I have this amazing ability, which my husband admires, and that is that I can peg people pretty accurately. (I’m a pessimist, so that helps a little.) If your theology leans a little toward a charismatic view of Scripture, you might say that I have the gift of discernment. For all you cessationists, let’s just say that I’ve got your number.

However, upon strolling through a few other sites, I’ve noticed that there are a few of you who have the same ability. In other words, you’ve got my number too. I enjoy perusing other people’s blogrolls because what they read tells me a lot about who they are. Often site owners will categorize their lists, and I’ve found myself under a few interesting categories (unless someone else creatively named their site Amy’s Humble Musings). However, the thing that amazes me the most is that I often find this site categorized under “Reformed” and/or “Homeschooling.”

I’ve never used the terms “homeschooling” or “reformed” to describe our family.

Now, we do homeschool and our theology is reformed in nature; I’ll say it. I have avoided mentioning it because I hoped that they were questions that did not need to be asked. When I write a post on my interactions with my children, I hope it leads one to conclude that what we are teaching our children all day long cannot possibly be occurring in a public institution. You already know that I’m passionate and a radical, so I assume that leads you to conclude that we’ve jumped off the mainstream. Humor me here.

When I praise Charlotte for her faith in allowing the Lord to send her twins (recently God chose to take one back) when she already has 11 children, this means that I trust and hope in the sovereignty of God: that He is using our covenant children to build His kingdom and that His provision not only applies to our salvation but extends to our practical needs as well. Not only is He faithful in eternity, but He is steadfast in the daily as well.

I believe the labels, “homeschooling” and “reformed”, might loosely apply to the convictions that we hold firm; they are just natural terms to describe what we are doing and believing. I like to cut to the chase. At the same time, I tend to avoid the use of labels for three reasons:

1. Labels don’t always encompass what you’re labeling, and they often include things that don’t belong with what you’re labeling. For instance, we “homeschool,” but we don’t do school at home. That is, we do not replicate the institutional model that comes to mind when one says the word “school.” Most education passes on to the learner by means of conversation. This has been the most effective model for centuries, and more importantly, the Bible uses this method in Deuteronomy 6 when it instructs parents on what it is that we are to teach our children (to borrow a paraphrase): who God is, what God has done, and what God requires of us. Notice that algebra is missing from this list.

We teach our children academics, but we pass along quadratic equations in the context of a Biblical worldview. Perhaps a better label of what my husband and I are doing would be “discipling.”

2. Another reason that I avoid the use of labels is that sometimes people have a misunderstanding of what the label means, and therefore, they peg you wrongly.

3. Probably the biggest reason that I avoid the use of labels is because I do not want to offend. If I offend, I try to let it be God’s Word that offends and not a misused, misconstrued label attached to my sleeve. I have enough problems keeping myself out of trouble as it is. But again, I definitely sympathize with the shorthand.

So, when I met a woman this week at a playground off an I-95 exit somewhere in South Carolina, she approached me and declared, “My, what a fat baby!” (Baby Energizer’s sole purpose in life right now is to help me strike up conversations everywhere with everyone.) I conceded that Baby Energizer sure does like her chicken-pot-pie. Then she quickly cut to the chase and inquired, “Are you a homeschooler?”

Gee, how’d she know?

I pointed out that I wasn’t wearing a denim jumper, and I pointed out that she, too, is a homeschooler, as she has a baby and toddler underfoot. (Hint: learning doesn’t begin at age six.) Then, she asked me if I was religious. (That was a good one.) Now, not only do we talk the part, but we “look” it as well. (I’m thinking it was the Von Trapp family line-up that we do when we call our kids?)

We believe wholeheartedly in both our responsibility as parents in raising godly children as well as the sovereignty of God as it relates to all of life. And we, as a family, also embrace enthusiastically those who come to different conclusions on the matter. Yet in a nutshell: yes, we homeschool, and yes, we are reformed.

But I guess you already knew that.