Training your children for their lives here and for heaven hereafter is the most important task you will ever take on, other than preserving your own soul before God. How you handle this task will affect your children for the rest of their lives, long after you are gone. What is more, you have one chance to do this job well. You can't reset the video to start over when you are older and wiser.

You are surrounded by skeptics and critics who are ready to ask questions and to pounce upon every perceived weakness of the homeschooling approach. Some of these skeptics are in your family; some are in your church. The failures of public schools somehow get a pass from the public--unless they generate a plea for increased funding. But let a homeschooling family miss a state requirement or do something bizarre, and the editorial writers, pundits, and politicians wag their heads and talk about the need for greater oversight of homeschooling.

You lie awake at night asking yourself questions such as, "What will people think?" "What if my child has special needs?" "Can I cover everything?" "Which approach should I take?" "Will my children be ready for college?" "Do I know what I am doing?" and the grand prize winner, "AM I GOING TO RUIN MY CHILDREN?"