Schooling Options

In this clip, Josh Harris encourages us not to look down on others for the choices they've made about how to educate their kids. It's good stuff. Preached passionately and as smoothly as you'd expect.

We are blessed to have great options for schooling in our area. A couple of really good state schools and a few very adequate ones nearby, a decent Xn school down the road and multiple private schools. And of course we could have homeschooled. Our kids go to the state school nearest our church.

We made our decision based on political convictions (I believe in public education), a desire to have non-Xn friends, my inability to handle private school culture, and my 'need' to get rid of the kids for a few hours each day!

I think we made the right decision for our kids, but I'm seeing more and more the attraction of the other options. Being a supply teacher you get to see how much time is wasted in schools. It just takes a couple of troubled kids in each class to severely limit what everyone else is taught . And is so much time really needed to celebrate Bindi Irwin's birthday? Apart from that, in a class of 20+ it's really difficult for the teacher to cater for the individual needs of each student. One of our kids has a (relatively minor) learning issue and I need to spend quite a bit of time working with him at home to make sure he doesn't get behind. I always swore I'd never homeschool, but if I did I think we could achieve an entire day's work in a couple of hours! (I'd also go mad...)

Anyway, all is grace. We pray we make the right decisions and trust God to work it all out in the end.