When my wife and I began sending our children to public school it was a tough decision. Several prominent Christian leaders and friends promoted homeschool as if it went hand in hand with the Gospel. But Abbe and I decided that the gospel wasn’t really that important. I wanted to take a moment and share with you how we made our big decision. Here are the five determining factors that went into our decision to send our kids to public school.

5. Our kids are annoying: When I was talking with our friends about homeschool they told me “if we love our kids we wont let them become children of Caesar (public school kids)” We love our kids we really do but they are kind of annoying. I’m not sure our friends had ever had annoying kids. At first we felt like maybe we didn’t love our kids as much as our other Christian friends did but we realized it’s also important that Mom and Dad get a break now and then as well too. We feel like we can love them a lot better by having a little break from them every now and then.

4. Abbe and I don’t really love God as much as our friends do: Our friends also helped us realize that they love God more than we do. I appreciate their honesty. They also shared this verse with us from Deuteronomy 6:5-9 in order to show us that loving God basically equates to homeschooling.

“And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Wow that verse really made us feel guilty but you know what? Philippians says “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” So even though not loving God as much as our friends do is difficult Abbe and I know that we “can do all this through him who gives me (us) strength.” Philippians 4:13

3.We did not want to teach our Children that the earth is flat: Abbe and I know that the earth is a sphere. We have seen it on movies and stuff. Our friends told us that the science our Children will learn in public school is not Biblical and they will be led astray. After they left that night Abbe and I laughed because we knew that the Bible says the Earth is flat. If I have to teach my children science from the Bible I was concerned that they might not grow up knowing the earth was a sphere.

• Isaiah 11:12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH.
• Revelation 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
• Job 38:13 That it might take hold of the ENDS OF THE EARTH, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
• Jeremiah 16:19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ENDS OF THE EARTH, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
• Daniel 4:11 The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the ENDS OF ALL THE EARTH:
• Matthew 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

2. We want our kids to grow up and be sinners: Probably the scariest realization that Abbe and I had was that we wanted out kids to be sinners. Our friends said they didn’t send their kids to public school because of all of the sinful influences. Abbe and I thought our motives were based on our children’s need for truth outside of our little bubble but our friends convinced us that it was actually because we wanted our kids to be polluted by worldliness. They are so honest and we appreciate that.

1. Cheap Lunch: Our biggest motivating factor in sending our Children to public school really just boiled down to a cheap hot lunch. After carefully weighing all of the pros and cons we decided that it might actually be nice if we didn’t have to make them lunch for a large portion of the year. This really tiped the scale for us and our big decision to send our kids to public school.

So there it is I hope this helps you as a parent make that big decision between home or public school. I know that we don’t have the moral high ground that some folks do and I know that our kids are learning how to be sinners but at least public school gives Abbe and I a bit of a break from being good parents.

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