Our motives can tell us a great deal about ourselves and why we do what we do. Ever stop and take time to ponder why you do the things you do? The psalmist asked God in Psalms 26:2, “Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.” Allowing God to examine our heart and our motives for why we do what we do is a good thing. If we are doing what we do for the wrong motives, then it stands to reason we will probably have problems to deal with at some point down the road. If our motives are good and correct, then we will reap the benefits of our actions.
Let us examine some of the reasons why parents teach their children at home. We ask the question on our school application, “Why did you decide to teach your children at home?” We get various reasons:
“We want our child to excel”
“Medical Reasons”
“Struggling in public school”
“Lack of help in public school with learning disability”
“Want to teach Christian morals and principles”
“Gives us a flexible schedule, more hands on”
“Being bullied at school. Had to remove them from that environment”
You can see that there are various reasons for why parents are teaching their children at home. There are many more we did not list. These reasons obviously led these families to home educate and we are here to help them. But, we want to go a little deeper and possibly see what the real motivation may be and see from God’s perspective His reason for us teaching our children. If we have the right motivation, not just a good motivation, we can get more out of our homeschooling experience and our whole family will benefit from the experience.
In I Corinthians 10:31 it says, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” This includes teaching our children at home. Deuteronomy 6:5-7 says, “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” These principles are still for today. We should glorify God in everything we do. We should have a personal relationship with God and love Him with all our might and teach our children to do the same. If we as parents do not have a heart for God and desire to glorify Him, then our children will not.
Home schooling to give our children a superior education, or to save them from a bad situation, or as a temporary solution to a personal problem should not be our main motivation, even though these may be good motivation. Our main motivation for teaching our children at home should be that God will be glorified. When we obey Him in this matter (by doing all to the glory of God), He is glorified. Glorifying God will instill in our children the desire to do the same. Don’t miss the real motivation behind why we homeschool or you may not reap the real benefits.
My wife and I have homeschooled our four children from the day they were born to their senior years in high school. They all love the Lord and faithfully serve Him. They have not caused us any grief or rebellion. God’s principles work and we want to continue to glorify Him with our lives as we diligently desire to help your family raise your children for God’s glory.
Examine your motivations. Determine to follow God’s principles. Go deeper than just the reasons you may have had to start homeschooling. Have a conviction in your heart to glorify God and to continue on no matter what may come. Your children will reap the benefits of such a decision.
