Inspiration for Women— positive, supportive, practical

My husband and I had chosen at the end of our first son’s 2nd grade year in public school to homeschool not only him but also our other son, who was to begin kindergarten.

We jumped into our homeschooling adventure with both feet and got involved in the local homeschool group. We did all the fieldtrips—museums, the post office, the newspaper, a dairy farm, you name it—and everything else that was offered to the homeschooling community in our area. On top of being involved in all of these activities, we were also very involved in the local recreation department sports. Instead of spring, summer, winter and fall we had baseball season, basketball season, soccer season and football season (not to mention the annual track and field competition).

After several years of this, we could see up the road that Son #1 would be aging out of rec department sports. He was—and still is—a very athletic young man. None of us could imagine his life without sports. He loved sports, he had talent, he had worked hard all these years, and none of us could imagine all that coming to a screeching halt. But the only way to continue being active in team sports in our area was through public or private school. So after much prayer, pondering and discussion, we made the decision to put our son back into public school at the beginning of his 8th grade year. He played football and baseball, and the following year headed off to high school where he continued to play football and baseball.

With Son #2 close on the heels of Son #1, we made a move to a more populated area with a larger homeschool organization and a great deal more opportunities offered to homeschool students—including a baseball team and a football team. Son #1 continued on in public school until he graduated. Son #2 is still homeschooled and plays baseball and football. Both sons have done very well academically, athletically and socially. Both are very active in church, and both are strong Christian young men. We couldn’t be prouder of either one of them.

We do not regret putting Son #1 back into public school. We can look back now and see how God’s hand was on him. There were great Christian coaches all along his path, even in public school. And we do not regret our decision to continue homeschooling Son #2, even with the sage advice we’ve been given by well-meaning family members that he would have more and better opportunities in public school. We don’t believe that to be the case right now, but we don’t presume to know what God holds in store for us and for the future of our family. In the end, it is His decision whether or not our children are homeschooled, whether they play sports, whether they are involved in other extracurricular activities—or anything else, for that matter. And, no, our kids are not suffering from lack of socialization. Oh, to have more time to just be at home doing nothing…

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