A Life Changing Moment: Following God's Call - Part 1

From time-to-time, people ask me about home education. One time in particular someone was really curious about how we taught our children, what we used to teach our children, what it looked like throughout the week, how we did grades, and they were even asking if I was concerned about socialization for my children. As I was sharing with them answers to the questions they had, I realized that our life and our family dynamic, purpose, focus, worldview, and relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ changed drastically from where it was originally heading. And it all started with one small conversation about education!


In 2012, I ran into a person I hadn't seen in a long while. They were someone I had worked with years before and they had recently returned to the area I was working in. I was catching up with them about their family and the work they were doing at that time and the topic of education came up. I shared  how our oldest child (Noah) was going to be starting kindergarten in a year and my wife and I were trying to decide where to send him to school. We had just moved back to the county we grew up in with plans to send Noah to the elementary school I (Michael) went to. We were torn however because Colleen and I desired to provide a Christian-based education so we were considering a private Christian school in the area. So we were really at a crossroad, not sure which way to go.

Then the person mentioned how he and his wife were home educating their four children. I was surprised actually to hear this. However the more my coworker talked about their experience the more I became interested. Then they mentioned a home education convention held in Richmond, VA sponsored by an organization called the Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV - pronounced by saying each letter - H.E.A.V.). They said that this was a huge convention with lots to offer over three days, however the first day had three sessions that were free to first time home educators and we should consider attending to learn more about it. I was also warned that if we decided to go, to not get overwhelmed due to the large exhibit hall but rather take a book bag, pick up free information, take it all home and pray about how to use the information acquired.

This whole thing sounded very intriguing to me. I couldn't wait to get home to share with Colleen about the conversation I had. I was somewhat familiar with home education, but not like the this! I was curious about Colleen's thoughts on it since she was a teacher in the government schools at the time. Also since Colleen was planning to resign at the end of that school year in order to be home with Noah for his last year before school, I thought this would be something to at least consider.

Initially when I shared with Colleen what I found out, she was resistant. As I shared on the blog page Why We Home Educate, Colleen didn't even want to consider home education as an option. I felt that we should at least hear about it but with no intentions of actually home educating. I thought it would give us some time away together and we would learn something new, whether we did something with what we learned or not. We decided to pray on it and decide at a later time.

In the time we were praying about it, I started discussions with a friend from our high school days that was home educating as well. Through those discussions God was affirming to me that we really needed to go the the HEAV conference. The more the discussions continued, the more I shared until Colleen and I both agreed we should register for the convention.

The first day of the convention was on a Thursday evening. We attended the introduction to homeschooling sessions which covered the history of home education in Virginia, the legal options in Virginia for home education, and practical ways to do it. During the sessions I could feel the Holy Spirit convicting me. I felt like crying right then and there with heart-felt repentance. I didn't know what Colleen was thinking, however I knew I would need to share with her about my conviction when we returned to our hotel that night.

When we arrived back at the hotel, I broke down and told Colleen what was on my heart. Amazingly and Providentially, Colleen felt the same way! We both were so convicted not so much about home education, but about our privilege and responsibility as Christian parents. We realized that night we were not thinking about many things biblically or Christianly.

Thinking back on the moment when I had the conversation my coworker and the convention God ultimately was leading us to, I realized that the HEAV convention changed our lives forever! Ultimately, our original plans for educating and raising our children were scrapped! This however was the Providence of God working in our lives so we would follow His commands and love out His Word in our lives. For that I am forever thankful!

In the next part I plan to share some of the ways the HEAV convention has impacted our lives both Biblically and practically.