Our primary attraction to home education is a proper (godly) influence on young, impressionable minds. Beyond that, there are many other benefits including better overall language skills as compared to the average.

SAT is a great motivator to become more disciplined in language skills, but it isn’t an accurate test just as IQ tests fail at determining a persons actual capacity for understanding and applying knowledge. Still, we need to be motivated and there’s nothing quite like a SAT to do it! (I shudder to think how I would do taking the SAT.) We need to encourage our children through things such as the spelling bee and not allowing them to think “I can’t” when they have hardly tried. I also really like the idea of Bible quizzing and would hope that more children (and adults) get involved in that.

Sometimes we don’t realize the “need” in our children without testing. Tests such as SAT and ITBS are great in that they show where a student needs improvement. If a student doesn’t test well in an area then a parent would want to see if that area is something they want to develop. (If your children aren’t hip on the latest Hollywood actors or Pop music then maybe that’s a good thing.) You can direct your children’s education!

My personal vocabulary and writing skills, (which do rate a little higher than the U.S. average), were not acquired during any part of my education, elementary, high school, or college. There were some roots of influence in my home; My mother would correct my errors in language and grammar. Most of my development came after college during self-taught on-the-job experiences. For instance, once, early in my career, I had a manager throw a document at me that I had prepared. He told me that it was trash. “Do it over!”, he yelled. My colleagues and I all turned white as my boss left, but that was the start of my language development. And it appears that “I done good” since the last part of my career (at the same company!) was focused on process improvement which means that I wrote and provided oversight over a lot of documentation.

Consider this testimony:
“After three months of schooling, one day the teacher called Thomas an “addled” (confused) student. Thomas hurried home and told his mother. When she went to the schoolhouse to talk to the teacher, they got into a heated discussion and the teacher told Mrs. Edison that Thomas was not teachable. Mrs. Edison promptly removed Thomas from the school and from then on he was homeschooled!”
(From http://www.homeschoollearning.com/units/unit_09-06-01.shtml )

Here are a few other famous people who were home educated:
artists Claude Monet & Andrew Wyeth;
authors Beatrix Potter, Agatha Christie, C.S. Lewis & Mark Twain;
composer Wolfgang Amadeaus Mozart;
scientists Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison & Alexander Graham Bell;
statesmen Benjamin Franklin & Patrick Henry;
Generals Douglas MacArthur & George Patton;
U.S. Supreme Court Justices John Marshall & Sandra Day O’Connor;
Presidents John Quincy Adams, Franklin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson & George Washington.
…I’m sure there are LOTS of others…

And here are a few MORE famous people who were home educated:

S., home educated K-12, graduated Towson in Accounting (suma cum laude) in 3 1/2 years instead of the typical 5 year program.

M., home educated K-12, attending UMBC maintaining a 4.0 GPA with some really tough courses, will also graduate early.

J, home educated K-now, will start taking college courses (for credit) next fall while still 15 years old. He is already programming in C+, composing music, and many other amazing feats of accomplishment.

D., home educated K-now, at age 12 he has a better understanding of construction and applied physics than most adults that I know and he can work harder than many adults that I observe. D. is my right hand–especially important to me since my hands do not work very well at all. For instance, earlier today he followed my instructions precisely and used my circular saw–completely unattended–to cut a shelf for the church office. How many 12-year-old boys can you trust to do that alone?

And who could have accomplished this except for God’s blessing and a godly wife and mom who took on this adventure with her whole heart.

I really wasn’t just boasting in our children for my own enjoyment, although I did enjoy it. The point is that through loving, parental home instruction our children are better able to reach their full potential.

Note, though, that having a conventional educational system along side home instruction is okay. It is only when parents abdicate their authority when they relegate their children to an impersonal or godless system. Check out the definitions of relegate:
to send or consign to an inferior position, place, or condition, to send into exile; to banish

The goal of proper, godly instruction is to direct someone to recognize their identity in Christ and their unique calling in Christ. I associate calling with vocation. We are His witnesses whether we are translating the Bible into a new language, working on a construction site, or in any professional career. Everyone needs to hear the Gospel, and going into every part of the world to be light is how God told us to do it. “Let you light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven.”

Academics are necessary only to fulfill one’s vocation, AKA calling. For instance, it is a myth that everyone must go to college. I personally know business men who never set a foot in college yet in their lifetime they reached more people for Christ, enjoyed a more satisfied lifestyle, and even earned more money than many who had upper graduate degrees. I’m not against college, but it needs to be pursued as part of one’s calling and because it’s the right thing to do, not because the world tells you so or because you think you’ll earn more money if you do. “He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” (Luke 15:16) Money is great, but the love of money is the root of all evil, and we don’t need any more of that. So don’t let the lure and lust of worldly ways draw you into something that God doesn’t want.

“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” (Hebrews 11)

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” (Col: 2:8)

…enough for now…