bbcovert@juno.com

Someone recently posed the question of success. Everyone hopes to be successful at something, and certainly homeschooling parents hope their efforts to teach their own children are successful. The big question is this: how does a homeschool family measure success? Have you thought about that? What is success to you?

I’ve heard some say that homeschooling equals success -- simply because it’s better than public school. I’m not sure that meeting your goal of keeping your children out of the clutches of government schooling is worthy of a blue ribbon. Naturally, I’m not against sheltering children from some of the things that go on in both public and private schools. My children are 14 and 15, and I have homeschooled them both since they were 5 years old. I just think that as a goal, avoiding traditional schooling falls far short of what God intended when he called you to homeschool.

Maybe you will measure your success by your children’s standardized test scores. High scores prove that homeschooling works, right? It would seem that success would be defined as raising intelligent, knowledge-filled kids. However, academic success doesn’t guarantee that our children will be blessed with good jobs, happy marriages, and fulfilling spiritual lives. Also, the truth is that God doesn’t bless all children academically. Some are going to struggle, no matter what. Their success will be found outside of a textbook but within God’s plan for their lives.

The world views success in financial terms - those outward trappings. If you are wealthy, you are successful. God tells us not to be conformed to the world. The world’s standards are not God’s standards. Some of us will attain financial success; others will find fulfillment in community service, personal relationships, and spiritual growth.

Success has been defined vaguely as “the completion of anything intended.” Perhaps to find success one must define what it is they intend to complete! The greatest chance for success lies in accepting God’s guidance. I can’t give you a blueprint for success, for I am certain that God’s plans for each one of us and our children is different.

However, I’ve attended enough conferences and read enough books to know that real success begins with good character. Think about it. If your goal is to raise academically successful young adults, but those young adults never develop good character traits, what is going to happen when they no longer live at home and no longer have parental restrictions? You’ve heard the stories of good Christian children who went off to college and off the deep end. Given freedom for the first time in their lives, they revealed their lack of character.

In my opinion, a successful homeschool is one in which time has been spent on character-building. A student with good character is a student who will put forth his or her best effort academically. This is a student who will choose to do right when peers are doing wrong. Thanks to the flexibility that homeschooling affords, parents can set aside the textbooks to focus on character issues. Wrong attitudes can be dealt with. Heart issues can be addressed. Once those are in line with God’s Word, attention can be turned back to academics.

As a homeschooling parent, you may find it hard to ignore “schoolwork” in order to address character. You have to get those 180 days of schooling recorded! Time is passing; you’ve got a schedule to keep! Listen, I know it from personal experience. I have two teenagers. One is industrious, my pride and joy; the other is so much the opposite of that, he could be the death of me. I’ve gone back and forth between character training and fierce academics. I want him to excel at both! However, I fully recognize the truth of the statement that “if you get character wrong, academics truly don’t matter. Get character right, and you get all the academic achievement that child can produce.” In the end, I want this boy to be someone whom people can trust and depend on. I want him to value the things of the Lord over the things of this world. (I also hope that he enjoys a successful and God-honoring career and marriage, but isn’t that what we all want for our kids?)

Success in homeschooling won’t be measurable until after the homeschool years are past and your children are out on their own, making decisions on their own. Prepare them for those days. Give some thought to godly character traits. The first place to look for them? Look at the life of Jesus. He set an example that we could all hope to live up to.

Happy homeschooling!

Copyright 2007 by Brenda B. Covert