School vs. Homeschooling

Lately, I have been thinking about the idea of homeschooling my girls.
But but before I elaborate on that, let me first explain that up until I had kids, I never ever agreed with homeschooling.
I always felt it robbed children the chance to make friends, and meet other children their age. And I felt education was best learned from professionals, and the structure & routine that came with going to school every day was important. Not too mention the fun in school shopping & clothes shopping at the end of every summer to prepare for the new school year is something every kid should get to look forward too.


And though I felt  sending my children to school one day,  was definitely the way I was going to make sure my kids received their education , I absolutely would not put them in public school. And I still stand by that.

Thanks to my Pawpaw who worked so hard to make it happen I was brought up in a Christian School From Kindergarten until half way through my 11th grade year.  
A Christian School is different than a Private School.  I have never had any plans on sending my kids to neither public or private schooling. Not that I am against them, I just do not want that for my children.

Now, I will explain My reasons for wanting a Christian School education.

I want my children to be raised to know God, and not just know about Him. But to truly know Him. I want them to not just be educated in mathematics & foreign language, but to also be educated in God's word & know about all the stories & lessons that are in it.  I want them to know not only about the History of our Nation, but also the History of our Lord. I don't want them being taught in their science classes  that our earth just "evolved"  when I know that our Earth was created by God.
 In raising my children these things are important to me.

If I am teaching my children these things, & then they go to school being taught something completely different, how will they know what "truth" to believe?

I want to know that what I am training my children at home to know, is also being supported & not compromised by their teachers when they are with them 8 hours of the day.

They have their entire adult lives to hear the nay sayers view on Christianity. I do not want their child hood being corrupted by the world, when these early years are most important in trying to teach your children about who Jesus is & the importance of living a Christlike life.

Most children who go to Christian schools are raised by families of the same morality & standards.
 (or else they probably would be going to free public schooling) And for the ones who may not have the kind of life at home that they should, at least during the time their kids would be around my kids at school I wont have as much of the worry of influence on my children because i know their teachers would be grounded in God's truth, & there would be no leniency on what is & isn't allowed to be said while at school.
This is the kind of environment I want my kids spending their time in when they are away from me for most of the day.

Not around kids who act any kind of way, & say any kinds of things, & are allowed too because the world "tolerates" more than it should in children these days.

So these are most of my reasons on why Christian School has always been my preference on education.

NOW,  for why I have been contemplating the idea of homeschooling.

If you are friends with me on FB you probably saw my rant about some bully kicking my baby girl in the back while we were at the park the other day.

In that moment, I realized though a Christian school would help shelter my children from the anti Christ beliefs of this world, it can't necessarily protect my kids from bullies having a bad day & my children paying the price for it.

It broke my heart into pieces when I saw the look of pain on my my sweet Emma's face.
I wanted to choke every bit of meanness out of that brat for hurting my baby.

I realize that kids will be kids, & getting hurt is part of growing up, & yadda yadda....but if I am able to prevent my babies from coming home from school crying because so & so did such & such, why wouldn't I?

And I am sure I can learn more about homeschooling programs where my kids would still get that interaction with other kids & yet I could still be there to make sure they are safe.

I am pretty sure I wouldn't do homeschooling once they got to middle school because by then they probably would have a better concept when it came to social skills, & when someone is being ugly, maybe they wouldn't take it so personal. And by that point, they will probably want the experience of going to school everyday. But for their elementary (younger) years where they don't fully understand that some people are just mean... I think I want them home with me. I just cant bare the thought of them being sad at school & not being able to come to me for comfort. Though most teachers are great, they aren't mommy.

And I worry about one or both of my girls being singled out, or made fun of, or being made to feel different or not as special, and I just cant stand that idea.

I know that my reasoning's may sound extreme, but it's only out of so much love for my kids that I really want to protect them in every way that I can for as long as I can.

During the next 3 years I am really going to pray about what I am suppose to do when it is time for them to start school. And I pray at the end of it, I make the right choice.

I want to do what is best for them but knowing what is best, isn't as always as easy as it should be!