That is the question I have been bouncing around.

I am a product of public school education.  I did not encounter “homeschoolers” until I was a college student volunteering in the student ministry at my church.  My interaction with these homeschooled kids is what formed my initial opinion regarding home education.  I thought home education was whack and that it created a group of strangely socialized (or non-socialized) kids who were obviously set apart from the public school kids at our church.  I co-led a small group Bible study for junior high students and I definitely related more to the public school kids than I did the homeschoolers.  When I went to grad school, my thesis topic was about the social implication of home education on children.  I was dead set against what I thought was a weird Christian parenting trend.  I mean, these people taught their children at home the same way the anti-authoritarian parents did… they had to be whack!

My attitude toward home education changed when I became a parent.  I started to see value in being able to influence my children’s academic studies.  I also met some “normal” people who had been homeschooled.  At this point I had also received my Master’s degree in (school) Counseling.  I had taken curriculum and child development courses.  I had taught students in the classroom and realized there were many more ways to reach children and their different learning styles than most teachers used.  I also had traveled to places like England and realized how that experience put my literature training into perspective (I saw where Shakespeare and Carroll were influenced to write and it enhanced my understanding of their stories).  I got excited about saving my kids from the hell of sitting in classrooms all day and being influenced by their “heathen” peers.  I dreamed of daily field trips and amazing learning environments. I was convinced homeschooling was the only way my kids were going to be safe from the world and free to pursue their God-given talents in the healthiest manner possible.  I was drawn to the idea of having control over their development.

One day I started talking about home education versus public/private school education.  I began sharing my beliefs, thinking that it would be a grand argument for home education.  Strangely though, the more I talked, the more I convinced myself that public education aligns more with my spiritual beliefs than home education does.  (I’m not sure how I feel about private schools at this point).  I started sharing the desire my husband and I have for our children to be missionaries in the world, who are not of the world.  I started sharing how I believed sending my kids to the local school and trusting God instead of fearing worldly influence is important to me.  I shared how valuable it seemed to me to be able to help my kids process their worldly encounters with teachers and peers and help them make good choices while they were still living at home under my care.  I started sharing how I knew all these home educated kids who went wild exploring the world when they left their parents’ home and went off to college… where their parents no longer had a strong influence over them.  I shared how ultimately I wanted to trust God to use my kids in the lives of non-Christians… that Don and I wanted to be a place of refuge for their peers living in broken homes and in a broken culture.  We didn’t want to be the safe haven for the local homeschooling co-op kids.  The more I talked the more I realized we will likely send our kids to public school.  We will likely pray like crazy that they love the Lord and follow Christ instead of loving the World and following negative peer pressure.  I realized we will likely get opportunities to show our kids first hand how God’s grace and mercy plays out in the sinful world.  Ouch.  I realized that I can still influence my children’s learning through creative learning experiences and travels…. I just need to be aware of what their teachers are teaching and the messages they are receiving from school.

Now, my oldest son is only 3 years old.  So I reserve the right to change my mind at any time (along with Hubby’s consent), and be a home schooling mama… or private schooling mama.   Right now though, I can’t see that happening.  I don’t in anyway think public education is superior to home education. I just think it MIGHT be the best choice for us.