most important aspect of life. By home schooling we will be able to let everything our children do very directly be for the glory and love and God. We will be able to talk about Him throughout the day and even stop to pray often. How great for Catholic children to be able to stop and call upon Saint Thomas Aquinas to help them when a math problem seems too difficult. How important it will be to have God and His plans be part of history class. As an adult I had to go back and rethink so much of what I learned in order to fit God in. We want our children to have Christ always in mind throughout their whole day, no matter what they are doing.


One of the largest reasons we plan to home school is to guide the type of peer influence our children will encounter. Sent to public school parents lose some control over who their child will spend time with. Absolutely parents can still maintain some influence by getting to know other students and their parents and limiting their child's interaction with those who may have a negative influence. What happens though when in a class of 30 kids their is not another child with similar values to your family? Children needs friends and we know those friends do influence them. Even as kids a young as toddlers are influenced by their friends. The first time my daughter pushed was right after playing with another kid who pushed her. As her mom I taught her that pushing isn't nice but that one exposure required several teaching moments to undo. Peers can have a negative influence. I saw it happen many times as a teacher. Teens would make poor choices at the influence of their friends. Thankfully I also saw how positive peer influence can also be. Students who wanted to make morally good choices would band together and encourage one another. So what does this have to do with home school? As parents who school in our own home we will have much more influence over who our children's peers are. Eric and I are blessed to have several families with the same faith who will also home school and be a great source of friends for our children, friends who will be a positive influence and reinforce what we teach at home. This is the area where we get a lot of push back. We often hear that we can't shelter our kids. That is not our plan, our plan is to guide them on the right path and introduce them to the right peers, something that will be much easier when they aren't away from us when surrounded by a mixed group of peers who may or may not be a good influence. We also hear that we have to send our children into the schools to bring Jesus there. We completely agree that Christian families need to engage culture in order to positively influence the culture but we do not believe that a 7 year old is ready to be that example on their own. Formation is required first. Home schooling will allow us more opportunity to form our children in the faith before sending them out to witness on their own. Surrounding our children with peers who have the same beliefs will help them see that their family is not the only one who acts in certain ways that often times are very counter cultural.

A final reason I will touch on for why we will home school is something that could benefit any family, not just a Christian family. Children who are home schooled have the opportunity to receive more one on one teaching time. Rather than being 1 in a group of 30+, a home schooled child will likely receive lots of individual and focused teaching. This allows the parents to identify and address any issues, especially disabilities that could go unnoticed in a larger classroom setting. This also allows the parent to tailor the education specifically to the student. A student may excel at math and so can move up faster or may struggle in reading so can be moved along as a slower pace. A more personalized education can be had in a home school setting.

Now, let me be clear, home school doesn't work for every family and parents need to decide what will work for them. An analogy for that is that it would be great if every dad could coach their t ball team but not all dad's are able to and there are other coaches who are good or maybe even better than they are in those situations. If you aren't going to home school a great option is a private Catholic or protestant school (depending on your faith). There your children will more likely be taught morals consistent with your own. It won't necessarily be perfectly in line but better. The peers will hopefully come from families more like yours though not necessarily. Private school (especially a good catholic school) is a great option but doesn't come without its concerns as well. I taught at a great catholic high school but not every teacher perfectly taught the teachings of the church and many of the students were not the friends or influence I would chose for my children. So private school while not perfect is what we see as the only other option other than home school which we see as the best option for our family. Home schooling also has its challenges (topic for a whole different blog) and we will be ready to face them.

If you decide to send your kid to public school that is your right, I just ask you to be aware of the challenges they and you will face. Don't naively assume you can counter act what they are taught or that their peers won't influence them. Be ready and be active in your child school so you know full well what you will be fighting against.