The calling to a home-centered education

It is a tall order. But we are called to raise up our children and protect them. Otherwise we end up sending them to the wolves and hoping they can withstand the darkness. If knowledge isn’t rooted in the Truth of God – it will lead to error.

Each child was placed by God under the love, care, and responsibility of the parents. Educational institutions make poor substitute mothers, fathers, and homes. And there has never been a generation when children have so desperately needed their parents’ time, creativity, and friendship. The surrounding culture is deeply out of step with the Word of God. And the Christian home is the perfect place to instill values and a love for learning.

“We cannot continue to send our children to Caesar for their education and be surprised when they come home as Romans.” Voddie T. Baucham Jr.

I love this quote by Voddie Baucham. If you ever have the chance, look him up. Listen to him. He is full of wisdom. And he speaks truth. Truth that may sting a little. But this quote sums up what we see going on all around us. It is time for a change. And many are catching on, which is why the homeschool movement is growing so fast.

When you send your child away for the day you have no idea what they have learned, what they have NOT learned, and what they have learned incorrectly. You are blind to the influences they are around all day. And THESE are the things that are shaping your children instead of YOU.

Many believe the lie that they can’t homeschool. They don’t have the time, or the patience, or the knowledge. The reality is, we know our children better than anyone else. We know their strengths and weaknesses… Their positives and negatives… What they love and hate... What motivates and encourages them... We are indeed their best teachers! We can speed up when they need to move on, and slow down when they are confused. We are equipped for this job!

You will never regret the time you spend pouring into the ones your love!
You can read more in my blog article here.

The Hard Truth:

On average, children are in school 7 hours a day. This of course does not include commuting, riding a bus, before or after school care, etc. With the average 180-day school year, that’s 1260 hours that the school has your child.

You wake up a 6:00am. It is breakfast and rush out the door to school. Then, you wait in carpool line at 3:00. Or maybe they are in afterschool care and you pick your child up at 5:30 after work.

Either way, it is homework time. Then a hurried dinner followed by snacks, a shower, and then get those kids to bed! This describes the average day of sending your child to school. When was your time to train up your child? How have you influenced them? Do you think the few hours of the day that you had with them outweigh the 7-8 hours of influences they were around all day? You don’t ever get this time back. You have trusted complete strangers with your children. To influence them. Educate them. Train them. Mold them.

Where is the time to train up your children if you send them away to school?

With the 24 hours in a day, most school-age children sleep for about 10 of those hours. That leaves you with 14 hours. Then there is school, commuting to and from school, and homework. This is another 9 hours at least; even up to 12 hours if you are using after school care. That means you now have 3-5 hours left in the day to spend with your child.
You do the math. Who is raising your child?

Your Homeschool - The New One-RoomSchoolhouse

The idea is to weave a biblical worldview through all subjects. This is certainly not done in the school system. And if all things are created by God and for Him and reflect Him, we are confusing our children by sending them to a school system that ignores and even denies this.

Through homeschooling we also develop character traits with our children. This is far more important than knowing how to balance a chemistry equation or write a paper (although these still matter). By providing your own paideia for your children, you can control the focus. First is God, character is second, then life skills, and finally - subjects.

There was something beautiful about the one-room schoolhouse. And if you have multiple children to homeschool, you can recreate this. The youngest will advance and grow as they see what the oldest children are doing. You can all work on similar subjects together, at varying levels. The oldest children can come alongside the youngest and help teach them. Science has proven that students learn and retain more information when they have to teach others what they know. The one-room schoolhouse is student-centered.

Today’s educational model is similar to a mass production assembly line. The education is not student-centered. The student and the learning process are no longer at the heart of education. Now, efficiency and cost are dictating the business of education.

The Gift and Joy of Teaching my Children

Nothing is more rewarding or fulfilling than watching your child learn and seeing those lightbulb moments: seeing it click… and watching it all come together. It is the biggest blessing to see my 6-year-old reading books on his own. He can even take turns reading from the Bible with us during family Bible time. And to know that I taught him! What a blessing. I have watched him struggle and I have watched him succeed. 

It’s not an easy journey. Homeschooling is hard! There will be days when you cry. There will be days when your child cries. There will be days when you both cry. There will be days when you want to quit and run away. But God will be there with you every step of the way. And as He promised, He will go alongside you as you glorify Him by training up your child. 

Scriptures:

The following scriptures point us to the call to homeschool and train up our children.

By wisdom a house is built,
and by understanding it is established;
by knowledge the rooms are filled
with all precious and pleasant riches.
Proverbs 24:3-4

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching.
Proverbs 4:1-2 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Stubborn fools despise wisdom and discipline. My son, listen to your father’s discipline, and do not neglect your mother’s teachings, because discipline and teachings are a graceful garland on your head and a golden chain around your neck.
Proverbs 1:7-9 

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6 

Fulfilled longing is sweet to the soul, but avoiding evil is detestable to the fool. Whoever keeps company with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm. Disaster pursues the sinful, but good will reward the righteous.
Proverbs 13:19-21 

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
Colossians 2:6-8 

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17