Homeschool Is Not Anti-School

The goal of good homeschooling and good brick-and-mortar traditional school should be the same: the effective education of its students.

As human beings, we are sinful and imperfect. We can end up corrupting our true goals, cutting corners in the process, or even hurting the people we are supposed to help. I am a proud product of homeschooling. I am a primary administrator for a homeschool provider. But I have also been a classroom teacher. I have also witnessed the fulfillment and purpose to be found in the traditional school setting.

So very often, homeschooling families who are being unfairly vilified for their choice to homeschool can become defensive. I see all over social media people who are complaining about school in general (whether it's the schedule, or the teachers, or the classmates). Sometimes, the complaints are reasonable and true. They are reflections of imperfect people in an imperfect system. I am never the perfect teacher either, no matter how hard I may strive to be. Sometimes, however, the complaints that show up on my social media feeds feel more resentful and unreasonable than they are helpful.

Homeschooling done right has innumerable benefits.

Traditional school done right has innumerable benefits.

As someone who has benefited from both my parents and my school teachers, as someone who has been a teacher to both homeschooled and traditional schooled children, I embrace both.

They are not antithetical.

The unfairness can work both ways. Families who believe in their choice to homeschool can easily fall into the trap of accusing everything about school as bad. At the same time, individuals who do not prefer homeschooling can sometimes unfairly blame anything imperfect about a child on the fact that he's homeschooled.

Neither are true. Neither are fair.

Homeschooling in and of itself is not a magic potion. Just like traditional school, there are good days and bad days. There are easy subjects and hard subjects. There are challenges, and there are rewards.

Many of my dearest family and friends choose the challenges and rewards of homeschooling, and I am here to cheer them on and do whatever I can to support them. If the Lord allows my husband and me to have children of our own one day, we also hope to use homeschooling to educate them.

But I also know families whose children are being benefited by the traditional school set-up. Maybe, at some point, the topics truly are too hard, and the family believe it's best for the children to learn from professionals in a school setting. Maybe their parents wish to educate in a more hands-on way but are unable or unavailable because of other responsibilities.

Homeschoolers don't like their choice being dismissed or considered inferior.

They have every right to feel that way.

But may all of us who are involved in the homeschooling world be equally fair to our brethren who choose traditional education for their children, either for a season or for life.

Neither is exclusively superior over the other. The Lord can use both for His glory!

My First Chick-fil-A

I've known about the existence of Chick-fil-A since I was a tween. As a homeschooled kid who socialized on online platforms with other homeschooled kids all around the world, I had my share of American friends who absolutely adored the brand.

I knew about it, though I never thought much about knowing about it.

Then, as a thirty-one-year-old adult, I walked down the 46th Street in New York City with my husband on a temperate early autumn day, and we both spotted the cute red font smiling at us at the corner of 6th Avenue.

We were both eager to try it.

But what struck me, even before we had a single bite of a single order, was that here stood a fast food restaurant we both knew about - but for reasons far beyond food.

We knew the company closes its stores on Sunday.

We knew the company did extensive philanthropy.

I knew all my college friends, before our campus finally earned its own branch, missed the chain dearly while they slurped down food in our cafeteria.

And here I was, a Chick-fil-A newbie, walking into the cheerful corner store hand in hand with my husband.

We took our time ordering, and we had to keep asking the very patient Chick-fil-A employee what she recommended. Then, ten minutes later, we slid on the high stools by the window, and ate our first bites of the famed Chick-fil-A.

And the food was amazing.

How is this restaurant not known for its food?

The chicken sandwich, the chicken nuggets, the sauces - everything about the food left a deep impression of happiness, and we made sure to squeeze in at least one more meal there before we had to leave New York.

But what impressed us even more was the people.

Despite all the gloom, the smoke, and the angry people walking outside in the urban jungle that was midtown Manhattan, everything inside the store was bright and happy.
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"Have a great day!"

"My pleasure."

"Have a good one."

"Do you need a refill?"

"How can I help you?"

Every word said to us brimmed with graciousness. The manager handed out completed food orders with a bright, amiable smile on his face. When we waited longer than others did for our order, they threw in a free sandwich for us with a dozen apologies that we never even asked for.

The food was great - underrated great.

But it's rare for the atmosphere of a fast food chain to surpass the actual food it served.

This was a company that prided itself in its Christian roots, and it was so humbling to witness how those roots reflect themselves in every branch and every leaf, every bite and every word.

It was an honor to try our first taste of Chick-fil-A.

If we had our way, it would definitely not be the last.