Why I Decided to Homeschool My Kids Despite My Illness

Did you know Rest Ministries has a group of women who not only are mothers, but who take on the responsibility of homeschooling them too? And since they are likely tired of being called “crazy” by both their healthy & ill friends, we asked them to share a bit more about how exactly they felt this calling & what made them decide to take it on.

Are you a homeschooling mom or one who is considering it? You will be met with unconditional acceptance & underst&ing in our Sunroom group Beyond Surviving Homeschooling. These moms may laugh with you. . . but they won’t ever laugh at you!

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What influenced me to home school my children?

We began to look for alternatives when our oldest child was in kindergarten & we did not appreciate the influence of the guidance counselor. Each week my daughter was exposed to very New Age teaching on feelings, abuse by relatives & so forth. At one point I was in the class when the counselor was teaching a form of out of body experience to these precious five year olds!

At first I tried to affect the school by talking with the teacher, guidance counselor & principal. We continued in the public school system for another year, but my efforts only resulted in a line being drawn between the parents who were unhappy with this curriculum & the school system. Unfortunately, the relationship between parents & the school system became very confrontational. We could not have our child continue in this situation so we looked into private schooling. There were no private schools close enough to our home to be practical, so we decided to home school.

We are now on our 26th year of home schooling & do not regret our decision even a little. When we began home schooling I was in the very early stages of my chronic illness. However, by our third or fourth year I was experiencing debilitating problems. I had many trips to doctors, several surgeries & felt ill much of the time. It did become increasingly difficult to consistently train my children.

My husb& & I would evaluate our situation from time to time & always arrived at the same answer: our children were better off at home! It has not always been easy but it has been the best thing for our family. This is where God has brought us & he has equipped us along the way. He has always provided what we have needed & I am sure he will continue. -Sharon Sue

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We began our homeschool journey 4 years after I became affected by lupus. In many ways it was a life or death decision. I was taking immuno-suppressant drugs & if our daughter had been in a traditional school environment, she would have brought home every virus known to mankind home to me. Homeschooling also allowed me to conserve my energy, teaching from bed for a whole school year because I was so ill.

It was the girls (ages 7, 3 & 1), books & me.

And it was a precious time of learning. I was so thankful I didn’t have to get up at some early hour, rush them out the door, then deal with the emotional & educational fallout from school plus homework.Most of all we homeschooled because we saw in God’s word that we would be accountable for how our children were educated (Psalm 1) & we just couldn’t delegate that to a humanistic, anti-Christian school system.

I have no regrets. Even the hard days turned out to be blessings in disguise; sometimes REALLY in disguise. God saw us through, & our girls saw that our faith was not the fair weather kind, but was consistent throughout our life, regardless of our circumstances. -Joyce

We have some more stories to share with you in the future! And remember, if a mom is homeschooling her children–& ill–if you have an opinion, it’s best to not share it. These women are quite amazing & have prayerfully made decisions that are difficult to make. Pray for them & their strength!