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The Wrong Time to Decide to Homeschool

© Joan Archer

We are told by the Psalms that to everything, there is a season, and a time for every purpose under Heaven. There is, by common knowledge, a right time and a wrong time for everything. When talking about home education, there is a definite wrong time, a wrong way of thinking about home education. That time, is when there is a problem with your child's regular schooling.

I have spoken to at least two mothers recently who had considered home schooling as an option, only to decide against it at the last moment, saving it as an option for, "If something goes wrong" with their child's education. This distressed me, but I know they are good parents, and I did not interfere with their decisions. Inside, however, I was screaming! What could I say? I cannot dissuade them from their beliefs, and they are good friends, so I did not want to challenge their beliefs. So, I settled for the uncomfortable silence that followed.

I began homeschooling two of my sons after having several negative experiences involving them, in public schools. I had wanted to homeschool for some time, but it took me a long time to get the nerve up to try it. (I, too, was programmed to believe I was not capable of educating them, by the "system".)After taking them home to study, it became clear to me that it would have done me and my sons a lot more good to have started when I wanted to, years earlier, instead of trying to undo years and years of negative programming, bad habits, and bad attitudes. You can bet, my youngest son has already begun homeschool, and he is having the time of his life, and I with him! No bad habits, no attitudes, nothing but having a good time learning, and wanting to learn on top of that, at age four.

It is so much easier to simply not grow a bad habit, instead of trying to undo one years down the road. Ask any cigarette smoker! My sons' first year at home was spent simply undoing any and all bad habits, etc., wasting valuable learning time. Sure, they learned during this time, maybe some of the most important lessons of their lifetimes, but how much easier life would have been, had I simply followed the conviction of my heart, and educated them at home from the start!