Making choices…

This morning the boys were playing with their green army men.  They had them all lined up in their fighting positions.  They had an elaborate set up!

Ethan walked in the room and they went crazy…“No!! Keep him out of here! He’s gonna wreck it!”  They screamed, because they knew the recklessness of a two-year old.

I said to them, “Let’s teach him not to touch the guys, rather than keeping him out of the family room altogether.   Let’s teach him how he needs to behave, so that he can still come into the family room and play.”

This is exactly what homeschooling is about.  I am not teaching the kids that they can’t live in the world, or shielding them from the darkness of it.  But teaching them how to live in the world (yet not of it), by making the right decisions.  They need to know how to make decisions on their own.  They need to know  the right choices will lead them on the right path.  But I can’t keep them out of the world to do this.  They must be equipped to deal with situations they will face some day.  We are training them to make the right choices by instilling our values in them each day.

Homeschooling them does not shield them from the world.  It is teaching them how to make the right choices, how to handle relationships, and how to be equipped for life.  I do not want to mold them into the person I want them to be, but I want them to be ready to be the person God wants them to be.