I've received a lot of comments lately about my plan to homeschool through high school. There is an argument where we live about the fact that the local high school has not one LDS student. The idea is that we should all send our LDS children to the local high school in order to be missionaries. The youth that have left the high school explain that they are ostracized, picked-on, and left out of everything including sports. Out of the 11 students old enough to take Seminary in our town, only 3 go. Our town has a Home Study Seminary where they meet once a week instead of an Early Morning Seminary like most areas. Just North of us in the next town there is a swelling number of LDS students, which is why we have over 60 youth in our ward.
My feeling is that my children can be missionaries to our neighbors and community without going to the high school. We have been homeschooling for over 5 years now and we love it! Why should we change a good fit for our family? Do I sacrifice my child's education so that she can be a missionary at the school? Heavenly Father entrusted these children to Mike and I. We'll go with what He has directed us to do and that is to continue our home education plan.
I forgot to add this part to my post...
ReplyDeleteThere are times in the scriptures where the environment was so hostile to the missionaries and prophets that they were told to depart unto another land. I believe this is the case in our local high school.
That is crazy. I bet that's hard having just moved there. Faulty logic to me! Stick to your guns. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteAmen! We plan to home school through high school too...a plan that many around us don't support. But I agree with you, that Heavenly Father entrusted us with these of His children, because He knew that they would need things that only Pete and I would be willing or able to give them! We are trying to teach our children to be missionaries in everyday life experiences. In my opinion, high school hardly has anything to do with missionary work! Each of us have a mission to fulfill, and in so doing, will have opportunities to preach the gospel, as long as we make ourselves aware of the promptings of the spirit! :D)
ReplyDeleteI should say that no one is openly arguing this point. It is more of a subtle knowledge...and some people who have wanted to homeschool have not because of the underlying "tone" here that our children are to be missionaries in the schools.
ReplyDeleteAlso, remember that I live in the Bible Belt. Religion is not a passing thing. Everything is based on religion here. LDS members are few and far between. I understand that these members of the church who have lived here for years are mostly all converts that learned about the gospel from a friend, neighbor, or classmate. I respect their dedication to the gospel. I just feel that people should be more open to respect the needs of the family.
This is interesting. I think people need to keep their mouth shut and let everyone govern their own children. There are lots of opportunities to set good examples even within a ward. I know you do group things and community things, and people can let their light shine in all different ways. There are a group of LDS teens who drive 30+ minutes to go to this little high school Don goes to so they have a good group of friends. Their parents think it is worth it and have gotten slack about "blooming where you are planted." If we had stayed in AZ, we would have been making changes... I don't care how strong you are, you can become weak by your surroundings, and we could see that happening... much quicker than thought. We had many reasons for moving as quickly as we did...
ReplyDeleteHow far is the "next town" for seminary? Is it worth driving her? Don LOVES early morning seminary here so much more than AZ. There are 21 that are in our ward who go to it, and they are a close group of kids. Some kids drive a far way to get to it (25 minutes).
The next town is where most of our ward lives and it is about 30 minutes. In our ward there are two home study groups, one in our town and one in the neighboring town, then there is also an early morning seminary 30 minutes away. Mike and I debated on what would be best and decided to try the home study group here. Our Bishop is working hard to make it an early morning seminary next year as more active kids become old enough to attend.
ReplyDeleteMarlayna LOVES her little home study group. She comes out beaming and happy. I know the teacher is trying so hard.