Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Farris:
Since our family has been actively homeschooling for exactly 30 years, this week I’m sharing a list of lessons we have learned in the past three decades. Today’s lesson is one that you may think goes without saying. But I believe that homeschool parents tend to underestimate its importance. The lesson is simply this: Tell your kids why you are homeschooling them.

If you want your children to share any of your convictions—biblical convictions, political convictions, or homeschooling convictions—it is not sufficient to just model these things or to teach them the facts in these areas. You must explain why.

When your kids are 6, they rarely need to know why. By the time they are 11 or 12, the process of explaining why you believe what you believe should be a regular part of your conversation. And by the time they are teenagers, they should thoroughly understand the “why” behind the things that are important to you—including homeschooling.

Children will be convinced of what you believe by the way you act. Children will share your beliefs when they understand the reasons that underlie those beliefs.

I’m Mike Farris.