Some parents do
an amazing job of finding (i.e. making) time amid all the crazy busy-ness of life to intentionally teach their children. I’m not one of them.
Last year, I felt frustrated that I wasn’t spending enough high-quality time with my children, intentionally teaching them. It seemed that there was too little time and energy left- for them and for me- after school, homework, and other activities every day. We had daily prayer and scripture study and weekly family home evening, but I’m not sure I was engaged in persistent, daily intentional parenting.
I absolutely have a testimony that the most important work I will ever do is with and for my family. So… we brought our children home and now my full-time, around-the-clock job is teaching them. It’s hard, really hard. But it’s amazingly rewarding.
Here’s why we at House Upon a Rock educate our children at home:
- We are following the Lord’s direction for our family at this time.
- We believe our children have important work to do, that the Lord has sent them here “for such a time as this.” (That’s true for all of us, really.) So we have a responsibility to prepare them for that work, and we are entitled to the Lord’s help in teaching our children.
- In our home, we unite spiritual and temporal learning; we learn and teach by the spirit.
- Our family gets to be together- not just at the end of the day when everyone is tired, but in our high-energy hours as well. We are closer, more unified, and have flexibility in how and when and where to teach.
- We teach and learn what is needful and best, leaving out the rest.
- Personalized instruction (and spirit-led instruction!) allows our children to learn and progress at an accelerated pace. We also have the freedom and time for them to pursue individual interests and talents.
When in April 2015, then-Elder Nelson testified that, “No other work transcends that of righteous, intentional parenting,” I felt confirmation from the Spirit that we are doing what’s right for our family at this time. What a privilege…
We are- and try to be- House Upon a Rock!