Making the Decision to Homeschool: Questions To Ask Yourself if You Are Considering Homeschooling (Part 3)

    Here are my answers to questions 2 and three:

2. Does the Lord have anything to say about how and where your children are educated? Yes!  When I  started to research what the Bible has to say about children—how they should be educated, and what they should be taught—I was  amazed to see that the Bible really has a lot to say about the subject.  It is a shame that most Christian parents don’t bother to look.  A few of my favorite verses about education are:

Deut. 6: 5-8- YOU shall love the Lord YOUR God with all YOUR heart, and with all YOUR soul, and with all YOUR strength.  And these words which I command YOU shall be in YOUR heart.  YOU shall teach them diligently to YOUR children, and shall talk of them when YOU sit in YOUR house, when YOU walk by the way, when YOU lie down, and when YOU rise up. (NKJ)

             This says to me, YOU shall teach them…ALL THE TIME.

Proverbs 22:6-Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.  (NKJ)

           A commandment with a wonderful promise!  We cling to that promise daily. 

 Luke 6: 40- A student is not above his teacher but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.  (NIV)

            Are you familiar with your child’s teacher, and the curriculum s/he  is teaching? Do you want your children become like their teachers?

  Ps. 127:3- Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward.  (KJV)

            Children are a gift, and a pleasure to be around if they are properly trained.  Being with them all day is not boring, or a burden; it is a blessing.

 3 John 1: 4- I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in truth.  (NAS)

             Are your children being taught truth? 

 1 Tim. 1:5- But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, and a good conscious and a sincere faith. (NAS)

             Is this the goal of your child’s school?

 Ps. 111: 10- The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; the knowledge of the Holy is understanding”. (NIV)

             All wisdom and knowledge begins with God, and relates to Him.  Are your children being taught o compartmentalize their lives, relating only parts of their lives to God, or are they being taught to center their lives, learning, and decisions on what he Lord would have them do?

 2 Cor. 10: 5- Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. (KJV)

         The “knowledge” of man is often in conflict with the knowledge of God.  Are we allowing our children to be taught ungodly imaginations? Are we allowing our children to be taught philosophies and theories that are contrary to the word of God, or that exalt themselves over Him?   Or are we teaching them to put worldly things aside, and make their very thoughts captive to Him?

 Col. 2: 8- Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ.  (KJV)

              Do we keep our children in government schools because of a fear of men—a fear of what others will think of us?  Are we afraid to step away from the traditions of men, sacrificing our children to be “spoiled” by the philosophies of man, instead?

1 Cor. 15:33- Be not deceived; bad company corrupts good morals. (NASB) -and- Proverbs 13:20- He who walks with the wise becomes wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm. (NIV)

             Socialization is either positive or negative.  Children are foolish—and often not good company for each other—they do not “socialize” each other very well. Bad company produces negative socialization, and corrupts the morals of our children. School is an artificial, age-segregated environment that often leads children to develop a “pack” or “pecking order” mentality—which is unkind and unchristian.  Children also tend to adopt the culture of their classmates, rejecting the culture of their own family.

Home is the natural environment; a safe haven where our children can safely be civilized by their own families.   Social graces and skills can be taught as well as caught, and our children will learn to be comfortable around people of all ages and all races as they experience living in the real world with their parents. There is no “generation gap” for homeschoolers; your culture is your child’s culture.

What kind of culture are your children a part of? What will be your children’s culture when they are grown?  What kind of manners and morals are your children catching?

When my husband and I researched homeschooling we, as many families before us, began to feel lead—no, called—to homeschool our children.  Look up the scriptures in the article, “Biblical Reasons to Homeschool” for a more complete list of the scriptures that address parenting and education– and see what the Lord says to you.

3.  Who do children belong to?  Who has (or should have) the final word on how or where your children are educated?  Who should control the content of your child’s education?

Our children don’t really belong to us at all; our children belong to God. They are His gift… on loan to us.  So we cannot always do what is easiest for us to do, but we must do what God would have us do as parents.

Imagine that instead of giving birth to our children, they were handed over to us by the Lord Jesus Himself.  Imagine yourself kneeling before Him…and He  hands you this tiny, squirmy bundle.  What do you think He would say to you?  What would you say to Him?  Perhaps would say, “Here is my child.  You may borrow him for a short time.  Take good care of Him; teach and train Him well.  I expect him to know Me when I return for him.” We don’t think of our children that way, but it reality that is just what the Lord has done for us by blessing us with children.  He has entrusted an eternal soul to our keeping.  What type of school would the Lord want our children to attend? Which type of school is best for our children’s eternity?

“God places children in families; families are where they belong.  Children do not belong to the “society” at large, nor the ‘state’. The Bible states clearly that our children are loaned to us, and that God still considers them to be His. God gives parents both the authority and the responsibility over their children’s education.”  (Klicka, The Heart of Homeschooling.)

Yes, our children are a gift from God.  It is our responsibility to educate our children in a way that honors Him.  Knowing that every idle word our child is exposed to, every philosophy and “theory” taught as fact, every fact omitted, every bit of the content of our children’s education is our responsibility—is a frightening thought.

“Many parents have concluded that it is actually easier to teach their children at home than it is to spend hours deprogramming and re-teaching the truth.” (paraphrased from Klicka, The Heart of Homeschooling.)

A Child of Mine  I will lend you, for a little time, A child of mine, He said. For you to love the while he lives, And mourn for when he’s dead. It may be six or seven years, Or twenty-two or three. But will you, till I call him back, Take care of him for Me? He’ll bring his charms to gladden you, And should his stay be brief, You’ll have his lovely memories, As solace for your grief. I cannot promise he will stay, Since all from earth return. But there are lessons taught down there, I want this child to learn. I’ve looked the wide world over, In search for teachers true. And from the throngs that crowd life’s lanes, I have selected you. Now will you give him all your love, Nor think the labour vain. Nor hate me when I come To take him home again? I fancied that I heard them say, ‘Dear Lord, Thy will be done!’ For all the joys Thy child shall bring, The risk of grief we’ll run. We’ll shelter him with tenderness, We’ll love him while we may, And for the happiness we’ve known, Forever grateful stay. But should the angels call for him, Much sooner than we’ve planned. We’ll brave the bitter grief that comes, And try to understand. -Edgar A. Guest

The statistics show that only 15% of children from evangelical Christian families who attend public school will believe in Jesus after high school; 94%
of homeschooled children will.  Will your child grow up to be a Christian? 

If we are honest with ourselves, we cannot escape the fact that public schools are no longer a safe place for children academically, physically, or most important of all, spiritually. …Parents may choose to delegate the authority to train their children to someone else (an institution), but they can never delegate the responsibility…Many of us take this responsibility so seriously that we believe we must retain the authority by homeschooling our children and being their primary teachers. -The Heart of Homeschooling, by Christopher Klicka.

 

        Who has (or should have) the final word on how or where your children are educated?  Who should control the content of your child’s education?

             Since children belong to parents, not the state, of course parents should have the final word on how and where their children are educated. However, not every government agrees with this.  Many countries believe that the society at large should have a say in how children are raised, so that the children grow
up to be “proper citizens” who THINK the right way (worldview).

Sadly, this type of thinking is becoming more and more prevalent in our society.  Many of the government school curriculums today are becoming less “fact” oriented, and more “thought” oriented.  Outcome-based education is all about teaching our children how to think—what type of attitudes to have about the world, government, personal rights, and even religion…often the “outcome” that is expected is with direct odds with Christian values.  Coming to a school
near you:  “Gay pride” day, mental health screenings, internationally set “benchmark” standards, and much more.

Recent laws require the government schools to downplay the traditional family, and promote alternative lifestyles.  These lifestyles are presented a perfectly normal and acceptable.  Any dissenting voices are considered to be “intolerant hate-speech”. Recently, here in California, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that when parents place their children in a public school, they forfeit any right to determine what or how their children are taught.  In many areas, parents don’t even have the right to “opt out” of lessons they deem inappropriate.

It is vital, now more than ever, that parents maintain control of the CONTENT of their children’s education, lest children be taught, and come to believe, lies.  The issues of sexual education and indoctrination, evolution, humanism, religion, civics and government, and worldview demand it.

Parents are responsible to God for the content of their child’s education. Those who are responsible should make the final decisions about what is best for their child. No amount of pressure from friends, family or the government should change this.

© 2010, 2011 Susan Lemons all rights reserved. Portions of this post are exerpted from Homepreschool and Beyond and are used with permission. Copyrighted materials may not be re-distributed or re-posted without express permission from the author.