Why I Don't Homeschool

it was a super hard decision for me to decide what to do for jack for kindergarten. i agonized over it way more than i should have. part of the problem was that our town has ALOT of great schooling options. christian schools, neighborhood schools, home school enrichment programs... another thing is that the goal of my parenting is to raise little men who love God with all their hearts and bring glory to His name. having the most well educated and successful kids is not my goal.
if that's the case, then why am i sending jack?
if i get her permission, i'll post an awesome write up my sweet friend and one of our pastor's wives did on why they home school. for now though, here's why we don't...at least not this year for jack.

selfishly, i'm excited for someone else to teach jack to read and write. he's always been kinda stubborn for me in this area. mrs. shockley can be the bad guy (well, gal).
and here's the truth. i'm just gonna say it. jack's smart. i know. i'm that mom. but it's true (have you met jack?), and the charter school he's at is amazing. he's learning latin, economics, math, geography, phonics...in depth. they also emphasize responsibility, respect, integrity, cooperation, citizenship, perseverance, self-control. sound biblical? i know! but, it's not a christian school...which i LOVE. we're training jack to be a light in the darkness. however, he's 5. so if a school's gonna have christian values and morals with a christian head master and christian teachers (jack's is), but give my son the opportunity to speak of his faith to non-believing friends (which has happened) i'm in. and, it's only 2 full days and friday afternoon. not bad.

sounds romantic and all, but i'm still struggling some days about not keeping jack home. some of the things i totally miss about jack being at school is scripture memory, heart training, and for jack to "rub up" against his brothers (for the good and the bad). i definitely notice jack coming home with attitude, and i'm not really good at keeping up with the millions of papers or volunteering in his class (i mean, i do work part-time). he has to memorize a poem a month to recite in front of the class, and it's hard to work that in with scripture memory being my priority. maybe the fact that i pulled jack from school for 2 weeks speaks of my commitment level. hmmmm...

anywho, liberty common school is the decision that we feel God clearly led us to for jack's kindergarten. He's been very gracious to give me creativity in training jack at home.
here are some ways we're working it in and reinforcing a christian worldview while he's home:
-when jack practices handwriting at home, he's copying verses. this was actually all his idea. it's also become a form of punishment (think "let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth" 5 times).
-i've become WAY more purposeful with using scripture and emphasizing sin while disciplining (another post).
-we were at the table doing make-up school work (2 weeks hits ya hard) and talking about the earth's rotation and watched tim mckenzies' "God Said" (linked here) it's amazing.
-it's brought up opportunity to talk to jack about the fact that not everyone believes. hard, but good convo.

thanks for sticking with the loooong post ;) probably more like this in the future. sorry. as more ideas come along i'll pass them on, and i'd love for you to do the same!