When I first started homeschooling, I knew nothing about what I was really getting into. I had a friend and a sister-in-law who both held Masters in Education degrees and both of them told me, "homeschooling is a completely different animal [than classroom teaching]." All I knew for sure was that the Lord would be teaching me a lot more than I would be teaching my children--and He has.
As a new homeschooler, I jumped on the first band wagon that came my way. I heard one of the big proponents of "classical education" speak at the very first homeschool conference Matt and I ever attended. Having graduated from college with a BA in English Literature, I was completely smitten with this woman. She had an unbelievable grasp of the English language (in both the written and spoken word) and she was (and still is) an English professor at a prestigious university. She also was home educated. I naively thought, "If I follow the program this woman has laid out to the letter, my kids will turn out just like her."
Fast forward two months into my first year of homeschooling. Nearly every book I read to the children from this woman's list of "must reads" was a disaster. I had to keep stopping to explain to my then seven and four year olds, "That's not what God says in the Bible." Finally the Holy Spirit got through to me and I returned the offending books to the library and put the books I had purchased high on the book shelf. For the rest of that year, our curriculum consisted mainly of Bible reading.
In the years since, Matt and I have tried, to the best of our ability to make God's Word our top priority in our homeschool. At the expense of other "good" activities, we've made family participation in Bible study our number one goal. That's not to say we're perfect, but God has honored our intention to put Him in first place in our family. We concentrated on the Truth, with the belief that our kids would someday be able to discern Truth from error. Bank tellers who handle real money all day every day can easily tell when a counterfeit bill passes through their hands. Matt and I are beginning to see the fruit that this method of teaching produces.
This past summer Grace read Homer's The Odyssey and she actually enjoyed it. (All I remember about that book was how much I hated it.) I knew she was capable of discerning that Greek mythology was just that--mythology--but I still questioned her, just to be sure. "Grace, you know that people really believed that stuff, but you know it's not true, right?" "Of course I do, Mom," was her reply. Just checking.
Our family recently heard a pastor who incorporated some pagan materials and philosophy into his sermon. Grace turned to me and gave me a look like, "What on earth is this guy talking about?" She had spotted the counterfeit right away because she knew the "real deal."
All that to say this, the Lord has taught Matt and me that the relationships we build with our children and the relationship we help our children to build with Jesus Christ are preeminent. The Greeks and Romans, whose educational methods form the foundation of classical education, saw education as simply the filling of the brain with facts, figures, grammar rules, dates in history, etc. (This is a simplified definition of classical education, for a more thorough definition click here.)
The Hebraic model of education is much different. God says, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Deut. 6:4-7
In the above passage, the teaching occurs all day, within the context of the parent/child relationship. The Lord showed Matt and me very early on, that this is what He had in mind for our homeschool. In many ways, it has been the most natural thing in the world, an extension of what we had already been doing with our children since they were teeny tiny. On the other hand, Matt and I have questioned ourselves at times. We've even been questioned by others about our methods of teaching. The Lord has been patient to show me how much the pursuit of education has been an idol in my life. That's not to say that Matt and I view education as bad and that we don't pursue academics at all with our children, obviously we do. It's just to say that education in and of itself is not the end all and be all.
As a friend and I were talking on the phone recently, we both agreed that the bottom line reason we are homeschooling is this: that our children would name Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, no matter what the cost. If that means that our kids aren't academic superstars, winning national spelling bees and the like, then so be it. Our children are eternal beings with eternal souls. The world and Satan clamor to tell us otherwise, to tell us that there are much more important things that need our attention, including a world class education. Jesus said, "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Matt. 16:26
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