Where's The Breach?
*This article is posted with permission from its author,
Brandy Pack, and was originally posted
HERE.
If
you look up the word "breach" in the dictionary here are some
definitions you might find there
1. The act or result of a break; or rupture
2. An infraction or violation of trust, or a promise.
3. A gap made in a wall or fortification; rift or fissure.
4. A severance of friendly relations.
5. The upsetting of the normal and desired state.
I have always know about home schooling,
after all my sister has done it for years, but I never
thought about doing it myself until a couple of years ago. I
didn't think I could home school my kids and give them the
education they needed. Jake has always been a very hyper
child and people told me that it would be good for him to go
to school. My sister told me I didn't have to send them to
school, but I was afraid that my smarter than average
children needed what the public school could provide. I was
ignorant of the many advantages there are for children that
home school!
Back in the fall of 2006 my husband and I
sent our children to school just like we had done the last 3
years before. Jake was going to third grade and Jordan to
second. Emily was three and I had not even thought of doing
anything different with her than I had with them. I never did
enjoy taking them to school at the end of vacation because I
missed them when they were gone. I worried them just like any
good mother would, but mostly I missed having them with
me.
I began to notice things about my children
and what public school was doing to them…to our family. Jake
had been labeled as an ADHD child. Different teachers had
encouraged us to try medicating him. We did try it but the
ones available at the time made him sick. Although Jake was
the top reader in the whole 2nd and 3rd grade most of the
time (a few times he was second), teachers and students alike
mistreated Jake because of his attention and hyperactivity
problems. I had never been able to get a lot of information
out of Jake about the different things that happened in
school. I did eventually learn that Jake had been educated
about several things we wouldn't have allowed to be talked
about in our home, especially not for such a young child.
Jordan, who had always been sweet, kind, and loving, started
having a lot of headaches and mood swings. She was easily
swayed to be more like the world by the popular children
around her. I could see how this might progress into a
serious problem. Neither of the school going children had
time for baby sister that waited anxious everyday for their
home coming.
A few months later it was time to start
Christmas shopping. I was having a hard time thinking of
things to get them for gifts. It was then I realized we had a
small "breach" in our family! I spent so little time with my
children I had no idea what they really would love for
Christmas. I got to noticing how lacking their education was
in comparison to what it should be. As a Christian it was
important to me for my children to really know God, yet
because of school hours and homework that "had" to be done
there wasn't enough time left for bible study. The bond
between my children was growing weak. More importantly the
bond I had with them wasn't able to grow properly because
there was no time for us to be together.
I began to feel I had "breached" my
promise to God in bringing up my children in the training and
admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6;4). Our family bond had gaps
in it. It had been breached! The friendly relations between
our children were being severed a little at a time. In other
words, the normal and desired state of our family was being
upset.
I started looking into what could be done
to fix the problem. As the mother and home manager I could
see what problems we could have in the future because of the
breach. As with a breach in a river or fissure in a dam, the
cracks just get bigger over time if it isn't fixed. I began
looking into what was involved in home school. I read books,
I talked to people of all walks of life. I searched the
internet for anything that might help. I prayed many times a
day that God would help me and my husband find the answer.
I talked with my husband about what I
could see happening and how I felt about the direction things
were moving. I showed him all the things I had learned and we
decided in January of 2007 that we would not send the
children back to public school the next year. We decided to
take one year off from public school to home school our
children. In doing this we had begun to "Repair the Breach"!
Related Articles:
The Low Down
(A mom
gives the scoop on home schooling)
Thoughts From a Home Schooling
Pediatrician (what she
saw in her patients motivated her to HS her son)
