I wanted my work to serve families and reflect the kind of father and Christian I hoped to become.
Preparing for parenthood
As my wife and I began thinking about having children, I considered the effort I had put into my education at West Point. I had spent a year preparing and writing a history thesis. Then I looked at the responsibility of parenthood and asked what kind of preparation it deserved.
I wanted a good reason behind the choices I would make as a parent. I began by studying Scripture and trying to understand how we are called to raise children. I read parenting books, took notes, and worked through philosophical arguments. Instead of simply collecting advice, I began writing a thesis as though I would have to explain and defend my thinking.
That work changed the questions I was asking about my own life. As I considered leaving the Army, I knew that I wanted to continue serving others. I also felt challenged to think seriously about what it meant to serve the Lord through my work and daily responsibilities.
I came to believe that strengthening families was a place to begin. Helping parents homeschool connected several things that mattered to me: faith, useful work, service to other people, and being an involved father. I wanted to help families make room for the time and attention that raising children requires.
Parents put considerable effort into preparing a home for a baby. We arrange the room, buy equipment, and learn how to feed and care for the child. Those things matter. I also wanted to give deliberate thought to the moral responsibility of raising a person: what I would teach, what I would model, and what my children would learn from the way we lived together.
My Christian faith is the foundation of that responsibility. I believe children bear the image of God and are entrusted to our care. Parents have real authority, and we are responsible for how we use it. Education should help children come to know God, love their neighbors, and learn to use their abilities wisely.
Why homeschooling matters to me
The first thing I think about is time together. Children are only in each stage of life for a while. I want to be present for those stages and to have room for the conversations, shared work, and ordinary experiences through which a family grows.
Homeschooling gives parents more choice about how learning fits into that shared life. A history lesson can lead to visiting a place where an event happened. A science question can become an experiment with supplies from a store. Building something together can connect measuring, planning, patience, and the satisfaction of making something useful.
A child's curiosity can also change the direction of a day. If a child asks about astronomy, a family might visit a planetarium or watch a documentary. That may be enough to answer the question. If the interest continues, it can lead to reading about space, learning how rockets work, or exploring the mathematics behind a journey to the moon.
I also believe education should help children develop virtue and lasting joy. They need knowledge and practical skills, but they also need judgment, humility, responsibility, and care for other people. Parents teach those things through their example and through how they guide a child when something is difficult.
Homeschooling gives a family room to make those purposes part of daily life. That freedom still asks something of the parents. We have to learn, prepare, make decisions, and be willing to change when our plans are not working. We also need to recognize where other people can help our children in ways we cannot.
Where the planning service begins
I do not want simply to describe an ideal homeschool and leave parents to work out how to reach it. Families have jobs, financial responsibilities, younger children, and different amounts of help. A useful recommendation has to begin with those realities.
Weldon's Method is my practical way of helping with that work. I look at the information you share about your family, research suitable resources, and prepare a recommendation with first actions. If you want a fuller comparison, the Family Decision Plan also explains viable alternatives, their tradeoffs, and when another option may fit better.
You remain responsible for your children's education. I want the plan to help you lead it.