Posted on 08/26/2007 7:53:03 PM PDT by jern
I know lots of people have struggled with the question of whether they should send their kids and let them be salt and light, or keep them home and protect them.
School can work if the kids are very strong in their faith; they know who they are and what they believe and don’t really care what others think about them. That seems much more likely to happen raised in a homeschool environment because there’s no peer pressure to dress, act, think, look a certain way.
There are lots of opportunities to be salt and light without sending the kids to school; community activities is one and simply living in a neighborhood is another. My kids have always had neighborhood friends and played with them after school and on days off. Our neighbors knew where we stood and that we were Christians.
The best way to give an education is one-on-one; which is why homeschooling is so successful.
Our current State-side base is southern Indiana. I think the story may not be quite as good in Louisville, but you might correct me, as we’ve been working abroad for quite a while.
It is not so much an issue of 'rogue indoctrination' for me.I don't see 'teaching' as just academics. When I look at 'teaching' kids, it is more than just science, math, reading, etc. that they are learning. They are learning how the authority figure in their life at that moment handles life situations. They are overhearing conversations that two teachers may be having, whether it be Mr. Jones and Ms. Peachtree, or my wife and myself. They are seeing how Ms. Peachtree handles frustration, envy, strife and maybe anger. Maybe they get a glimpse in to the life of Mr. Jones, how he handles those things, or maybe even sexual temptation.
I want, no, I desire, to be the one that gets to teach my sons and daughters those things. I remember taking my oldest son out to the hardware store one afternoon. The girl at the register looked like she just didn't want to be there working. I intentionally made it my goal to make sure that she was smiling and laughing before we left. As we walked away I stopped and told my son to turn around and watch. The next customer got a big greeting grin from ear to ear. In the car on the way home my son said, "Dad? How do you do that?" I said, "Prayer and practice." On the way home we stopped for a snack. I turned to him and said, "Your turn."
There are thousands of books in the world waiting to be read and studied. My oldest son is only 13. All the academics will fall in to place when God wants them too. He will be CLEP-ing out of 3-4 college courses this year plus doing an internship at a computer store. He's on track to have his Masters in Computer Science by the age of 17. Oddly enough, that is not as important to us.
But the real learning comes when he sees his father drive 10 miles back to the Secretary of States office to apologize for getting angry at the clerk.
If I ever send my kids to a school, I will have to spend a lot of time getting to know each teacher. I need to know what they believe, why they believe, and how their beliefs influence their core values, or worldview. I'd want to see in their lives the residual effects of the parenting their mother and father had on them, and also the effects on their own kids.
I wish them success! There are several good Baptist schools in my area.
Homeschool support groups are also a source of interaction. In FL you can opt in to a public school to participate in what you choose. God has given Tim Tebow a huge huge opportunity and only God knows truly how many Timmy is now reaching with the gospel. His parents raised all of them with their priority being the childrens’ character.
We all need to pray for God to help us do what is in His will for our children. I fear tho that many who claim Christ’s name shut off that channel with God just as they closed their wombs to his blessings. There are some things folks just don’t give to God because it will create a situation they really don’t desire to be in.
I got to see “Little Bear” Wheeler once speak at a homeschool convention. He was a real hoot!
My husband and I won’t consider anything but homeschooling. We don’t have kids yet but that was settled before we got married. Not even a great private school. I don’t want anyone but us raising our kids.
I have a lot of the books Little Bear’s publishing company has printed. They’re excellent choices and very good quality printing and binding.
Better a “hail Mary” than a “life partner” Mary.
“we think it’s time we took ownership of our children’s education.”
reasonable words in the face of liberal militancy, hatred, scorn and arrogance. (one can only imagine what it’s like in the congress; arrogant, militant liberal/communist operatives, doing what they can to destroy relgious faith and install atheism with all of its pitfalls.)
Among Protestants, only the Lutherans and the Christian Reformed set up parochial schools much like the Catholics did. These denominations were largely made up of immigrants, as were the Catholics. Protestant denominations with roots in the British Isles made a fatal error in the 19th Century when they willingly turned over the education of their young people to government through the public school system. They made a deal with the secularists who promoted the public schools: the local school boards, which with a few exceptions were dominated by British-descended Protestants, would control the public schools so that the local civic leaders, who usually belonged to these churches, often Episcopalians and Presbyterians in the Northeast and the Great Lakes region and Baptists and Methodists in the South and the Border states, would remain in charge.
The secularists reneged on their deal with the British descended Protestants. Centralization of decision making at the state and Federal levels and judicial rulings that forbade prayer and even the hint of religion in public schools undermined the autonomy of the locally run public school system. The rise of theological liberalism among Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, and even Baptists (several major Southern Baptist seminaries were moderate to liberal before the 1980s) left the clergy with little basis or inclination to denounce the new dominance of secular humanism.
What may thwart private school formation is that the middle class whites who are the main audience for such schools tend to flock to the newest suburb with the most attractive school facilities and with relatively few poor people and non-English speakers. Some of this may change as the suburbs age. For example, Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas that was built out in the 1990s, is the home of several large private schools, including the first Catholic high school (Pope John Paul II High School) to be built in the Dallas area in 30 years.
I know that Southern has had some issues - my brother was in seminary there at one point. But several guys from our church who have been called have gone to that seminary — I believe that they have worked through some of those issues (particularly inerrancy and ordination of women) and they conservative side came out on top. I MAY be mistaken, but I think that’s the last that I heard. I’ll have to look into it! :-)
Your observations are very interesting; even captivating. I think also pretty accurate.
let me mention something about Baptist church polity. Several pastors that I worked under would also say that Baptist churches are Congregational in government.
Very large number of Independent Baptist churches, however, do not operate typically so. Many Ind. Baptist churches now conduct business with the consensus of the heads of households.
Our churches on the foreign field (each autonomous once a national pastor is in place, and some even before that), are trained to use the heads of the households as representative of their families. Women do not attend the church business meetings. (( I’ll now probably get some nasty responses from females. )) It is not congregational, it is “republican.” We believe a “republican” governed church to be more consistent with the Pauline church Epistles. Since we teach about marriage and home life directly from the very same Epistles, the teachings dovetail very nicely.
We are independent Baptists.
:) Thanks!
Ironic you’d post an article by “Little Bear” .. he lives in a town near us! In fact he came up in conversation at our homeschool picnic on Saturday... ;)
In a way, I disagree. If we just turn away and do nothing to stop what we don’t like, are we really doing the right thing? If Muslims are allowed to observe their religion in public schools then why should Christians accept anything less?
We all pay for public schools and we should have every right to say what they will and won’t teach there. It is a good thing that the Bible is now being taught in some public schools.
I think that is a great and honorable thing that you want to do and that God will honor that commitment! He is faithful!
LOL shhh ... I have a secret! I have never been to a home school convention! With 13 more years to go I don’t know if I should start! I’d love to hear him speak, I’m sure he must be very powerful, convicting, and encouraging1
Truly, depend on God every day and learn to be flexible!
Beautiful!
Thank you beez, well said. We take the same approach with our children.
A very interesting analysis. I studied legal marriage for my master's thesis, and also came away with the impression that the entrenchment of Protestants in the U.S. establishment pre-1960 blurred the understanding of the Bible and conflated Christianity with political power among the Episcopalians and old-line Protestant denominations.
The Episcopal church in America is an offshoot of the Church of England that was born out of the desire of Henry 8th to get a divorce, which the Catholic Pope had forbidden. The Lutherans came out of open rebellion against the Catholic establishment, et cetera. These strains of "I can do what I want", coupled with the vast resources and opportunities of the American continent, ran deep and resulted in a Protestant political power often quite divorced from Biblical standards.
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