A home centered life

Home is a place of freedom and comfort. Yet many adults run away from home in search of money, meaning, and personal fulfillment. I see so many busy people around me; Well-meaning parents schedule all kinds of activities for their children.

I often wonder what they are looking for and suspect that all these frenzied behaviors are ways to avoid silence and deep contemplation. There doesn’t seem to be a lack of material goods and comforts, but there is a real longing for love, intimacy, and healthy relationships. All of this can be found in the home, but families must be willing to live simply amid all the distractions.

I used to think that home life wasn’t glamorous and boring when I was in the workforce. Important things only happen outside the home, I thought. Building a strong home life is what makes for successful marriages, strong families, and a strong society. As homeschoolers, we are developing strong relationships with our children, while siblings develop strong relationships with each other. We are making a full time effort.

Adopting a home-centered life is often a slow evolution for many because home-centered lifestyles are not encouraged in our culture. Material desires and consumption habits often “require” both parents to work. Work is presented as more glamorous, while staying home is seen as servile.

When we spend time at home, we not only remove distractions and noise from life, but we can also take time to ask ourselves the important questions in life and learn how we can better serve family and others. People with hectic lifestyles seem to come home to recharge their batteries for another day of life apart from each other.

Much of the work we do as adults to improve ourselves and our relationships can be attributed to childhood experiences. Home is the first and central place where we form values, virtues and a vision of the world. The home provides the foundation for our emotional development. You can see why it takes a lot of time and energy to spend on a home-centered life!

Developing a home-centered life can begin with a conscious choice of homeschooling or home birth. It can start with an unexpected illness, accident, or unemployment. Those who see the value, opportunity, and serenity of spending more time at home often extend their home life. Moms who leave the workforce to raise their children sometimes decide to go to school at home.

After the family has enjoyed a homeschooling lifestyle for a few years, you may feel like starting a home-based business. We do not withdraw from society or isolate ourselves from the world, but we detach ourselves from fast-paced, institutional life to develop a deeper understanding of life and the world in which we live.

I think we would have more global peace if people had more love in their hearts and if families lived a home centered life. Think of a world in which children were seen as blessings and not as possessions or obstacles; where young children witnessed and were taught about babies, breastfeeding, and committed relationships; where children were required (and really desired) to show concern and respect for the environment, the poor, the powerless, the unborn, the elderly.

What about a world where individuals solved their own problems and took responsibility instead of turning to “experts”, lawyers, doctors or the government without first exhausting their resources and their social network? How about a world that didn’t put as much emphasis on grade point averages, IQ scores, SAT scores, looks, or salary?

If we don’t develop strong relationships within our families, along with a sense of commitment and sacrifice, we will continue to see a high divorce rate, selfish behavior, greed, and the darker sides of human behavior. We need a more attached and less distant upbringing. World harmony arises from family harmony.

Too often, institutions are dehumanizing and intended to serve the masses, not the individual. As we continue to submit to institutional life (babies born in hospitals, nurseries, schools, nursing homes), we will move further away from the development of the family unit into a strong and powerful force. “The family,” or the cornerstone of society, has collapsed, save for a few families who have the wisdom to know and act on what is really important.