Let me say this: I love teachers. I love public school teachers. Some had great influence on my life and I still consider great friends. This is not about them. This is a battle cry to parents to restore the God-given purpose in their home that the government has wanted to take away.
This list could be 3 times as long. I don't have enough time to write it all. Maybe there will be updates or revisions. But for now - a Manifesto on the Biblical Principal of Discipleship within the Home.
Reasons why Christian Parents Should Homeschool:
- Education is the job of the parents, not the job of the government
- Proverbs 22:6 - "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."
- Religious Education is not provided in the public school.
- Deuteronomy 11:18-19 "Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."
- Kids in homeschool are smarter.
- If you look at the test scores above, you will see that the "average" public school student scores in the 50th percentile. However, the "average" home school student scores in the 80th and above percentile on standardized tests.
- Students are taught to teach themselves.
- Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire - (Commonly attributed to W.B. Yeates) You have to ask yourself what is the goal of your child's education? In public schools, they are taught information, then asked to regurgitate information, resulting in a really bad method of life-long learning. In most home-schools settings, children are able to learn according to their own methods, and it provides time for interest, creativity, and more free-reading time. "Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day: Teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime."
- Children should not have hours and hours of homework.
- I can remember in high school, catching the bus at 6:10 in the morning, which means I work up about 5:15. Then I would be in school all day until 2:45. After that would be baseball practice or games till sometimes 8:00 at night. And once I got home, my family had already eaten dinner so I would eat by myself. Finally, I would have to stay up till 11:00 o'clock studying and doing projects. <----- This is stupid. I want my childhood back, where I could have enjoyed this phase of life. I ended up falling asleep in almost every class because of this type of schedule. Now, I had friends who were home-schooled and guess how long it took them to complete ALL their work for the day..... 3 hours. They would start their work at 9:00 and finish by 12:00. Then they would have the rest of the day to BE A KID. Why is it that a kid spends ALL DAY in public school, and is STILL assigned homework. Do they not know a kid has to mow the yard when they get home, or help their dad fix their mom's car, or go to ball practice, or help take care of their little sibling. Public School has killed the family unit, by creating so much extra in life and so much pressure, that what was once the purpose of the family is now owned by a Corporation known as the Government.
- Jesus called us to make Disciples, not college Graduates.
- Your job as a Christian parent is to raise up a child who will be a disciple and make disciples. If you need evidence of this, please reference Matthew 26:18. A normal Christian family gets maybe 3 hours of Christian instructing a week: Sunday School, Sunday Service, and maybe Wednesday nights. But for 40 hours a week, the Government has dictated what your child should be learning and this includes: Evolution, "Sex - Education", and that the Bible is not the most important book in all history. The best sex-education your child can receive is seeing their mother and father in a faithful and monogamous relationship.
- You are the Most powerful influence in the life of your child
- There is more to education than books, test, speeches, and projects. Subjects like character, prayer, morality, and and servanthood are ultimately more advantageous to the career of life of your child than science and math. One of the smartest man I ever knew was a successful business man. He married an incredible lady who is currently mayor of a bustling town. He was the most faithful servant at the church he attended, and was well known throughout the community for his heart, ethic, and love for Christ. Most interestingly of all; He could not read. In no way am I advocating illiteracy, but I am saying that the qualities that carried this man through life were not based on Education. They were based on virtue.
Your child needs virtue more than they need the APA guide for style and grammar. Your child needs your constant and visible example in their life more than they need to know when Columbus sailed the ocean blue. All of those other things are valuable, but they are secondary to God's primary purpose for you in the life of your child - "Training up a child in the way they should go."
I'm sure there will be a lot of feedback on this, and a lot of disagreement. This is my heart and what God has laid on it. Ultimately, we give an account of what we did with what the Holy Spirit has shown us.
Whoever wrote this should have proof read his/her work. Statement 5 I think you should have WOKE up not WORK up. Hope you aren't teaching English with the homeschool group. Just sayin.
ReplyDeleteActually I should explain the background on that. The reason I was up so early was because I fed the chickens, gathered their eggs, made sure wood was split for the fire that day, and then walked a 1/4 mile to the bus stop. So in our family you always awoke to do work. Therefore we coined the term "work up" as in meaning: have to get up so early to do work.
DeleteSecondly, "statement 5 I think" is not correct English. It would have been more proper to say "I think, in statement 5, you should have written...
Lastly, you would not say "woke" up because the verb "wake" is something you do to someone else. You would say "we would awaken, or awake at 5:15." That is of course if you were not using familiar terminology of the family such as "work up." But then again aren't the quirky things in our families what make them so much fun? ;)
I hope that is not the only thing you got from this. Just sayin.
ReplyDeleteGreat article!
ReplyDeleteThoughtfully written.
Thanks for being a voice for homeschooling!
Do you plan on homeschooling your children?
ReplyDeleteYes Kelly, we do plan on homeschooling. Do you homeschool your children?
ReplyDeleteI did for 4 years. My 10 year old started public school this year in 4th grade. Homeschooling is awesome, I miss it. Love seeing more and more parents making that decision.
ReplyDeleteJesse, I feel like your point in number 3 isn't a fair comparison. Most kids who are homeschooled are not from low-income or extremely disadvantaged families, like many of the kids who attend public schools are. I'm not saying that everyone who homeschools is rich (in fact, they probably live off one income and try very hard to stretch their dollars), but I think there is a selection bias in that statistic.
ReplyDeleteI think it's awesome that you and Tyler are going to homeschool your kids. I also think it is awesome when Christians raise up godly children and send them into the mission field of public schools and universities. For example, you were a very positive influence for Christ at Central.
This article was a good read and I think you make some good points. Be encouraged!
You are exactly right Aaron. Not everyone can afford it. But there are many people that can but won't because they are not willing to make the sacrifice to make it possible.
DeleteThat being said, it is easier to control the academic environment. If the sole purpose was scholastic achievement, the homeschooling I think is the better option since the teacher to pupil ratio is greater (of course) but also since they aren't being taught on a level that reaches the average student. A homeschool student could progress as fast as they want. I know a 15 year old girl in Concord who is now in College because she already finished all her high school curriculum.
And I appreciate the compliments. I think the greatest academic progress occurs during the early years. It is very much a possibility to homeschool through 5th grade or middle school, but then send them out into high school with a mission.
Hope you are well bro.
In what you wrote you stated the "average" public school student scores in the 50th percentile but less than 10 percent of the us kids are in home school and most of the kids in the us go to public school and an aver age is the totl of all the values devided by how many values given ...so if just lets say 15 percent of public school kids took advance placement classes your chart would be wrong the chart o survey what ever you want to call it has a bias that is accidentaly there there would have to be the same amount of home school kids as public school kids for it to be correct ....i agree home school robs kids of religion but the survey is wrong
ReplyDeleteInteresting points. I will say that I have never been much of a fan of home school but I don't have any kids and my wife is a public school teacher. So keep that in mind when reading my comment...
ReplyDeleteWhat about the socialization aspects of a traditional school setting? Yes, the point of school is to learn about the subjects but there is more to it than that. Working in groups teaches too. As does exposure to other kinds of people. What about "being in the world but not of the world"? In my experience it is that home schooled kids are socially awkward... maybe that was just those I met.
As a diciple, you will encounter an infinte amount of different people and you will need to know how to communicate with them. "To the poor, I became poor, to the drunkard, I be came a drunkard..."
I will also say that I am far from an expert in the subjects required to make a proper education and I doubt that most of the parent teachers are either (past 4th or 5th grade).
I do agree that there needs to be a total shift in the definition/idea of success. There is certainly more to life than a high paying job, especially if you are a Christian. We are only on this earth for a short time and then the judgment. It is too often that we pursue unworthy things in place of God and His kingdom.
That being said, home school certainly has it's benefits for the spiritual development for a child. Daily devotionals can be added to the routine regardless of where the kid is educated.
All of my rambling aside, I guess the prevailing thoughts in my head are the socialization of your child, the home should be full of the Holy Spirit and it is up to the parents to instill that, "be in the world but not of the world," "it is a fool who says 'there is a lion outside so I am staying in'"
At some point your child will be an adult and out on their own. They need to be ready.
That is the most frequent oppositional statement about the social development of the child. I'll give you an example. Currently, my wife works from the home several nights a week which allows her to keep our daughter at home during the day. Three times a week, our daughter is around all different types of people at church. She starts swim lessons next week which will be during the day, then in the spring she will start taking dance classes two nights a week. While at church, she has a different adult working with her every week. Then she will learn to interact with kids at swim class, then she will meet all her dance class teachers and friends.
DeleteIf you think about K-5 public school, you are around the same 20-25 kids and the same teacher everyday. My premise is, if the parents aren't socially awkward to begin with, there will be PLENTY of social interaction. I actually feel like homeschooling increases the possibility for interaction in more variety of settings.
Secondly, what would socially awkward mean? I think we see a lot of kids today that are socially backward. They disrespect adults, teachers, coaches.
Oh and recently it is now allowed that homeschool kids can play sports for the local public school. That is a great plus.