Our Homeschool Mission Statement

At the first Homeschool convention I attended a couple years ago (and in several books/blogs that I've read since then) they encouraged those starting out in their homeschooling journey to write a Homeschool Mission Statement. The purpose is so that we can look back on it in the years to come, to remember why we decided to homeschool in the first place and what our main goal is for our kids. I've made some notes here and there since then and thought it was about time I put them all together.

When I first began blogging after we made this decision I wrote this post listing reasons why we decided to homeschool. Everything listed there is still a very important part of our decision but our mission statement goes a bit deeper than that.

Why are we Homeschooling?
Above all we are homeschooling our children because God called us to do so. We know that if our children were meant to attend a private school that God would provide for their tuition, but after much deliberation and prayer we knew that God had a different plan for our family. We feel confident that if/when His plans change for us we will be ready and willing to take another path.

What are our spiritual goals?
We want to instill a Godly character in our children, to give them a Christian worldview, and to ultimately find God's given purpose for their lives. A couple of things that I've heard in the homeschool community since we started are: 1) to point our kids toward Heaven, not Harvard and 2) that the two most important subjects in our homeschool should be History and Theology.

I struggle with this next one a bit because so much of the time I just want/need them to get their work done so we can move on to other things... but I really want to be able to focus on the big picture (i.e. their relationship with Christ as their savior and His plan for their life) and THEN focus on the academics. Every education has gaps and I can't beat myself up later over any little thing that we didn't cover. If I instill in my children a love of learning, nothing will stop them from achieving any goal they set for themselves.

Proverbs 22:6New International Version (NIV)

6 Start children off on the way they should go,
    and even when they are old they will not turn from it.