Homeschool Spanking

Today I'm bothered.   The very "family", that I am the greatest cheerleader for, has disappointed me.  Today, I'm coming as a mother to give a needed spanking and I think this does hurt me more than it hurts you...

This past weekend I attended the State Homeschooling Conference.  There is no greater enthusiast for home schooling than I am!  I have been home schooling my own children and a part of the homeschool community since 1994.  My favorite people in the world are home schoolers.

I have seen many waves and fluctuations during these years.  We have been mis-labeled as "back woodsy" "jean jumper wearing" losers.. when really so many of us are deeply committed, highly intelligent, up-to-date overachievers. We have been labeled "little house on the prairie" groupies who never let our kids out of the basement.. when really our kids were the ones who were more out in society than the kids confined to the school building for most of their waking hours.  I've been blessed and proud to be a part of this movement and this community of people and I have found them many times, sadly misrepresented only to see many people have to eat their words as home schoolers turn into the most powerful world changers that they know.

But this weekend at the conference I was totally frustrated!  It took me until the next morning to shake off the heaviness I was feeling because of what I experienced.  There was a "lax" kind of spirit there... a lack of excellence.  It wasn't the speakers...The speakers that I listened to were excellent and I took away many great truths from what they shared.  But the crowd of people, my community of home schooling families that I am a part of ...there was a lack of excellence.. there was sloppiness to how they presented themselves... the main sessions didn't start on time... the attendees didn't fill the auditorium on time... and when they did too many strolled in more than a few minutes late with our comfortable coffee to sip on...the AV equipment was not run excellently....Something inside of me wanted to scream because of the potential being squandered.  This isn't who we are! 

It breaks my heart.  If I was a State Representative and my exposure to who we are as home schoolers was based on what I saw there, I don't know how hard I would fight for these people's freedom.  I wondered, are people choosing home schooling to try and hide from a high standard of keeping ourselves?  Are we using it as an excuse to not push ourselves too hard?  to be slothful?  to not practice enough to have the bugs worked out and display excellence?  is it our excuse to not present ourselves as tidy and well put together as we can? Is it an excuse for laziness?  Is it our excuse not to be polished enough to engage our culture in conversation?  We can just hide instead?  How are we going to engage the culture as weak, unconfident and unprepared as that picture showed?

This representation did not include so many of the families that I know that are completely the opposite of this.  They are extremely dedicated and live out this calling of home schooling with excellence.  I didn't see many of them there.  I think I might have missed the memo that they've decided it's too depressing for them to go.

We have great freedom!!  Are we doing the work excellently enough to keep it?  The authorities will have nothing to stand on if we govern ourselves more strictly than any outside force ever would.   But if we don't, it is a matter of time.  The world is watching what we are and what we're not.  We're not cheating and going unnoticed.

Let's do the work!  Let's live more excellently than anyone forces us to.  Let's not try to get away with letting things slide because we can.  We're cheating ourselves and we're missing out on the great potential of the amazing calling we have to homeschool.  We are endangering the future of whether home schooling will remain legal for those who come after us.  We don't want to miss what can be accomplished if we live disciplined lives; preparing ourselves and our children to live out the purpose we have been put on this planet to achieve.  But it won't happen living like that.  Fulfilling those great purposes and living life abundantly is found in living in excellence and discipline.

We're taking this amazing freedom to homeschool for granted.