Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Smith:
Perhaps one of the greatest potential weaknesses of the homeschooling movement is a lack of community involvement. Homeschooling not only provides a healthy alternative for educating children, it helps maintain family closeness. The benefits derived from this family strength must be shared with those around us.

Parents must remember to make time for their family to give back to their communities. While this may be difficult for many busy families, it is nonetheless essential to teaching our children how to influence our communities for the better.

Public schools know service is important to education. They make sure it is part of the education experience for their children in their program. How much more important is it that we set such an example of service for our own children? As homeschooling parents, we have an enormous responsibility to teach our children not just how to think, but how to act. If our children don't learn service from us, who will they learn it from?

Often I’ve heard homeschoolers say, “My kids are learning to serve at home.” While this is important, it not the same as serving their community. Serving our families, while not always easy, is definitely more natural than serving others. Stepping outside our comfort zone to serve a stranger is quite a different matter. It is here our children can exhibit the character in public we help them to achieve at home.