Christian parents give lots of reasons why they don’t homeschool their children. Perhaps the one that is the most unfortunate is the belief that teaching our children is something that they are not qualified for, that the great responsibility of teaching our children is far too important to entrust to parents. Better to send Suzie to school and have a 23 year old first year stranger with a bachelors degree in education handle that task.
Let me just point some things out…
God gave you those children (Psa 127:3).
God gave you the mind you have and the mouth with which you speak (Exo 4:11).
God has commanded us to be the teachers of our children (Deu 6:7; Eph 6:4).
Did God command us to teach our children and yet not give us the ability to do so? This isn’t salvation where we needed a substitute. Teaching children is not designed to have a vicarious substitutionary atonement in the form of a different adult with an education degree. In fact just the opposite is true. There is no one more qualified to teach your children than you. There are a lot of great public school teachers out there. There are also a lot of really poor public school teachers that are protected by the teacher’s union. That is irrelevant to the Christian. Regardless of your education or lack thereof, there is no one better suited or more qualified to teach your children. Far more importantly, there is no one else who has been commanded by God to carry out this vital task. What are we to say to God when we make an account for how we carried out that mandate? Well, thanks for the suggestion God, but we decided that in spite of what you have said, Mrs. Whipple at Jowlsburg Elementary was more suited to the task?
It isn’t about degrees, or whether or not the school system is a “good one” or whether or not the school teacher is a Christian or even that the public school system by nature is hostile to Biblical truth. It is about who has been charged with teaching our children, and it isn’t the nice people at the local public school. It is us.
6 comments:
The worst thing that I've ever done (well, one of 'em anyway) was to send my kids to a public school.
Just a terrible mistake and I wish I could do it all over again.
I really think it's great that you feel as strongly as you do about homeschooling.
I personally have trouble believing that someone is going against the Bible when they choose not to homeschool. I guess I've always interpreted Eph 6:4 exactly like it reads- teaching children about God and Jesus, spiritual things, right from wrong, etc.
I know a lot of people are very passionate on this topic, so I'm not trying to start anything- just give my thoughts. :)
I was speaking with an Army recruiter and he told me a public school teacher in Northern Michigan failed the ASVAB. You have to get a whopping 30 to pass. He probably was a Math Teacher in the Public School.
Fantastic post! I can't agree more! I have been homeschooling now for 10 yrs, and even though it is time consuming, exhausting and a sheer labor of love, the alternative is not something I am able to even consider. God gave me these children to teach - when God gives us a command He will equip us!
Great post!
Gloria
If Christian parents are serious about raising their precious children for the Lord Jesus Christ, Then do not send them to Public School!
God will provide a way for His own who are looking to Him and asking Him to show them how.
Our God is faithful and all powerful.
We are the ones with the problem of lack of faith and prayer.
Parents are missing out in a huge way in their children s lives and in their own future if they send their children away to Public School instead of keeping them at home to be educated.
We are sending a confusing message to our children if we thrust them off into the world to learn the way of the world, and then at home tell them to keep true to God.
Oh the depths this discussion could take!
To sum it up.. By all means, keep your dear children out of the wicked Public Schools. We are parents are responsible to God for how we raise them....
We need to be passionate for the Lord Jesus Christ and teach our children to look to Him and not to the world!
Very good post, thank you!
Yeah, one of my pet peeves is the notion that a person has to have a teaching certificate to be qualified to teach their kids.
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