It’s only natural to have fears about homeschooling your child when you’re first considering it. Fears about how well you’ll be able to teach, what your friends and family will say, how you’ll have to rearrange your schedule, and so on.

Most people that you’ll meet and those you already know have been educated in a public school setting and probably will not understand your decision to teach at home. You may have even have been a public school grad yourself.

If you’re a Christian, you should consider it to be God’s calling, since you’ll be keeping your child from the God-less public school environment and placing them under the hearing of God’s Word.

God often calls us to do things that seem uncomfortable or go against the ‘mainstream’. That’s just part of being a Christian. “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat”.

Don’t let the pressure of doing the ‘normal’ thing keep you from doing what you know is right in your own heart. It doesn’t hurt to distance yourself a little bit or limit your conversations with certain people, especially when you’re just starting. Better than feeling like you have to defend your decisions or beliefs in the face of naysayers.

Everyone has an opinion, but it’s usually only based on that person’s life experience or what they hear in the media. Try to understand where they’re coming from, and consider that they usually think they’re just trying to be helpful.

Sometimes people will even confide in you about their own self doubt or fears of doing what God is calling them to do, because your actions are a challenge to what they’re doing with their lives. So your decision may eventually inspire them to step out of their comfort zone and take the plunge.

Keeping things simple is another concept that will ease your fears. Don’t fall prey to the idea that you have to duplicate a classroom setting in your home. You are transitioning into this, and your program will take on its own character as you progress.

The truth is, it will take you a little while, maybe even a long while, to get into the swing of things and figure stuff out. Your schedule will eventually work itself out, and your teaching skills will continuously improve with experience.

Have confidence you can do this, and trust the Lord to handle the details. Before you know it, your mind will be at ease, your home schooling program will be chugging along in the right direction, and you’ll think back to this time of uncertainty and say, “What in the world was I so afraid of?”