At this writing, my state seems to have turned into high noon at the OK Corral. Amidst the Covid 19 pandemic, our country’s president has demanded schools open in the Fall and our state governor has deemed his demands “hogwash.” Many parents are frustrated with the uncertainty and with how school ended under the Coronavirus restrictions for the 2019-2020 year. Pile on recent high-profile academic condemnations of homeschooling, partisan legislation requiring changes to the way sexual education is taught and new calls to serve some students before others and you have (as my kids would say) “a hot mess” over reading, writing and ‘rithmetic.

Out of frustration and sometimes anger (and probably many other emotions), more parents than ever are considering home schooling. I know this because my phone has been ringing about the issue since schools closed in March. In March 2020 all parents became homeschoolers , for all practical purposes, whether they wanted to or not.

I’d argue that in reality we’d all been homeschoolers all along the way.

Parents are already home teachers. We teach our children to eat in their first days, then to speak, crawl and run. Obviously, more and more parents employ caregiving help and eventually choose a public or private schooling option but we remain the teachers at home. Present or absent, full-time or part-time, working at home or away, I’d argue we are teaching our children something at home. Enter Covid 19 and many parents added math, reading, history and science teacher to their resume.

So I ask each parent to consider, what are your beautiful, precious offspring learning at your homeschool? What is your expertly delivered subject? What are you planning to teach them tomorrow, intentionally or unintentionally? Then, before you call the front office to unenroll your student or stop-payment on tuition, I strongly suggest that you consider the following items:

I’m certain there are plenty of other things to consider such as what subjects shall I teach and what color should I paint the homeschool space. But, the questions I’ve listed are heavy enough to pause even the most eager parent.  I’ll address some possible answers in coming posts but, for now I’d like to encourage you to pray about it.

As you get to know me, you will find I am a praying mom. I believe, as a Jesus-follower and lover of empirical evidence, that everything should be brought to the feet of the Lord in prayer. If you aren’t sure about how to do that, I encourage you to start as we are instructed in Matthew 6:9-13. When you ask for wisdom, God will reveal himself. I’m not a theologian nor do I possess any special training. I’m a mom. I love God, my husband and kids and have found the path to my personal peace has been paved with scripture and prayer. I don’t always agree with the Word at first because it doesn’t always match my actions and beliefs, it challenges me. In prayer, God has always (as best I can remember) revealed ways I need to change to be more Christlike, something I fall humbly short of every day. But my plans are clearer, my pains softer and my joys extraordinary when I am walking with the Lord. I wish the same for you, my friend. I pray that your road to homeschool will be paved with prayerful conversations with God.