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Our homeschooling journey began when we were newly-
weds about 29 years ago. God gave us the opportunity to
serve in the middle of the bush country of what was then
known as Zaire, Africa, now Democratic Republic of Congo. My
husband went as a high school technology and Bible teacher, I
as a labor and delivery nurse. We lived on a mission station with
many other missionaries and their children. Since there were not
any English-speaking schools nearby the missions joined togeth-
er to provide boarding schools to educate the children of mis-
sionaries. These schools are usually hundreds of miles fromwhere
the parents work. This boarding school had the philosophy that
your children should be homeschooled until second grade be-
cause it was such an emotional burden to pull young children
away from their parents at such a
young age. Most parents were glad
to do this to keep their young chil-
dren home a little longer.
What we found interesting
is that all these young children
seemed very well rounded, obedi-
ent and joyful. We had never heard
of homeschooling before this, but
started to see a pattern in their
lives that directly correlated to
their education. They were being
educated to see the whole world
and that it did not revolve around
their particular age group. We have
seen the majority of these young
kids grown up to be productive hus-
bands and wives that love children and work in a variety of areas
all over the world. We had dreams like that for our children.
Halfway in our term in Africa, Zaire had a major war that
forced us to evacuate back to the Midwest where we grew up.
God miraculously got us jobs in Ottumwa, southeast Iowa, in
both our fields of expertise. Within a year of our return, God mi-
raculously brought our two children, Michael and JinHee, in our
family, one by birth and the other by adoption. Because of those
seeds of homeschooling, we knew we had to get serious about
how they would receive their education. We had both grown up
being educated by public schools. But with my husband work-
ing in the public schools, we saw the good and bad of going that
route again with our own children.
When our kids were about 2-3 years old, we started attend-
ing the NICHE Homeschool Iowa Conference to learn what this
journey would entail. With much prayer, it did not take long for
God to show us that we would be homeschooling parents. We
also found parents in our church, whom we call the pioneers of
homeschooling and visited their homes to“see how it was done.”
The journey became very real as we joined the Davis County
Homeschool Assistance Program, with supervising teachers
and their own children. We labored side by side through the in-
tricacies of educating our own children. We cannot thank God
enough for the testimony of those supervising teachers and
their godly and practical encouragement to our own journey.
This was the most amazing journey that we have ever taken. It
was also the hardest. But God used it to teach us right alongside
our children. Each year I made it a point to attend the Homeschool
Conference. Like all normal moms,
by the time April and May roll
around, we are ready to be “done”
with our school year and take a
“break.”Many times, I told God, “this
job is beyond my head, and you can
release me at any time.” However,
He profoundly used the moms and
dads and speakers at each confer-
ence to give me my immunization
boost to carry on the next year. I
have hardly missed a year since
their birth. Both kids graduated ear-
ly from high school, and then went
on to college. Our daughter has fin-
ished college and now is a teacher to
3rd grade children. She is definitely
using many skills she learned from her homeschool days. Our son
is in graduate school, hoping to go on to medical school. He too is
doing major teaching in his public health program and research
job with the Iowa Center for Disease research. Over the years, we
have all served as volunteers at the conferences. And I have men-
tored other homeschooling moms. The journey just keeps going.
As I look back on those 13 years of homeschooling, I am so
grateful to God that He allowed our family to travel that road
together. I miss those days, and many times I wish there was
someone in the car with me to stop and learn something spe-
cial when we pass a monument or museum. Both children have
talked that when they marry and have children, someday, that
they too will probably homeschool. Thank you to all the past and
present NICHE members who helped us with God’s call on our
lives. You were all a very instrumental part in that journey!
Our Homeschooling Journey
BY ZELDA ANDERSON
The Anderson Family
Michael, Zelda, Mark and JinHee