Homeschool Predicted To Grow

when I taught Bible in schools it was optional you could opt in or opt out of it.
I would have preferred the children made that choice not the parents...but was so glad that many actually did make the choice to come hear the Bible each week, even if their parents were not christians.

I had children that were on both sides, those who want to learn bible but werent allowed, those who were allowed to but didnt want to learn. Those who missed out were sad but I said to them you just tell your classmates about all the things you learn in Bible if they cant come.

some children wanted me to come read the Bible EVERYDAY. I wish I could. I felt sorry for the children whos parents were not christians but they at least got to hear the Bible through our ministry. what is really need is Bible school for parents.

the teachers liked having a bit of a break when we had Bible too. But some kinda treated us as babysitters and werent interested. Each school was a little different but if the Principal gave the go ahead....we were in.

WOW @Butterflyyy ~ God at work!! That is wonderful. I would love if you could pray for my father. We sound like we have similar situations. 14 years... the Lord is awesome, isn't He?
Of course!! Anything I can do to give people some positive insight. I will pray for you, and God bless!
Yes!! I feel like unless you go to a church you really like, it is hard to meet people who are like-minded. Especially for me...being 21. I am young, and I hate saying it but, my generation's hearts are far from God. It is difficult to find women my age who just love Jesus and actually welcome Him into their daily lives. Lord, I pray for good friends and fellowship, Amen!

Hey MaryJo, It has been on my mind to encourage you about church. In more recent years, I hear what you're saying about there not being many in your generation who really love Jesus., and when I think about it, my long-term friends seem to be people that the Lord has put in my life, over a period of about twenty years. In more recent years I have changed my perception of why I go to church... I would love to find a church where there are friends my son's age, and also my daughters; in fact I would love friends at church my age😀but the reality is, that I go to church to serve; to serve my blessed Lord and His people, to encourage them, pray with them, glean from the teaching and also to receive prayer support, encouragement. Most folks there are a lot older than me, but these are experienced, mature believers who are faithful in prayer and I have learned a lot from older believers. Have you ever read the book 'Tramp For The Lord' by Corrie Ten Boom? It is an amazing encouragement written by a lady in her 80's.
I realise it can be a lonely walk without many friends your age, ultimately I guess we must trust the Lord and lean hard on Him in this and hope it will be different one day; I never want to let go of hope, and of course, seasons do eventually change, sometimes sooner than we think. I'm going on now aren't I 🙈Anyway my point is that when I have gone to church because of obedience and a desire to contribute, well it is through this I have been greatly encouraged and blessed. Some of the best advice I have ever been given by a Pastor in America who I had a telephone appointment with at a time of crises, was that I needed to find a church. The Body of Christ needs you MaryJo, and you need them just like I do; and the enemy of our souls would have us think differently, given half the chance.
God bless you.
With love ❤️....🦋

Thank you for this insightful response and it makes me happy to know I've been on your heart. I know that my motivation for finding and going to a good church shouldn't be just to meet other young people; I guess I didn't communicate that as accurately as I should have. I guess I was saying in general regarding fellowship, it has bee difficult finding like-minded youth. I completely agree with you on your resonating for why we should all be going to church. I think the process, though, of finding a church I like has been difficult because my family doesn't go each week, especially with my dad being agnostic and my mom being Catholic (she doesn't go each week, but even if she did I would feel weary about mass). So, I am really on my own.

In public high school, I started to make good friends who loved Jesus, which was crazy because it was not the most expected environment to meet those kind of people in. But, one of them introduced me to a church they liked. I went with them and was blown away. It was a fantastic experience; I remember FEELING the literal presence of the Holy Spirit during worship. It was something, as one who had just been reborn at the time, I never experienced before or thought I even could. But as I went, the crowd was getting larger...and I was finding it difficult to really settle in and feel supported by the people around me each week. There was no connection with anyone. It was just a crowd of people. It wasn't intimate; I am not saying churches that have large crowds are bad, some people may vibe with that more. I just couldn't though. I also became concerned doctrinally because each week was attracting more and more people, and I began to ask God for discernment as to why that was and if it was for a bad reason. I soon began to notice some "prosperity" kind of teachings that I just didn't feel right listening to each Sunday. Ever since then, I haven't gone back. After that I went to college, and was back and forth between there and home, that going to church each Sunday just wasn't something that happened/I was able to do. Now that I have graduated and COVID restrictions are being loosened, I truly pray that I will be able to find a place that is suitable for me, through someone or something. I just want to be okay with that taking time, God's time, of course to find a place. I love your message!!

I'm so glad you brought up Corrie Ten Boom!
Not many people know of her any more
I've been watching some great video interviews with her.
I'll share them in a different thread (maybe in miscellaneous forum)
But now her story is on my mind, and I do have a homeschooled child, I think this will make a great history lesson next school year.

Corrie Ten Boom is in my church library, i try to encourage the church goers to borrow her books.

just wanted to add this thread that most all the children in my school are back in class, so homeschool isnt really a thing for my public school. Parents need to go back to work or looking after their youngest children not teaching their older ones on top of everything else they do.

But I think its because we live in a city, so I havent really seen the growth in homsechool in my country.
they had educational tv channels for students but I dont think that many watched it or utilised the online courses as many cant even get a decent connection.

what was more valuable was the ministry of education sending out packs of books, exercise books and stationery like pencils etc.

when we went to level one the children cheered and I asked them what was great about it and they all said

we can now hug our friends!!!! They were so happy to be back at school and back to normal.

although I think it depends on the school, and class, some teachers are having a rough time of it now. Its been full on. 30 children to a class is not ideal in my book...I think I could only really handle up to 12 at a time.

that is one reason we chose to homeschool one of ours.
The large class size was to much for her. She becomes overwhelmed in groups that large.

I was walking on my way to school and saw a new christian preschool set to open.

its kinda weird that on one hand in america christians seem to be advocating homeschool yet in my country christians are opening their own preschools...

why not just have christian schools attached to churches...extend sunday school for five more days. Surely you have the staff and resources to do that considering how much resources people pour into megachurches in the US.

oh yeah, their are plenty of "chrisitan" preschools here too.......

in the US the requirements and legalities for preschools extend FAR beyond simply just having churches open their doors to "extend sunday school 5 more days".......
there's insurance and liability issues, issues that surround how many hours per week a child can be placed in care outside the home, not to mention the cost for running a place such as electricity etc etc. AND the "teachers" have to have certain qualifications, and licenses.
It's not like the church on the corner can just open up and provide day care all week for their members.

yes but if you really want to do it you would do it right?
why do people open church buildings for worship as thats regulated as well.

homeschool seems entire unregulated and if all you are doing is providing daycare for your own child thats not actually an education either. Im not saying its wrong just pointing out from an academic persepctive. when we did bibles in schools it was actuall planned LESSONS not just babysitting children.

we had modules and WALTS, and planned activities. and we had teacher manuals to plan lessons from. we didnt just go in and taught whatever we felt like teaching that day.

No, I really wouldn't.
And if the was something the Lord was leading me to do, it would be done in accordance to local rules and regulations.
Please tell me, what witness it would be to Jesus if we just went and did something because we wanted to without doing as Romans instructs and obeying the laws of the land? Further more, what witness would it be to the families being served?
I have a background in this area, almost took the position of directorship at a local church childcare/preschool before my daughter was born, and am very aware of the legalities involved in doing such.

Again (I have mentioned this in previous post on this thread) homeschooling laws in the US vary state to state, with some being EXTREMELY regulated, while other states have little to no regulations.
As a homeschooling mama to a special needs child I can tell you, for us this is the best options.
On the other hand, I have a child who does much better in the traditional school setting, for him that is the best option.

daycare is a place where children are dropped off while parents go away, so technically, one can not provide daycare for their own child.

just curious........
academically speaking, what is an education?
What does that look like?
How is it brought about?

you dont know what an education is?
did you not go to school yourself to get one...or are you asking me.

special needs children have teacher aides in my school, but before the govt changed policies it was all done with special education teachers in special classrooms.

Apparently they did it to save money. But it does mean the children are worse off sadly when they get mainstreamed and cant handle being in a 'normal class'. govt is only now getting pay equity for teacher aides.

the teacher aides are there to watch the children and help them out with their learning, the teachers continue to teach but without fear the special needs will overwhelm everyone else. many teacher aides can get beaten up on the job...kicks, bites and punches can be quite common occurance. If a child has anger issues they need to be dealt with so the other children are safe.

sometimes you have entire schools that are special needs friendly, but they wont advertise it, its just known amongst parents that its better to send children there. I just accept children as they are they can be all different levels in a class, although when they get to the higher grades teachers the start to put undue pressure on them to keep up I notice. I think inclusiveness can be a good thing, not. a bad thing depending on how acceptable certain behaviours are and how understanding people can be.

you do not say originally that your child was special needs so maybe you ought to have said that first.

special needs children need to have bonding with their parents first (or parent figure) otherwise they can be very hard to teach and disruptive for everyone else in the class. the downside of keeping special needs children at home though is closing them off to everyone else. at least with special needs education units they might go to the same school as other children, even if not be in the same class, they can feel valued as part of a school community. some schools have teachers that stay with a classfor most of their schooling instead of changing teachers each year, to provide more consistency.

schools ARE communities and teachers and parents need to work together. Often they dont only because lack of communication or parents dont speak up. Parents can be actively involved in school, join PTA, be on the boards, advocate for Bible and prayer. Dont just passively accept any type of education as your only options. Make a difference and by doing so, improve the education offered in your area. you are only hurting yourself and childrens future by boycotting schools altogether and refusing to enter them.

dont be ashamed of saying my child has special needs. some parents refuse to declare this and their child suffers because by not saying anything, teachers dont know how to handle them and teacher aides cannot be assigned to them unless parents actually request them.
disabled children got to go to school when parents advocated for them...their right to an education was heard, just as it used to be girls never got educated at all because schools back then were only for boys.

it is now school holidays. Most of my children were looking forward to the break but some werent. Really need to pray for the children for whom school holidays is NOT an exciting prospect. For some children, school is the highlight of their life and much better than staying at home where family might argue and there are no resources and friends.

I wonder if homeschool parents ever get a break in the holidays, dont they need one?

This flu virus is leading to a lot of new experiences for many Americans.
Schools being closed naturally leads to homeschooling when schools can't all guarantee they can serve their student population. And if the students don't do their homework from home, likely they're not allowed to be failed either.

It is said that in New York City car dealerships are selling out of cars as fast as they can be delivered. Because New Yorkers, many who have never been behind the wheel, are learning to drive and buying cars because they fear riding the subway due to Covid 19.

I know a few people in the airline industry. Their jobs are going to furlough because of the travel restrictions now.

Exploiting a flu virus for political gain. Is that even legal?

Well, in getting back to the OP of this thread, Homeschool Predicted to Grow, here are some links to articles pertaining to that matter.
I belong to a homeschooling organization and received these in my inbox last week. Please note, I have not yet read through all of them, but figured this was a fitting place to share. All these came in one email, and I think that just goes right along with what was started in the OP...........

Kentucky Parents Opting to Homeschool Due to Covid-19


Nebraska Sees Increased Interest in Homeschool Education Due to Coronavirus

Illinois Parents Planning to Homeschool in Light of Fall Restrictions

“Very Uncomfortable Sending Her to School”: Families Look to Homeschooling Amid COVID-19

More Oregon Parents Consider Homeschooling this Fall

Back to School? “No Thanks” Say Millions of New Homeschooling Parents

Interest Spikes in Homeschooling in Montana

homeschool doesnt really work for a lot of children already going to school, we did a survey as teachers tried to support parents with learning while at home, but many parents were not in a position to act as teachers. Those that were working from home because they had to had heaps of WORK to do and children were not fitting around that.

Those that were already at home were probably used to it and. flexible, but others work schedules dont allow them to cater for the learning activities that many schools require. Also online learning wasnt ideal when people didnt have devices or could only share one device amongst many children.

there were attempts to have education on TV but who can watch tv for six hours. even children at school know that when teachers park them in front of the tv they are not going to learn anything, its a lazy way to teach.