The Calling

1 Kings 19:11-13

New International Version (NIV)

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

You would think that after growing up in church, being born again for almost 20 years, and used to hearing that still small voice of God, that I would know to never ignore Him.

It would be much easier to stand there and obey God if He made a loud and dramatic approach every time he wanted your attention, but that would take away our free will to choose to obey God.

Well, when God was calling me to homeschool I was covering my ears. You would think that after being homeschooled myself, that this would be an easy thing for me to obey God with, but I was promised that when both of the kids were in school how much time I'll have more myself and how clean my house would be, yadda yadda yadda. Even having Thing 1 in pre-k for half day was really kind of nice, because I was able to bond with Thing 2 with no distractions. Then the next year Thing 1 went off to Kindergarten and I had dreams of how it was going to be like the year before, but with more bonding time with Thing 2 and actual big time cleaning getting done.

It couldn't have been farther from the truth. 

Our mornings were rampant with stress, and always ended up with me yelling at Thing 1 that if he didn't hurry he was going to miss the bus, and him sleepily trying to hurry and get his shoes on the right feet. I hated having to wake him so early in the morning, just so he would have to be rushed to get out the door every morning. 

Then I was stressed during the day, keeping an eye on the clock to make sure I didn't lose track of time and miss him at the bus stop on his return. Several times I had been out and about with Thing 2 and praying as I drove madly home that I would make it to the bus in time.

Then we would only have a few hours together before I had to make him go to bed, just so we could start another stressful day the next day.

Thing 1 wasn't doing well in school either. He was bored, emotionally drained from the stress that morning, and becoming more and more physically tired from lack of sleep. He missed spending quality time with us, and was being turned off from learning all together.

And what was happening to me spiritually this whole time? That still small voice of God. I knew it was Him. I recognize the voice. I've heard it many many times before. So why did I not listen?

Fear of being judged.

As a homeschooled kid back in the 80's and 90's, I was judged. At some point I was told to just lie and say I wasn't homeschooled, because the myths that so many people believe are so damaging to not only the homeschooling family, but to the child. 

So many times people asked me, as a child, how do I socialize? Do I get along with other children? Do I ever get out of the house? Am I in my pjs all day? And they always inevitably start quizzing me on basic knowledge, like I must have the IQ of a cantaloupe and they have to "prove" that a homeschooled child is an idiot. It hurt. 

Fast forward a decade or so and now I'm the homeschooling parent, and guess what,..

People still believe the myths and ask the same questions.

But now, I can tell you that many things have changed just in my own opinion about homeschooling my children and what people say. I've grown a thicker skin, for one, and found support with other homeschooling families. I've done research and found that homeschooling is truly becoming the norm!

Back in the day, I was one of maybe 10-20 thousand homeschooled children.  Then I see this statistic from 2012-2013.

Today, my children are apart of the low end estimation 1.5 MILLION homeschoolers! The number estimation may actually be far more as many states don't require registration. Even still, the numbers are astronomical!

But what about the socialization, going to college, getting a job,... and prom!?!?

Ok, first of all, even as a homeschooled child, I went prom. Yes, normal public school prom. 3 of them in fact. But even if a homeschooled child isn't as lucky as I was, there are homeschool proms. There are homeschool bands, football teams, and even science clubs. Just get enough kids together an BAM you've got a high school experience without having to step foot in a school building.

As far as getting a job or even getting into college,... well, these demographics speak for themselves.

Source 

Without being inhibited, without having to "fit in" with the right clique, we homeschool kids just learn to love, well, learning! College are even seeking out the homeschooled kids, as stated in this 2006 news report, because we want to not just pass the class, we are ready to learn!

So let me wrap this package up with a pretty bow. If you are hearing God call you to homeschool, if you feel that tug at your heartstrings to be with your children more and help them be as prepared for the world as they could possibly be, then take that dive into homeschooling. It's hard at first, not going to lie, there will be many sacrifices, but the goal set before you IS achievable, and there is so much more support to guide you and lift you up in your homeschooling endeavor than there ever has been before. 

And you know what? As more of us homeschool our children, and our children homeschool their children, eventually the myths that hurt so much will eventually be dispelled. 

The future is very bright.

With Love,

Emily