My Heart for Homeschooling Families From Sea to Shining Sea from Charlene Notgrass

I was blessed to meet hundreds of homeschooling parents last year between the shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific. I am so impressed with you and your children.

I worry about you sometimes, though. I’ve been a part of the homeschooling movement for more than twenty years–long enough to see trends come and go, long enough to meet many people I respect, and long enough to be disappointed. I don’t want disappointing realities to discourage you.

No matter what anyone tells you, there is no formula for producing the perfect homeschool, for raising perfect children, or for building the perfect Christian family.

No matter how reputable a homeschool spokesman is or how popular a homeschool speaker is, not one of these leaders is perfect. You cannot swallow anyone’s words hook, line, and sinker (I have only held a fishing pole in the water twice in my life; how did that idiom get into my vocabulary?).

I am reminded of a hymn that our congregation sang as I was growing up. We could have sung it anytime, but we didn’t. We sang it after someone was baptized. Kentuckian Thomas Obediah Chisholm (1866-1960) wrote the words. It was published in 1905. This is the last verse:

Only in Thee, dear Savior, slain,
Losing Thy life my own to gain,
Trusting, I’m cleansed from ev’ry stain;
Thou art my only plea.
Only in Thee my heart will delight,
Till in that land where cometh no night
Faith will be lost in heavenly sight,
Only, dear Lord, in Thee!

I like to eat healthy and I even grind my own wheat, but my hope is in “the living bread that came down out of heaven” (John 6:51, NASB).

Modesty is important to me, but I don’t like arbitrary rules about it. When we are “clothed . . . with Christ” (Galatians 3:27), we don’t need people’s rules.

I believe that children need godly training, but it must be based on Scripture which is “inspired by God and profitable . . .  for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

Don’t let the successes or failures of leaders distract you from the most important things. Don’t let them stand as your judges and make you feel inferior or like a failure. Fall at the foot of the Cross and entrust your children to the One you trust. Lead them to Him.

Do not trust in princes,
In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.
Psalm 146:3, NASB