Homeschooling has grown in popularity in the U.S., with an annual growth rate of 2%-8%. Why? Well, obviously people with values that are in opposition to the public school values wish to improve their children's education, and that's not limited to Christians. Other parents are interested in safety, freedom, stronger relationships with families, and allowing children to progress at their own pace. The truth is, however, that homeschooling is not an option for any family; it is mandatory. That is, it happens whether or not you intend it.
Proverbs says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it" (Prov 22:6). Because all parents teach their kids just by being there. They teach directly and by example. All children are products of their home lives. Parents model everything from daily hygiene and eating habits to husband/wife relationships, lifestyle Christianity (or the lack thereof), personal interactions, conflict management ... all sorts of daily skills required in life. Obviously, when we ship them off to schools and churches, others become their teachers as well, but parents remain their teachers for better or for worse. So Scripture commands, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Eph 6:4). God's Word says, "The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother" (Prov 29:15). Even God disciplines His children out of love (Heb 12:5-8). Homeschooling in this sense is commanded and inevitable.
Scripture gives commands to parents regarding the upbringing of their children. (There is, in fact, nothing in Scripture that approves foisting primary responsibility for training your children onto other sources.) Common sense warns that our children are largely affected by what they see at home. It would seem wise, then, for parents to take this task seriously and pay attention to what they are teaching their kids in everyday existence, because "when he is old he will not depart from it."
5 comments:
I'm glad I have a father that holds to this. Whenever the public school teachers would try to teach me something ridiculous, he'd be there to set me straight. And even today, when I have something I don't quite get, he's the first choice of where to get an answer.
David, it sounds like you have gleaned the wisdom of this quote from Mark Twain: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years." And the more passing decades you experience ahead, the wiser you’ll find him to be!
I appreciate the reminder in this post (beginning with the clever title) that we teach our children “directly and by example” and that our choice for how we live before our children has a lasting impact--for better or for worse. That really highlights the importance of our own walk with the Lord while raising our children (or interacting with grandchildren). It is tempting to claim Prov. 22:6 as an absolute guarantee that our godly example will automatically ensure our children’s future paths as dedicated believers themselves, but rather than a promise of “if this, then that,” that proverb holds out a warning for parents as much as it offers hopeful encouragement.
I was even more blessed than that, I never went through the first half of that.
The very notion that all education should be relegated to public school teachers (or the parochial teachers of my elementary school) never crossed the minds of my parents so far as I could see. They were educating my backside with almost superhuman regularity. The buck starts and stops with good parents. Mine were pretty good. I was a handful. May the rest in God's Peace.
Post a Comment