Testimony

Here is the testimony I gave at a Debra Bell conference about 4 years ago. (www.debrabell.com) It is fun to look back and read something I wrote around the time my convictions regarding homeschooling were blooming. What is most amazing is the little girl I was talking about is now almost six! Kayla was probably around two when I wrote it. Time flies. After this, I am done with my history and will continue on with normal posts. Whatever normal is. Enjoy.



I did not always appreciate homeschooling. There where times during my young years I would look outside, see my friends coming home off of the large, yellow bus, and think to myself how “fun” it would be to go to school. In highschool, I wanted to play basketball for a real school; I wanted to buy backpacks and new clothes. Without even stepping in to a school, I was affected by peer pressure, and wanted to be like every other “normal” kid.

Why am I grateful I was homeschooled? One of the main reasons is because it was what was best for me. My parents developed a deep conviction about education, more than likely, before I was born. These were the times when strange looks and thoughts of child abuse came to mind when you mentioned homeschooling. Why in the world would you NOT send your child to school? Despite all of the early difficulties of homeschooling, my parents persevered and I was homeschooled straight through highschool. Despite my lack of appreciation for them, they knew what was best for me. It was best for my spiritual condition; it was best for my education. I am incredibly grateful for their conviction. It was not always mine, but that is why they were the parents, and I the child. Without the convictions of my parents that were shown to me over 18 years, I would not hold the convictions I have now.

Another reason I am grateful I was homeschooled was because my mom set an example of love and a conviction and standard for education, and most importantly, Godliness, that I now am beginning to see in me. As I have grown up, a little at least, and have a child of my own, I realize that I really knew absolutely nothing about why my parents were really homeschooling me. I was so busy wishing I were like other children I missed what homeschooling is really about. It is about having the privilege to educate your own children. To teach them based upon how they are developing, and their style of learning. I want to teach my daughter more than the multiplication tables and grammar rules. I want to teach her what my mom taught me. What a Godly wife looks like, how to serve your husband, and what sacrificing for your children looks like. I also want to make education fun.

I remember trips to Gettysburg, while studying the Civil War, Monday trips to the Zoo, or a museum, getting sunny days off (because the school kids got snowy days off). Sitting with my brothers and sisters at the dining room table, yelling at each other to be quite. Potty training one little brother, and helping to teach another to read. Changing diapers, burping babies, and than going back to do my math. As I think about my education, sometimes I wonder, what would it have been like to not learn these things? I am grateful that my education taught me more than what you can read in a math book.

Sometimes I look at my daughter and wonder how she is going to like being homeschooled. Will she want to get on the big yellow bus, like her mom used to? Will she want to play basketball for a highschool? Then I sit back and think, maybe she will, but like my mom and dad I now have a conviction. A conviction that I pray will hold steady through the times of discouragement. Through times of confusion and wondering why I am doing this. A conviction that goes beyond my daughter’s education, a conviction that will help her grow and teach her things that like me, she will never forget. Kayla may want to get on that bus, but I am now the mother, and finally I know what is best. I am grateful that my parents did not give up. It has and is helping their children, but what is even better, it is now affecting a new generation of children. That is what I am most grateful for.