What's Wrong With Sheltering?

Sheltering...

That word alone can send chills down a person's spine. A lot of people disagree on how much to shelter a child but no matter where your personal beliefs on the subject are, I think that MOST people agree that a certain amount of sheltering is appropriate.

What freaks people out is those of us who homeschool and therefore shelter our children. Many people think we are doing it out of fear and control. Maybe some are.

I look at the PS system (as a whole ) and think there are serious problems with the system itself. There are many great teachers out there who actually care about students and love to teach but the system itself is a MESS. Rewriting history, Not being about to say Mother and Father, unisex bathrooms, evolution as fact instead of a theory, sex ed questionnaires in first grade!! etc, etc, etc, etc...

That's not even the part that gets scary. Guns in school, drugs rampant in some schools and present in most, rebellion run wild, poor control in the classroom due to lax discipline, children stuck in classrooms where teachers not only hate teaching but dislike kids as well (this is not the norm but it does happen), peer pressure, sex, etc, etc, etc.

Just because we've always done something a certain way doesn't mean it's the right way. It doesn't mean it's the better way. It doesn't automatically make it the wise way.

People get all uptight about us sheltering our kids but for crying out loud...if I can shelter my 6 year old from sex ed, evolution as fact, allowing his flesh to run rampant in a classroom where the teacher has little control, guns ,etc. Then by golly I'm going to.

I have said it before and I'll say it again. The reason our family homeschools is because that's what we feel God wants us to do for our kids. The benefits of it are too numerous to list. One day I will write a post on it. I promise. :):):)

I hear the "salt and light" argument over and over and I've got to say that while I think it's possible for Spirit filled kids (aka kids who have chosen a relationship with Jesus and have the Holy Spirit living inside of them) to be a light, I think that it may be fewer and farther btwn than we want to think it is. Plus, sending a 5 year old Kindergartners to school to be "salt and light" is like sending a new recruit in the army (who is in the beginning of training) straight to the front lines and expecting them to do a good job. It would be overwhelming to the new soldier and it could cost him his life. It would be overwhelming for a Christian child for the same reason. It could cost that child years of rebuilding things in their walk with the Lord if they get sucked into the wrong stuff.

I was a PS child. I wanted to be salt and light. I think I was many times but I did some things that I'm not proud of. Not sex, drugs, rock and roll, etc. but more to do with rebellion in my heart towards my parents, etc.

Kids do tend to copy/imitate. Who/what do we want them imitating? That's the question.

Sure it's "normal" to send 4 year olds off to preschool to "socialize" but what are they imitating?

Sin is "normal" too but we don't let that reign in the lives of the precious ones God has given us to raise.

Just because something is "normal" doesn't make it the wise/better choice.

I heard the BEST quote one time from a homeschool mom. She said, "We are sheltering our children until they are able to shelter themselves."
I thought that was an AWESOME way to put it. We, as adults, do not allow ourselves to go places, do things, say things, we know are wrong. Kids are often not good at making those kinds of decisions (some adults aren't either-lol). Taking the pressure away until they are able to make wise decisions sounds good to me.

I am not the most perfect example of Jesus to my kids. I do a lot of things wrong. I hope though that my kids see my humility when I apologize to God, and to them if I've hurt their feelings, and keep persevering toward the ultimate prize.

I'm personally grateful that we shelter our kids. They answer questions honestly without the fear of peer pressure. They think for themselves without trying to fit in. Their answers about who they are and how God made them are incredible. At their age I was way too worried what people thought of me. I didn't see myself in light of how God saw me but how people saw me. My kids seem to have a better handle on that then I did (or do some days-heehee).
Their academic answers often break molds. They are not trying to memorize answers for tests that measure the way a certain author or teacher thinks. They are using their heads and using deductive reasoning...
example:
For science the other day we were reviewing the 5 senses. They were suppose to tell me the things in the row that they could both see and hear at the same time. The pics were a bell, an apple, and a frog. They both said the bell and frog and Judah said, "and the apple." I knew what he was thinking because it's what I was thinking too. I asked him,"how do you hear an apple?" His reply was, "when you cut it." Right on kiddo! (I was thinking of when you bite it but same general gist.)
I didn't tell him that his answer was wrong. I didn't care what the textbook wanted. I cared that he was LEARNING, he was THINKING, he was DEDUCTING. In a couple of years when their thirst for learning is well grounded I will explain to him what the textbook it looking for and why but for now...I'm going to encourage him to think outside the box. That's another benefit of sheltering. He doesn't know what everyone else thinks. He doesn't parrot. He thinks for himself. I love it.

He does go to Sunday School and Awana and tells me he is in Kindergarten. I smile and tell him that he is in first grade. He laughs and tells me that I'm wrong. (What do I know anyway!!lol) So, on some level he does want to be like others in a harmless way. :) It's good for him to interact with his peers for limited hours each week in a very supervised environment, just not 8-10 hours a day 5 days a week.

I want my kids to have a good grasp of the truth, a good grounding in the Word, and a solid relationship with Jesus before I turn them loose in the world. I want them to succeed as much as any other parent does.

Incidentally, I don't think it's a Scriptural mandate that Christians must homeschool their kids. I just think it's an easier way to disciple my children then sending them off to a classroom most of their lives to be "discipled" and trained by someone else.

Well that's an eye full so I'll stop now.
Many blessings to both PS and homeschool families!

-Angela :)

EDITED TO ADD:
I just saw the funniest quote online today. It comes from an article in World Net Daily. Socialization of Homeschoolers.

"There is a joke that goes something like this: "I used to be worried about the socialization of my homeschooled child, but now I don't worry. Everyday I take my 8-year-old to the bathroom, beat him up, cuss him out and offer him drugs."