First of all, it’s not an indictment against those who have made or will make another choice. Secondly, it’s surely not the work of an author who thinks she has arrived at the pinnacle of the homeschooling climb. (How can anyone ever think she knows everything about a phenomenon that’s as old as the first family and has seen as many revivals as has the old meeting house at Cane Ridge?) It’s really just a chronicle of my family’s journey and of the things I believe to be important for Moms to know as they consider homeschooling or as they persevere in this very rewarding quest. My husband says it’s the book he wishes someone else had written about twenty-five years ago. He says it would have saved our family a lot of money and angst.
I don’t know about that, but I do know I tried to make it practical (dealing with the real issues you may face) and encouraging. It answers questions like:
*What about socialization?
*What if I didn’t graduate from college myself?
*When is a good time to begin?
*Can my homeschooled kids get college scholarships?
*But this is overwhelming. Where do I start?
* How do I withdraw my children from public school?
* Is there life after homeschooling? (How adult homeschoolers are faring in the “real world”.)
* What about all-day-long discipline in the homeschool?
I make no apologies for the fact that putting faith in our children was our most important reason for homeschooling and thus, is a major theme of the book. So, many of the ideas and related experiences in it may be helpful to those who are not homeschooling, but are diligently building faith in their families. I am prayerful that this book could play even a small part in ultimately preparing the next generation to defend the cause of Christ against the inevitable attacks of humanism. To do this, our kids have to have a good work ethic, they must be independent thinkers and we must foster in them an enthusiasm about learning truth. That’s what this book is about.
