Mike Smith:
Dr. Eggerichs, in your book Love and Respect, you talk about maintaining healthy communication in marriage. You say that a strong marriage can transform an entire family—why is setting your husband or wife as your number one priority in a homeschooling family so important today?

Dr. Emerson Eggerichs:
Well Mike, Sarah and I homeschooled for many years, and with all homeschooling parents, our children were our colossal priority, there wasn’t any question about that. But it didn’t make any sense to Sarah and me if she and I neglected our marriage, if we neglected that relationship. The bottom line is a bad marriage hurts the very children we seek to serve. How sad if all the deposits we made through all those years in homeschooling our kids, if that was all withdrawn because of a bad marriage, you know, the question we needed to ask ourselves is this: is a good marriage more helpful to our children than a good curriculum? Now I want to encourage every homeschooling parent to ask that question. You really don’t pit them against each other, but don’t neglect a good marriage.

Mike:
I couldn’t agree with you more, Dr. Eggerichs, and I appreciate so much you encouraging us in our marriages. So until next time, I’m Mike Smith.