Homeschooling

I want to give a "shout out" to all the homeschool moms and dads out there. You all do a great job caring for your children and teaching and training them to be the young people God wants them to be.
I began homeschooling our three (at the time) back in the early eighties before teaching your children at home was "the thing to do". At the time, we lived in Washington state. No one that we knew was homeschooling at that time. We had no support system except for one another and my family. Jim comes from a long line of public school educators so they weren't real keen on the idea, however they weren't too negative over the years and finally seemed to be okay with the idea.
We soon found a support group that helped us through the first couple of years. We met with a credentialed teacher once a week and had opportunities for classes and field trips.
The first books I ever read on homeschooling were:
No More Public School by Harold Bennett
Teach Your Own by John Holt
Though these authors weren't necessarily Christians, they made some important statements that I tended to agree with. Even Christians in our "sphere" thought we were a little eccentric for trying something so "new" to them. At the time I really felt this would be a good match for our family.
Though I had read the books beforehand, we didn't take the children out of school until 1st and 3rd grades. The two oldest were going to a Christian school at the time and we were happy with it for the most part. When our fourth came along, we decided to homeschool him as well.
Over the years, we belonged to support groups through both public and private institutions. I taught classes for other children as well as my own, concentrating on literature, science and world geography/missions.
The main question was always "What about socialization?" and I imagine that is still asked today. Well, our children were always involved in a variety of outside activities, whether that should make a difference or not. They were in sports, church activities and family activities--they kept busy.
As the children have grown, they've decided on their own when it was time to take a class they had an interest in. Our eldest is a freelance photographer having had a couple of basic courses on the subject from a community college but most of his training has been on the job as a photographer's assistant. He's worked with Yamaha, Nike, City News in Seattle magazine, as well as various catalogs. Our next has taken a few courses through Youth With A Mission University of the Nations and was a missionary in Madagascar for 9 years. Our third child has had a passion for music since a very young age and has used that experience as a music buyer and working for a Christian music distribution company. Last but not least, our youngest is deciding on his future and is very involved in music as well and currently apprenticing with a music producer and working on the side. Though only one received his education at home all the way from K-12th grade, the others homeschooled most of their school years. I'm quite proud of all four of my children and what they've accomplished, and have yet to.
HOORAY! for homeschoolers all over the world. Let's pray for those who struggle with unfair laws.