When You Think They Would Be Better In Public School

Are there days when you wonder if your children would be better in public school? My mother was a music teacher before having children. Though trained to teach other parents’ children, my mother’s years in the system taught her one thing: it wasn’t for HER children. Even so, there were moments when my mother’s conviction wobbled, especially in our toddler years. Once, my grandfather chose to call during one of those episodes. Sobbing into the phone, my mother declared “These kids would be better in daycare!”

Twenty years later my mom now laughs with us over that statement. But for many mothers this feeling is anything but funny. Are you one of them? If so, I wish we could sit down for a cup of tea and talk. Among others, these three reasons would be at the top of things I’d share about why I’m thankful my entire daycare and schooling years were spent at home.

I Needed Her

God was wise enough to give children to parents, not professionals. Yet because we live in a culture that is in denial about God, parents (especially mothers) are made to feel they are warping their little ones if not raised by “childhood experts”. Don’t believe it! My earliest memories are swaddled in security, tenderness and the assurance someone was there for me (really two ‘someones”: my dad was right in there too). I never knew any other reality. Children must grapple with a world of fear, loneliness and betrayal soon enough; let them be rooted in the love, trust and safety only you can give them. And because these are things only a parent could provide, I was better at home.

I Needed Relationships

Relationships are the most important thing you can give your children. Nothing else can fill the relational need of your child’s heart. Deep, lasting, relationships are a growing rarity. It isn’t that people don’t want them; they just don’t know how to create them. Maybe you never received tools for successful relationships either. Dear mama, you can still give your child what you were never given. Because my mother (and father) were willing to sacrifice for me to grow up at home, I witnessed the importance of relationships every day. Yes, there were stressful, less than harmonious days. We learned together what makes relationships work. But my parents dogged commitment not to quit laid a foundation their children could build on. And because this was a lesson only they could teach me, I was better at home.

I Needed A Godly Worldview

By far, what I’m most thankful for in my home-made childhood is my earliest years were molded in godliness. I learned of a holy God who hated sin, yet wanted to be my Father. I learned the height of living is obedience to this God and loving my brothers, sisters and even unfriendly neighbors as myself. I was in on the eternal scoop on life. God was never marginalized to only churchy things. He was real. He was with me

everyday…like my mother was. And that is the crowning reason why I was better at home.

Kenzi Knapp is a follower of Christ, homeschool graduate and student of history. A fourth generation Missourian she enjoys writing about daily life enrolled in Gods great course of faith and His story throughout the ages at her blog, Honey Rock Hills.