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Perfect missions project for home school families - 10/12/2008 3:43:43 PM
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RJR_fan
Posts: 827
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: RTP, in sunny NC USA
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In the 1980s, the very act of home schooling was a revolutionary step of faith. Those who "stepped out of the boat" had special grace, it seems, and amazing adventures in family life.
Today, though, home schooling is mainstream. Everybody seems to know somebody who's doing it.
Yet, since God does not stand still, since God continues to stretch our faith, maybe we need to give thought concerning what we are home schooling for. Perhaps we need a purpose outside of our families, so that our families don't become self-centered and ingrown.
Surely, I'm not the only guy "hearing" this.
What kinds of missions and ministry opportunities have you found that home schooled families are uniquely qualified to pursue? What's going on in your home?
Encouraging words invited!
_____________________________
Blogging my way through the Turkish New Testament
Meet my beloved mentor, RJR
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RE: Perfect missions project for home school families - 10/12/2008 7:54:21 PM
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shadowspring
Posts: 1552
Joined: 5/27/2006
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We open our home to foreign exchange students. We don't have one currently but we will again.
In our state, two families can work together under one registration. I have helped three kids from three different families at different times and in different ways. One would not have graduated high school at all if he had not moved in with our family and home schooled with us.
These kinds of students were referred to as "home school refugees" once in our support group circles in Florida. They come from families that never thought they would home school, and only turned to home schooling as a last resort when the public school situation was just not working for them. It's an honor to open my home to these teens and help them get back on track with their lives.
Right now the widow across the street is sending her son over to our home school in the day time while she works. I am mentoring her in home schooling, and helping her son with the work she picked out and assigned. It is an honor to help out this family.
_____________________________
"Blessed is the man...whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by rivers of water..." from Psalm 1
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RE: Perfect missions project for home school families - 10/15/2008 12:31:41 AM
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MrsDC
Posts: 151
Joined: 8/17/2005
From: Sinaloa, Mexico
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We moved to Mexico to become full-time missionaries.  
Just being able to go on our first short-term mission trip was something we could never have done if we didn't homeschool. (It happened during the school year.)
Now I find myself in a unique position: when we started educating our kids at home -- about 15 years ago -- homeschooling was still very new. Most folks didn't know it was legal, there were very few curriculum choices and support groups were almost non-existent. I was so GREEN!!! 
Fast-forward to now...I've been homeschooling 15 years, I've experienced homeschool co-ops, support groups, curriculum fairs, science fairs, spelling bees, geography bees and the list goes on...and I've moved to a culture where homeschooling is totally new. Most folks think it's illegal, curriculum is VERY limited. Deja vu? I feel like I've come full-circle. We're introducing homeschooled teens into a culture which has never seen one -- let alone 6! -- and they like what they see. I can see a homeschool "revolution" happening in our village soon.
The really cool thing is that, even though I'm getting the same questions that I received 15 years ago (Is it legal? Where do you find books? How can you DO it?) it's different because I've already been there. We've walked down the path, through the tunnel and are coming out the other side. We have this level of experience that practically speaks for itself. Instead of looking at six little pre-schoolers and wondering if this crazy family is really gonna mess up big time, folks can look at 6 youth who are following God and are bright and intelligent (yes, I'm biased. Get over it.  ) and say, "Wow. They might be on to something."
Now we're just praying for a family to move down here who has "little ones" who are being trained according to God's Word! Any takers???  Spanish is NOT a requirement!
BTW, great thread topic, RJR fan!
-- Rebecca
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Fancy signatures are highly overrated. Just click here and visit my blog. Please.
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RE: Perfect missions project for home school families - 10/16/2008 7:46:03 PM
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RJR_fan
Posts: 827
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: RTP, in sunny NC USA
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quote:
BTW, great thread topic, RJR_fan
Thanks!
Our family's adventures are on a smaller scale, perhaps, but our experience with reaching out to Turkish students has been incredibly rewarding. I analyzed and documented some of those encounters while pursuing a graduate-level class in "qualitative research." Then, just to see how this approach was received by "the other side," I submitted a reduced version of the article to a Muslim devotional magazine. 
Well, they didn't pay me for it. But seeing one's name in print gratifies the ego. 
Seriously, guys, if any of you are wanting to evangelize students from "closed" socieites, this article might be helpful. Home school families are ideal for this task, since Muslim cultures revere family life, and love to be invited into the hearts of healthy families.
quote:
It is usually easy to associate with people from one’s own culture. Why step out of your comfort zone to extend a friendly hand to someone from a different culture? Perhaps, if my experience is typical, to enjoy one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. This opportunity is readily available to Americans who wish to make the effort.
_____________________________
Blogging my way through the Turkish New Testament
Meet my beloved mentor, RJR
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RE: Perfect missions project for home school families - 10/17/2008 1:04:46 PM
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judii1
Posts: 362
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: The Frozen Thumb of MI!
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When we lived in Missouri, Ds would help out at the Salvation Army during the holidays. He would help put food baskets together.
He also would make a shoebox for Samaritan's Purse and drop it off at a bookstore.
Here is a link to info for Operation Christmas Child from samaritan's Purse.
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What does 1 boy + 1 set of new clothes + 1 brother with a paintball gun = ?
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RE: Perfect missions project for home school families - 10/17/2008 1:33:48 PM
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cynthia
Posts: 8069
Joined: 3/31/2005
From: Beautiful Puget Sound Region
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There are lots of things that homeschooling families do. I don't think all of us are called to be missionaries though. In my life, I would love to lead others to the Lord, but the Lord keeps sending me to people who need to be straightened out or discipled who have already made a committment for Christ. I think we need to be open to what He has for us as individuals and as families.
Recently He has used me to bring a family to Christ that had lost their way for many years. The wife was actually involved in Jehovah's Witnesses, but through my ministry to their family she repented and has now denounced that system. Her husband is now open to studying the Bible with the family at home and I prayed with him as he made a committment to turn his life over to the Lord.
I agree with Tom that we can open our homes to people and help them to either find faith in Christ or to return to faith in Christ. We can disciple them and be available to help them grow in Christ and find their place in service to the Lord and others.
_____________________________
My husband and I have a motto:
We are the leader. We are one.
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RE: Perfect missions project for home school families - 10/17/2008 7:10:20 PM
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RJR_fan
Posts: 827
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: RTP, in sunny NC USA
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quote:
I agree with Tom that we can open our homes to people and help them to either find faith in Christ or to return to faith in Christ. We can disciple them and be available to help them grow in Christ and find their place in service to the Lord and others.
And our children are an integral part of our ministries -- not inconvenient obstacles to ministry. When a pastor from our church went to Scotland to plant a new church, a member suggested that his family (six home-schooled daughters) would be more than half of his ministry, since the Europeans are exterminating themselves by refusing to replace themselves.
When our children participate in these ministries, even just by being who God is making them to be, it builds something in their lives.
_____________________________
Blogging my way through the Turkish New Testament
Meet my beloved mentor, RJR
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RE: Perfect missions project for home school families - 10/19/2008 3:25:32 PM
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sen10tious
Posts: 361
Joined: 4/11/2005
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Perhaps in the effort toward brevity you skipped the 1990's, Tom. But I think that was a time when homeschoolers moved their pro-family "mission" out into the political world. I know our state organization had Capitol Days when homeschoolers would go down to the statehouse and meet legislators –and the legislators began to look forward to those days that they would be brought loaves of homemade bread.
HSLDA ran some seminars and encouraged their members then too. A cynic might say it had something to do with Mike Farris's run for office, but I think it was far broader than that.
There has been such growth in homeschooling since then that I doubt we'll ever experience that singular identity again. There will be more diversification; indeed, there has to be as more non-believers and nominal Christians start taking advantage of the benefits of this hs lifestyle.
One of the "closed societies" that my children are evangelizing now is employers' attitudes. Imagine the manager who wasn't sure my son could even run a cash register— and then be startled to find that he could not only learn to run it more quickly than most new hires, but that he could also figure sales tax in his head when it malfunctioned. That was a drugstore he worked in at that time, and there would occasionally be the opportunity to encourage people with health problems too. My daughter has had opportunity to convert several of her bosses' attitudes about home education. You may think that this isn't "pure" evangelism of a gospel witness, but getting folks to acknowledge that the state is not the Ultimate Provider is an important part of breaking up the hardened soil so that it can receive seed. Without that, their hearts would remain like the part of the parable where the birds came and gobbled up the kernels.
Another way that they have been used, although I would like to see more of this, is through friendships. I know RJR_fan knows the statistics better than I do about how many teens raised in church flee the church once they are out from their parents' control; it is over 80%. A couple young men have either stuck around or have not run so far, under the influence of my children's homeschooled values and friendship.
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RE: Perfect missions project for home school families - 10/20/2008 9:04:51 PM
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RJR_fan
Posts: 827
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: RTP, in sunny NC USA
Status: offline
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quote:
I have actually had to pull back in some of the things we were doing ministry-wise, as my mom's health is failing somewhat, and more of my time is being spent taking her on her errands and to doctor appointments.
Just as you are training your children to do in your dotage. This is part of their education in compassion, the life cycle, and family priorities.
_____________________________
Blogging my way through the Turkish New Testament
Meet my beloved mentor, RJR
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