Before I share reasons not to homeschool, let me be clear: We homeschool.
This is our first year homeschooling both of our grade school children, and we have a preschooler we plan to homeschool in kindergarten next year. My wife and I have had a great experience and are excited about the future. It’s hard work, especially for my wife who is the primary teacher, but we have felt peace as we follow God’s leading in this area of our lives.
Homeschooling Is Growing—And Changing
The popularity of homeschooling is increasing. One recent statistic showed that over 2 million students are now learning at home.
The old stereotype of super-conservative families with 10 kids who all dress the same and fall asleep listening to Answers in Genesis every night doesn’t fit reality anymore. The Barna Group reports that, “Half of all homeschool parents said they are ‘somewhere in between’ being politically conservative and liberal.”
A growing number of parents who homeschool are doing so because of dissatisfaction with the public school system, not because of personal religious reasons.
Why This Matters
There are plenty of reasons that school at home is a great educational option. Increased family time, different curriculum options, safety and security, specialized emphasis on your child’s strengths and interest areas are some of the leading pros.
But there are also reasons NOT to homeschool. By that I mean there are motivations for home education that are unhealthy—and if your motivation is poor, or poorly communicated, it will harm your witness and your relationships.
4 Reasons Not to Homeschool Your Kids
Mistake #1: “We had an awful experience in public school, and we want to spare our kids from that pain.”
Perhaps you did have an awful experience in public school growing up. Jesus enters our lives and heals all sorts of scars and wounds from our past. There is a difference between gaining wisdom from past experiences and making choices driven by fear.
Public school is not the enemy. The world is a broken place and we cannot escape it. We are not meant to. We are meant to participate with Christ in His work to redeem it.
If fear is your reason to leave public school, then perhaps you need to reconsider. Your kids are not doomed to walk the broken path you did. They will walk their own broken path until they find Christ. Our responsibility and opportunity is to hold their hand along the way, in whatever ways the Spirit leads us. And the truth is that we must overcome our own brokenness through Christ if we are going to be effective in leading them.
Our choices to educate at home should be built on wisdom and confidence in Christ, not fear.
Mistake #2: “Public school education is so subpar, we can surely do better at home.”
News flash — there are kids everywhere who are learning tons in public school every day.
There are passionate teachers who have given their lives to educating these kids in the public school system. There are teachers with missionary hearts who could make three times as much in another career as they do teaching … but they don’t, because they love kids. There are people who teach in public schools with extraordinary experience and education. Those same people are in your church and community.
When we rationalize our choice to educate at home by criticizing public education, we insult the people who are being obedient to Christ in their lives by serving in that field.
There are also families in our communities that cannot educate their children at home for various reasons, most of them noble and sincere. When we criticize public education to justify homeschooling, we sound self-righteous and arrogant to them. (And in many cases, we are.)
