Homeschooling: Did you make the right choice?
(Sept 2006 TOS Newsletter)
Family Time
Are you wondering right about now if you made the right choice to homeschool your children this year? Let's see if I can help you answer that question. Our role as Christian parents as outlined in the Bible must ultimately dictate the answer, but let's look at the choices again: there's public schooling, private Christian schooling, and home education. Which is best for your child? We'll start with public school:
Public Schools
I am not merely talking about the school at the corner that seems so nice. I am talking about the entire institution of public education. This is an institution where every child has to flow with the program no matter what that program or what their learning style or what sexual preferences the teacher possesses. Every child must be subjected to tolerance education no matter what their religious beliefs. Deviant sex education is the norm. No child may pray. God may not be mentioned but may be and is mocked. The public school is, therefore, anti-God. Is this where a Christian parent is to place his child? If the Christian parent is to raise Christian children who have Christian worldviews, it would be foolish to place that child in an anti-Christian establishment. Okay, so we know public school is out. Whew, you made the right choice there. Now down to two more choices.
Christian Schools
While these schools are far superior to the public school institutions, are they the best choice for your child? Will they be taught true biblical doctrine? Will it match your doctrinal views or will you have to re-teach them at home anyway? Will they be taught "scientific" evolutionary thinking or a literal, Biblical, six-day creation? Having attended a Christian school myself while in high school, I know they will most definitely be taught all kinds of "social" structures including self-focused beauty pageants, dating foolishness, and sundry other not-to-be-mentioned things from all of those good "Christian" kids - those same kids you see at church that look and act just like the world so much that there is little or no difference. Should you allow your child to become a companion of fools and end up suffering harm? What if that homeroom teacher takes your child under his wing, only to have your child give her heart and attention to her instruction and despise yours if it doesn't match up? A better question would be, who exactly are the ones called in Scripture to be the teachers of children? None other than the children's own parents, plain and simple.
Again, you made the right choice to keep them or bring them home. Feel better? Just in case you're still not convinced, let's take a quick look at some benefits of home education:
- You are obeying God's principles laid out in Scripture.
- You have the opportunity to provide your child with Biblical instruction.
- You are preparing warriors for the Kingdom rather than peer-attached social flunkies.
- Your children will be walking with the wise (you) and growing wise.
- Your relationship with your child will be strengthened and not torn apart or away with other influences.
- Your child will be protected from mandated tolerance and sexual education as well as peer pressure relating to dating, dress, etc.
- Bullies, scoffers, deviants, and most things causing psychological harm will not be present.
- Your child will be socially adept above their peers and academically proven to score above all other school choices.
- Your child will be taught a Christian worldview under your watchful eye.
- Your child will be home with you where he or she belongs!
In an effort to keep this short, I will stop there, but the reasons are nearly endless for choosing home education.
Be relieved, be proud, be blessed - you made the right choice!
CREDITS:
Deborah L. Wuehler
Devotional & Enews Editor
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC
www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com
Buzz Words: homeschool, comparison, private school, public school, children, parenting, learning, encouragement, opinion, family, schooling, homeschooling, America, TOS, kids, peer pressure, values, Christianity, Christian, doctrine, teaching, education, Bible, home
8 comments:
Thank you for posting this - I needed to read this today! As a graduate of a private school (K-12), I can totally agree with the author's statements about private schools.
Bev.
Yes! :)
And, of course, there is my favorite reason for homeschooling:
You can go to Disney anytime you want!
(I'm only half kidding)
But when the kids get out into the real world, will they be able to adapt to reality? When immigrants come from non-Western countries come to our countires, they have a hard time conforming to our standards.
Let kids be kids, do not let them become adults before they are ready. Do not be so paranoid about the world.
That's ironic, Corey, many homeschoolers are accused of not letting their children grow up. Which is it? I know part of the reason I homeschool is that I feel schools force children to grow up too soon. As for getting out into the real world, We ARE in the real world, everydaym school is the surreal world. Many of us don't do graduation ceremonies for the same reason. We're not graduating our child out of learning into the world, they've been learning IN the world the whole time.
I apologize for the typos! I changed direction with one of my sentences and didn't get it entirely correct. Here's what I was trying to say:
"As for getting out into the real world, we ARE in the real world everyday, school is the surreal world.
If my kids are not in the "real world", what are they in then? The "fake world"? Every kid leaving a home environment has an adjustment to make living on their own, going to college, getting a job, etc. Public school children are no exception to this rule. I agree that immigrants who come here have a harder time, but my kids aren't immigrants. They speak English. They won't have a hard time making their own way... and actually, they may even be ahead of the game. Some of the goals we have are these:
We want to instill in our children...
good work ethic
strong moral backbone
well-rounded understanding of cultures and geography
solid literature-based background
wisdom in stewardship (including how to manage their money and the ethics behind it)
love for others
awareness of issues in the world
understanding of politics & history
ability to manage a home
appreciation for nature
thankfulness so they can be happy
and many, many, many more goals...
I don't see how these things can hurt them when they grow up and move out.
My children have been on more field trips and have read more books than most college kids today. They know more about world geography than most college kids, too. The most important thing I can teach them, however, is the love of Christ. I'm not only educating minds, I'm educating souls. I am not letting them become adults before they are ready. I am protecting them from it. They are wonderful, innocent, blessed kids. I enjoy being around them so much that I actually cried the other night when they went to sleep over at a friend's house for the night.
I'm not paranoid about the world. I am scared about the future, yes... sad about the future for so many people in the world, yes... but I am not paranoid. I am a very rational, analytical person. I am a skeptic at heart. I know that seems strange for you to hear, coming from me as a Christian... but I was not won over so easily. I used to be an unbeliever. I'm so glad Jesus didn't give up, though. I like being who I am in Christ a LOT better than I liked being who I was before.
AMEN!!! Awesome list. I needed some homeschooling encouragement, thank you!!
This was my first visit to your blog.
I posted an article (written by someone else) about homeschooling on my blog, and got ripped apart. Yikes.
I really enjoyed your info.
Thanks for the encouragement Staci. I was afraid I would get ripped apart, but looks like this one slipped under the radar. ;) I have had my share of ripping (just check out any of my science and political posts comment sections!). I can relate!
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