With a focus on what we are thankful for this week, we wanted to reflect on what we are thankful for in our homeschools. We have collected responses from some of Team CHEA and CHEA’s Support Network leaders that are featured below. We pray you are encouraged by what they have to share and will look for the things you can be thankful for in your own homeschool. We invite you to share in the comments below.
We are thankful for the Lord’s faithful blessings to the generations of our family that have been and continue to be blessed by homeschooling. We began in 1995, homeschooled our children, who are now getting married, having children, and homeschooling. One of our children’s families had not yet decided to homeschool, but when COVID shutdowns came and schools were closed, they were convinced that homeschoolers were faring better than those in disrupted schools and decided then that they would homeschool. We are blessed to have all of our children serving the Lord, and homeschooling was a big part of their being trained up in the way they should go. We are thankful for this provision from God to be continuing to our grandchildren and hopefully for generations to come. Thank you CHEA for your major role in California in advocating for this freedom.
Nick & Tracy Wilhite
CHEA Convention Book Store Coordinators
I am thankful for homeschooling because it allows time and space for family togetherness and allows us to meet the emotional, physical, spiritual, and educational needs of our children right where they are at.
Heather M.
Central Coast Christian Homeschool Group
I am thankful for the freedom to homeschool my children so I can instill Biblical principles and values into their lives in this crazy anti-God world.
Christine Gaiter
CHEA Bookkeeper
I feel so grateful to live in a country and specifically California where it is so free to privately homeschool. I love that we have complete freedom to follow God’s direction on curriculum selection, as well how we run our homeschool day. We are blessed!
Keary DeVico
Classes Director, Trinity Pacific Christian School
I’m thankful that homeschooling provided time and opportunity for our children to develop close relationships with each other rather than being in separate classrooms at different schools during their formative years. It’s encouraging to see how they interact with each other now that they are all adults. They are there for each other to celebrate the joys in life as well as offer help when the trials come!
Charity S.
CHEA Board Member
I’m thankful for the time homeschooling allows us to have with our children to disciple them in the ways of Christ Jesus, invest in them, and build relationships with them. And, as my mother has pointed out, homeschooling gives us the ability to offer the education of royalty to our children: individualized tutoring. Even better, this tutoring is encapsulated in love as we, the parents, care deeply for our children and will go to great lengths to help our children learn what they need to learn from character development to academics.
Alysia
Board Secretary, Homebuilders Homeschool
My husband and I homeschooled all four of our kids from kindergarten through high school graduation. Now that they are all graduated, I look back and I am so thankful that I was able to be so involved in their lives during those years. From prayer times to read aloud times to those pesky science experiments that never seemed to work out quite right, what a blessing it was to walk through the highs and the lows of their educational journey with them. We certainly had our challenging times, but I wouldn’t trade those years for anything!
Heidi B.
FPM Administrative Assistant
Homeschooling has been the best thing for our family. While not always easy, especially with a child who has learning differences, I know she’s doing so much better than she would in a traditional school environment. I’m thankful for the flexibility that homeschooling allows – in so many ways. Not only does homeschooling afford us the ability to pick up and go, but it gives us the space to cope with the circumstances that we encounter in life, like the year we lost my dad to cancer. We also have flexibility to cater learning both to her ability and interests, with field trips and hands-on activities making up a large part of our curriculum. We have flexibility to incorporate our family’s personal beliefs and values across all subjects and in all we do. While surprising, I’m so thankful that the laws in California give us great freedom in how we choose to educate our children.
Katie Julius
CHEA Communications Manager & Editor
I have so many reasons to be thankful for homeschooling.
Living this lifestyle means Christ is at the center of all our studies, we have the freedom to accelerate or slow down our learning pace as needed, and we get to make wonderful memories together! I am grateful for the world of opportunities, experiences and connections with my kids because of homeschooling.
Michaela Roekle
Administrator, Grace and Glory Academy
I am thankful for the years I homeschooled my three boys. I am grateful for the time we spent together snuggling on the couch, reading books while exploring Narnia and Middle Earth, preparing homemade soup from vegetables picked on the field trip to a local farm, making forts with blankets in the living room on rainy days, and walking around the block searching for birds and insects. I am thankful for each sweet memory. Most importantly, I’m grateful I had the opportunity to watch my boys grow into godly young men. It was the best 20 years of my life, and I miss it every day.
Angela Lasch
CHEA Administrative Assistant
My homeschooling journey started after witnessing faithful Christian families in my church homeschool their children. Prior to that, I had not considered homeschool as an option for my family. I am so glad we are homeschooling now! I see how God has strengthened our family relationships, how my children have time to develop the gifts God has given to them, how I can make sure that they are getting enough sleep each night, how we have the freedom to pursue spiritual growth in every hour of our day, and how our family embraces rich and meaningful learning. God gave us such a sweet gift to be able to cherish this time together through homeschooling, and I give Him thanks for this gift.
Sarah Martinez
Administrator, Foundation Christian School
I’m thankful for the freedom to homeschool in California to be able to develop my daughters’ God-given talents and abilities. Homeschooling allowed us to nurture their interests, rather than have to follow someone else’s set pattern, and gave us time to explore more options and activities since a bunch of it wasn’t wasted on busywork. They’re now both studying and working in fields that greatly interest them and allow them to use many of the gifts we uncovered during their homeschooling years.
Dena Bless
CHEA Events Manager
I am grateful for:
- Peaceful cuddles in the morning.
- Prayer and devotional to start our days.
- Family dinners with dad where he reads us the Bible.
- Time together.
- That our kids learn how to take care of our home and learn to serve each other.
- God first in our education.
- We don’t have to live a rushed life. We can enjoy each other’s presence.
- We can eat home cooked meals and tuck our kids into bed every night.
I am so grateful!
Evangelia Novarro
Board Secretary & Events Lead, LIFE Homeschool