accountable

I've been mulling over the idea of personal accountability a lot lately. Just today there was a news bit on an organization (The Center for Science in the Public Interest) who, along with the help of a mother of two from California, is suing McDonald's for exploiting children by marketing unhealthy food through the use of toys. Really? Have we sunk so low that we'll now blame the cheap, plastic, made in China toy which accompanies the burger, fries and soda for our unheathly lives? Surely it has nothing to do with the parent choosing to stop at McDonald's and purchase the meal.

We decided to homeschool our kids because we weren't very impressed with the public school offerings where we lived at the time. Not passing judgement - it just wasn't a good fit for our family. The local private Christian school really is amazing, but we looked at the tuition and looked at my college background full of physics, literature and preparing to teach high school before coming to the conclusion that we might as well try homeschooling first.

Homeschooling for us has been like any other major decision in our lives -- there is no way we could be prepared for the way it would affect everything. There are just some things that our kids really are clueless about (most of which I'm pretty thankful for) and then there are other things which they have more knowledge of and experience in than adults.

We experience our fair share of "He did it!" around here, but our eight are actually fairly quick to accept responsibility for both the good and the bad. I think that a lot of their attitude about accountability has been nurtured through our decision to homeschool. They are constantly surrounded by people of all ages helping to hold them to a higher standard. Either the younger brother or sister is looking up at the ball-dropper with devastated eyes or a loving adult is gently reproving a bad choice. Rarely are they in a position to have someone of equal maturation level encouraging them in their foolishness or putting the brakes on their aspirations.

Also, when one of our kids makes a disastrous choice, we have a lot more authority over their time to make it really, really uncomfortable. We can say no friends until . . . and mean it. My parents said "You're grounded!" and off I went to school to spend most of my day with surrounded by my friends. In hindsight, groundings for Scott and I didn't carry nearly the weight that our kid's groundings do.

On the flip side, when our children make wise decisions, we are equally in a position to offer immediate gratification. You got up early and started your school work so now it's 10:30 in the morning and you're finished? Cool! Take the next couple of hours and have some fun. You saw that a family is really struggling and you would like to serve them by watching their children/cleaning their house/cutting their grass/ etc - no problem. We can absolutely make time.

Because we have so much control over our schedules and time, we are really able to use time to teach in all aspects of life -- not just the Three Rs. Don't get me wrong - education is important and we take it seriously. But there is so much more to education than book work and I truly have come to cherish the flexibility homeschooling allows.

I would much rather have a child who grows into adulthood with the ability to accept responsibility than a child who can recite population figures for China.


"In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned. Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authority, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men." Titus 2: 7 - 8a; 3:1-2