Why do I homeschool . . .?

Why do I homeschool? Since public school is starting (or has started), this question has been asked quite a lot.

So I started thinking -- why do I homeschool?

My first response used to be that I homeschool because, in general, the public (government) school system is terrible. I know there are extremely good teachers in the system, but what if my daughter doesn't get that fantastic teacher? Oh well! Also, even if the teacher is fantastic, do I really want to expose my children to someone else's worldview for 40 hours a week? Am I willing to render my children to Caeser?

But it goes so much deeper than that--actually the reason I homeschool has nothing to do with educating my children. Well, not in the traditional sense of the word. My first and foremost reason for homeschooling is to raise my children in the Lord.



I have two beautiful girls. In a society where the divorce rate among Christian couples is about the same as non-Christian couples, where it is ok (even encouraged) to have sex at a younger and younger age and where purity and modesty are laughed at, I want to guide and educate my girls in what God says about women and their roles in society. I want them to know how much God loves them and cherishes them and that if it is God's will, they find a husband that loves and cherishes them as Christ does. I want them to be spiritually strong women of Christ.

I am still learning about this myself--I did not even hear about the "Proverb 31 Woman" until a couple of years ago and just kind of heard about Titus 2:4-5. I have been reading fantastic books by Voddie Baucham and have been challenged in my thinking in many areas. Some of them being about the churches' role in spiritually raising my children. That is another blog. I also have some wonderful blogs by wonderful women of God (some of them I know personally--some I know only through their blogs) that I follow. I need to add some of them to my blog list--I will put that I my "to do list." I would recommend reading this post by my friend at Keepers At Home.

For those of you who are worried, YES--I do teach my girls the three R's. It is just not the primary reason WHY I homeschool.

My Kitchen--IT IS FINISHED!

Today I finished cleaning and organizing my kitchen. I have a very small kitchen and you would think that it would be easy to keep it clean. Well it is not.

Here is a before of my kitchen.
This is a shot of the back wall of my kitchen. The microwave cart is the only space that I have open to work on--and even it is pretty cluttered. I was constantly kicking my toes on various pot and pans -- or even sacks of potatoes. It was very frustrating and I hated cooking at home.



I could not even bring myself to take pictures of the rest of the room.
Let's just say if there was a counter, there was jars of food or pots and pans on it.

Here are the after:
View from the wall to the counter. This is left of the sink. HOORAY, I have a workspace!!!) The paper towel is going to be hung on side of counter.



This is the other side of the sink. Even with dishes in the drainer (we do not have a dishwasher), it does not look cluttered. This corner has always been very hard to work at so it works great in this capacity.



Against the wall is a 4 or 5 ft metal wall unit that is 2 foot deep. I use this to store appliances that I use often and my foodstuff. It is wonderful to be able to see all that I have.





I don't really want the step stool in the kitchen but I need it to reach some of the shelves and the girls also use it to reach the counters better.

This next areas are the stove and the fridge. I have to confess that it has been many many moons since I had a stove that did not have to have pots and pans stored on top of it--and lets not even get into all the crap that you can store on top of a fridge. Now they are neat and clutter free.





The only things on the fridge are my foil, one cookbook, my pasta maker, my toaster oven and finally, the sports bottles that we take to the park with us. All nice and neat.

Choices

I was really hoping to have at least the wall to my new room put up already and the electrician scheduled. But, it has not happened so I have two choices--Choice #1: get totally overwhelmed and shut down or Choice #2: think of plan B.

I was ready to choose #1. I don't really handle stress very well and this was becoming stressful--I don't have a garage door, I don't know when the wall will be put up and I wanted to start school in September. I could feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about it.

You know, I was getting all stressed and everything when I should have been seeking the peace and council of God. When I do that He helps me think so much clearer and see the big picture. When I finally did, He gave me such a peace. The garage will get done and my kids will be taught. Will it be on my time frame -- no, but that is ok. This is a wonderful teaching opportunity for my girls. I want to teach them how to handle situations in life. This is one of those times where I can show the girls through my example that even when things are not going as planned, everything will still be ok. God is in control. I need to show them that I trust God in ALL things--big and small. You know I find it so much easier to trust God on the big things--it is the small things that I have trouble with.

God has also blessed with a wonderful Mom that I can talk to and bounce ideas off of. Through talking, we came up with Plan B.

I emptied some shelves and am organizing my stuff on it and could be ready to start school 3 weeks early on August 10 but the girls are attending a VBS and so I will wait to start on August 17 (still earlier than my original September start!) God is so good! I am going to be using a modified workbox system. I will let you know how it goes.

If we can not get someone to do the wall, my Mom and I decided that we could do most of it ourselves. I don't know if I can handle an impact hammer to attach the board to the cement. But, I might be finding out soon. :-)