My homeschool journey began when our daughter was attending SDA church school. She was in third grade and getting away with all types of negative character/behavioral issues because her grandmother was her teacher. Her classmates did not particular care for her because of this. Grandma would allow her to act out with no consequences. I would speak to my mother in law about this to no avail. I was constantly pulling her out of class because of her behavior and fights. It started to get old very quick. I believe in SDA Christian education, done right. My husband attended church school from the kindergarten to college. Our circumstances dictated that we do something different.

At that time, I was the school secretary where our daughter attended. These were some trying times for me. We had two children. Our daughter attended where I worked and our son attended the other church school. Both had to have uniforms, lunches etc…Our son had to get to and from school by whomever we could work out transportation with. The cost…can you say mortgage payments. My husband would say if it costs the much now what is it going to be like when it is time for college.

Our daughter’s behavior was getting worse and the spankings increased. I had attempted to homeschool our daughter when she was kindergarten age, but I allowed my mother in law to talk me out of it.

One day my friend and her children came by my job. They had been on a field trip and (they were homeschooling family) they looked so content in this situation, so I started ask questions and they began to explain to me where they had been and so forth. I was complaining about my daughter’s behavior and  both my friend and I thought that I needed to pray and ask God for guidance.  The expression “Doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome” came to my mind. So we both began to pray. I got my hands on a book by the Moore’s , read it and I was convicted. But I had not spoken to my husband yet. I wanted to be armed with info first. Then I found The Adventist Home Educator, this is when Sis. Judy was doing it. We purchased the book,  and DVD’s.

My husband and I talked and prayed about our decision because we would be down to one income. I was not making much. I only took that job so I could be where my daughter was not because of the money. Because our finances were already stretched with both children in church school, becoming a one-income family was scary to us. Nevertheless, we took a leap of faith and we did not put her in church school the following year.

Our daughter finished high school last year. And our son will finish college soon Praise the Lord! I can tell you for sure it has not always been easy.  Do not think for a minute that we did not get feedback from church members, family and the so-called friends, we did. Some of these people would make you feel like you do not know what you are doing. They tell you your child will be isolated, that they will not have any friends or that your child needs to be socialized. They would ask why you would do this to your children. Actually, some of them were worse than the people who were not of my faith. I even had people come to me and say that I thought my children were better than theirs were. This was just the beginning. I had to learn not get angry every time I was confronted, so I armed myself with info regarding homeschooling. Sometimes I thought I was losing my mind or I felt like I was not doing enough. The one-on-one praying and teaching worked for us. The spankings she received because of her behavior ceased. Our prayer time and devotions were amazing. Having school all day was a thing of the past. Just a few hours a day and we were able to do other stuff like gardening, cooking and learning to sew etc…Our bond grew tighter. Nothing but God! One of the first scriptures we learned was Psalm 46:1 -“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” KJV

My journey of homeschooling has ended for our children, but I will help anyone who asks me how to get started. You cannot just turn it off. I pray for homeschool families weekly. It is not an easy job but it is so worth it.

by Cassandra Folson