Are They Worth It?

I recently had a conversation with a father who was thinking about placing his children back into the public school system. The reason he gave was that homeschooling was very draining on he and his wife. I believe what he was saying. The homeschooling choice is not an easy one because it comes at great expense. There is the financial expense of the different curriculums that we use, and there is the enormous cost of our time. And then there are the emotions, the emotions that might drain us the most because relationships are messy and hard and we are forced into those relationships with our children because of all that time spent with them. So my friend was right. Homeschooling takes a toll on all of us (especially our wives), yet I have found that with great expense comes greater reward. How often have you gotten something truly worth keeping without it coming at a great expense? It reminds me of the parable of the pearl merchant. “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matt 13:45-46)

Yes, homeschooling is costly, but look at the pearl…the hearts and souls of our children. If you are anything like me, then there is nothing you want more than to see your children love God, to walk with Him and to see them keep unspotted from the world. Yet this pearl requires that they know Who God is, What He has done, how they are to love Him, and how His truth permeates every aspect of reality so that they, in turn, can love God in every aspect of reality. And what parent doesn’t want their children to honor them, to respect them and most of all to love them?

Yet how will this occur if a majority of their waking hours are spent with peers in a system that teaches anything but a love for God? The beauty of homeschooling is that we can teach our children the whole truth of God as we sit at home and as we walk along the road, as we lie down and as we rise up. We can show them how the truth of God affects all of reality and how they can love God in every part of life because we are there to walk with them through it. Yes, it takes time, and a lot of it. Yes, it is emotionally draining. But aren’t our children worth it?