I’ve had some thoughts recently about homeschooling, and I thought I would share them with you. Perhaps they are a bit disorganized; for this I apologize. But they are issues close to my heart. Perhaps one of these days I will organize them into a series of well thought-out essays.
I was homeschooled all the way through high school, and I value that investment my parents made in me very highly. I also intend to do the same with my children. I have come to the conclusion that homeschooling isn’t just another educational option. It’s a way of life, which stands out starkly against the backdrop of our plummeting culture.
The best strategy for homeschooling, in my opinion, is to encourage and instill in a child a love of learning and the motivation to teach himself. If a child is always wanting to learn something, his parents will almost never have to make him study. Also, such an attitude will equip that child for life.
I understand that homeschooling isn’t some catch-all cure for what ails families in our nation today. Homeschooling, in and of itself, does not a wonderful Christian family make. There are some families that send their kids to private schools, and even public schools, that are in better shape than some homeschooling families. However, I believe that homeschooling, at its best, will far exceed the very best equivalent private school program. Homeschooling has more potential than any other form of learning for children. The reason, I believe, is simple: God wired children to learn from their fathers and mothers, in their home environments. He did not design children to leave their homes early every morning, sit in a class room with peers and listen to a teacher lecture most of the day, and then come home in the late afternoon and work on homework all night. That’s something our culture created, and I think in this case it’s an unnatural, unhealthy creation. God didn’t design us to work, function or think that way. The best place for a child to learn and develop is in the context of his family at home.
That’s an ideal, anyway. And I think it’s an ideal that should be pursued and cultivated.
Homeschooling is only part of the ideal family model. It is not a complete solution. It can only ever be as good as the family itself. A father and mother must also be committed to loving the Lord, loving each other and loving their children, and bringing up their children to love the Lord. One of the main functions of families in this fallen and broken world is to raise a godly generation. This is so much more important than being academically ahead of private and public-school counterparts. What will matter in eternity, GPAs and smarts, or living for the Glory of God?
Homeschooling is a tool. It gives a family liberty to live a high level of a family-centered life that would be impossible if the children were shipped off to school every day. It gives Christian parents a strong ability to pass the One True Faith on to the next generation, an ability that, I believe, is stronger than it would be if their children went to even a solid private Christian School.
My parents have passed their faith and values on to me. If the Lord should ever bless me with a wife and children, I will also pass these on to them. I will homeschool them. I will not send them off to a classroom and pay someone else to teach them. That’s not the way God designed it to be. We will live together as a family, and face life’s challenges together, loving, laughing, and learning together all the way. And then, when I am old, should the Lord tarry and give me breath, I hope to watch my children pass on the faith to their children. I would have no greater joy than to see that my children walk in the Truth.