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If you have been around homeschooling for a while, you have read at least a few articles that urge upon newcomers a list of reasons for teaching their children at home. For us old-timers, the list is beyond familiar. It has become a sweet old song we can’t quite get out of our heads. The public schools have kicked God out of the classroom.The list above is not exhaustive. I provide it only to give you the flavor of a typical article on the subject. All of these common benefits are fine, but what are the bedrock reasons for teaching children at home? Proverbs 1 tells us that, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” This pithy statement simply means that any education worthy of the name begins with knowing and fearing God. The Scriptures make it crystal clear that it is parents who are responsible for making sure that the child fears God, and this obviously begins at home. God was addressing parents when He said, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:6-9Did you catch that? “You shall teach them diligently to your children.” It is God’s design that the earliest and most important education will be accomplished at home by the parents. Have parents discharged their duty when they have taught their children to fear God? Can they then send them off to the public schools for math, science, and sociology? Hardly. We already know that God created everything, both visible and invisible, and He is sovereign over all. No fact exists without reference to God as Creator. Every word that God speaks is illumination (education) for us. He is the light of the world. Nature, even in its fallen state, reveals the power and wisdom of God to us. How then, having begun well, can we send our children to those who do not permit God to enter the classroom? It follows that what God shows us, whether in His Word or in nature, we are to show to the next generation. The earliest and most direct path is from parent to child, and this is the order that God established. While God did not say that parents must be their child’s only teacher, the responsibility for the endeavor was placed squarely upon their shoulders. Parents may delegate some teaching duties to others, but they may not delegate their ultimate responsibility for the kind of education their child receives. We have seen that homeschooling is a perfect fit for God’s mandate to Christian parents. Christian parents who teach their children at home have the best environment and the best opportunity to train up children whose hearts will be tuned to the very heart of God. A knowledge of facts is fine. The ability to think critically is wonderful. Sprinkling your conversation with literary references is great. Before and beyond all that, however, God seeks a broken and contrite heart, a heart that has been taught to desire what He desires, a heart driven to hear Him, to obey Him, and to worship Him alone. That is the ultimate goal of any educational endeavor. As a new school year approaches, I invite you to rededicate yourself to the most important reasons you homeschool. Sincerely, Mark L. Beuligmann, M.S. Ed. Administrative Director Christian Liberty Academy School System |
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