Our Carnival of Beauty topic this week is “The Beauty of My Life,” hosted by Sallie of Two Talent Living.

Since so much of my life right now revolves around my family and our children’s schooling, I thought it would be appropriate to share with you our educational journey.

It’s funny how the topics that interest me as a parent have changed over the years. Before I had children, there were ISSUES that I thought were truly life-and-death matters. Can you relate?

During pregnancy, I discussed with great passion these topics: will I use a midwife or doctor? Have a homebirth or hospital birth? Prepare for natural labor, epidural, or C-section? Breastfeed or bottle? Feed on demand or feed on a schedule?

Next, I headed into the baby development milestones and toddler years, which is where I still am with some of my children: bedtimes and discipline, what to eat and when, potty training, breaking habits like pacifiers or thumb-sucking, early educational ideas, etc.

Now, I’m deep in the trenches of this issue: how to educate our children. This is a HUGE topic of course — as it covers the ages of at least 3 to 18 for each child. Will we homeschool? Send them to a private school? Send them to a public school?

These are the years we have to do something … to make sure our children are raised to grow in wisdom which comes from fear of the Lord — and also to have the skills and knowledge they’ll need to get along on their own someday.

It used to be easy. There were fewer options. People let their kids all walk to the same school, which was down the street. Now the vast array of options is overwhelming.

Several people have asked me lately about why we homeschooled, and why we’re not now. Well, I don’t want to go into all that in such a public forum, so I’ll just say a few things. From the day our first child was born, I was drawn to homeschooling. I was surrounded by wise, godly families in our church and neighborhood who homeschooled. I hung out in their homes and knew that’s what I wanted for our family.

I read a million books about homeschooling. Well, not a million. But several dozen at least. I went to conferences when our oldest was only four years old! We joined a great local support group, and I went to all the meetings. So, we homeschooled for three wonderful years. But then I needed a break. I’ll spare you the details, but I had a lot of stress going on in my life, and I needed someone to help me out during school hours. The Proverbs 31 woman didn’t do it all either, you see. Our best option was public school, unless I went to work full-time to earn private school tuition, which we didn’t want me to have to do.

Our kids have wonderful teachers, many of whom read my blog, and I’m so appreciative of their sincere commitment to love our children and be a light in the world. I know many of them have strong Christian faith and do the best they can within the parameters of the system to teach our children God’s ways.

Yet … we still take things year by year. Child by child. I miss so many things about pouring my time and energy into homeschooling, and I miss being part of our homeschool group. I really, really, really want our children to have time to take music lessons and play instruments … and I love the Sonlight curriculum. But home educating is a consuming full-time job for me. If we ever did go back to it, I know without a doubt that I would not have time to do any writing from home. And maybe that would be fine. I’ve so enjoyed all the online friendships I’ve made in the past couple of years and working with editors and other writers … but we may be entering another season of change. I don’t know.

I try to think long-term, surround myself with positive people, and take it all step by step. That’s what we do every year. I have a ton more to say, but I’d rather not say it all here in my blog.

Raising children who want to serve God is a serious calling, one that takes constant thought and prayer. As parents, we want to do all we can … but ultimately we have to leave the results up to God and pray for His blessings upon our educational journey.