Mom's Blog - He is faithful!!

Obviously we believe it is the best option.  While we have met some very well behaved children who have been educated in christian schools, and we have met some very badly behaved children who are being home educated, we have not found this to be the norm.  We have observed that on the whole, children who spend large amounts of time with children their own age are not as mature or well behaved as children who spent a great amount of time with multiple ages or with adults, such as in the family setting.  We have found that children who spend a lot of time with their peers, come to appreciate the opinions of those peers more than the opinions of their parents in areas such as music, dress standards, and standards of mature behavior. 

On another note, academics are important.  We all want our children to know how to read, write and do arithmetic well.  This will help them function better in society.  However, did God create all children to do the same job?  Why give them the same cookie cutter education?  Proverbs instructs us to train up a child in the way he should go.  Should all children go in the exact same direction?  We believe in praying and discerning God’s direction for each child, and educating him accordingly.  Of my seven children, two show strong dyslexic tendencies.  Learning to read was challenging for them.  The older of the two has become a good reader.  The younger reads very well at times, but has periods of struggle.  The older child is the one we call on if we can not get something started, such as a car or lawn mower.  The younger is the one we hope to have care for us if we are ill.  One of them makes delicious bread for the family.  One of them earns money to give to those in need.  Tell me, is academics the most important thing in life for these two wonderful people?  I think not.  If I had sent them to school would the teachers have loved and cared for them like I do?  Would they have been able to spend one-on-one time with them?  Would other children have loved them like their siblings do?  Would they have had the same determined patience to help them achieve? Or would my children have come to believe that they were stupid or slow or in some way not making the grade?

And then there is the one child who could read it and immediately understand and inculcate the material.  Would he have been held back with the other children who took longer to understand the material?  Would he have gotten a distorted view of his intelligence, thinking he was smart and perhaps somehow more special than another child?  And what about the other four who have strengths and weaknesses?  Would they have gotten what they need?  I believe they need an appreciation for the creator of individuals who has a specific plan for each life and equips that one accordingly.

Give me a child that has been taught virtue, and that one can be taught whatever they need to know to do the job they were created for.

I have heard the questions.  Do your children know how to use the computer?  Check out our websites and you tell me.  What about socialization?  Our children, ages 13-23 are leaders.  They teach classes, assist in classes, on bus routes, go door-to-door with gospel tracts and flyers, go to nursing homes, speak in schools, preach.  What do you think?  Are they well socialized?

I do believe there is a place for the Christian school.  Many times I have wished churches without Christian schools had one, especially for their bus children.  It is ideal to get a newly saved bus child out of the public school as quickly as possible.  It is a rare child who can handle the pressure.  There may be other cases where a home education is out of the question, and the Christian school is a great blessing.

Then there are the public schools, temples of the religion of evolution.  The faith they teach is one of humanistic godlessness and inordinate chance.  I definitely would skip this choice to educate my child.  Why would I allow someone to attempt brain washing in another religion for twelve or more years?

Deuteronomy 6:4-7

Hear, O Israel:  The LORD our God is one LORD:  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.