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| Homeschooling & Marriage | 
• The comparison syndrome – Husband thinks: "Mrs. X has 9 children, arranges and sells her own curriculum, sews matching outfits for the whole family, cooks on a once a month plan, keeps her house clean, and always looks excellent and feminine – why can't my wife be like her?" and the wife thinks, "Mr. X teaches his children Bible, Science, History, PE, woodworking, and buys his wife flowers every week – why can't my husband be like him?"
There are two additional issues, unique to homeschooling, that might arise:
• The Gregg Harris syndrome – Husband says, "Hey, dear – I just went to a Gregg Harris seminar and caught the vision that you and the kids should begin a home business as part of school and – once you've got it going fine enough to support all of us – I'll come home and take over!" The wife (pregnant, changing the baby's swaddling clothes, planning supper, performing chores, and correcting a math paper all at the same time) thinks, "Help! Why doesn't someone just lock that Gregg Harris up??!!!"
• Transition to homeschooling issues – everyone will have a lot of adjustments, if the children have been in institutional schools. The mother may be giving up her job outside the home, and will certainly have less free time and a lot more obligations. Various family members may have various responsibilities and challenges.
Unique blessings of homeschooling:
• parents become more family-concentrated and more home-concentrated
• teaching Scripture and doctrine to children causes parents to study more industriously together
• parents begin enjoying their children more
• the attitude of children as blessings often leads to larger families
• children grow closer to their parents and respect them more
• parents are challenged to live out a godly marriage and life before their children (who are in contact with them far more than they would be if they were in institutional schools)
• the shared vision of the parents grows, further uniting them
• parents learn to give up egoistical and unprofitable expectations and plans, concentrating instead on raising/teaching/training the next generation
• in the establishment of a household, parents often remove or curtail distracting and harmful influences, replacing them with time spent together as a family
• parents develop long-range purposes, planning a heritage and legacy extending to the next generation and beyond
• parents rarely lack material for interesting conversation
• facing challenges together increases sense of unity and commitment
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