Okay....
Homeschooling blogs and authors ( who are Christians) often use this statistic when advocating for homeschooling. That "75 - 90% of kids lose their faith by the end of their freshmen year in college." Somehow they associate this to the type of schooling a child has gotten. In this case pointing out the folly of sending your kids to public school.
You know I just can't connect the dots inside that conclusion. Studies suggest time and time again that Christian parents are not training their kids in the faith. Parents take their kids to church but that's about it. There isn't spiritual training at home in most Christian homes.......parents aren't opening the Bible with their kids, talking about spiritual matters, training their kids to process things through a Biblical lens, praying with or for their kids, taking head on the myths of the culture ( like evolution, safe sex, tolerance) etc etc etc. That to me speaks volumes and is one of the underlying causes of kids falling away from the faith once they're on their own.
I don't see how schooling has much to do with keeping or losing faith. It's the purposefulness of the parents and the training that has to take place in the home. If we parents fail to do that we should expect to keep losing our young ones. Ultimately though in the end its up to our kids to embrace it or not, but parents are mandated to do everything they can.
There aren't guarantees but Proverbs 22:6 does offer this truistic statement .....
Proverbs 22:6 (NIV) "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
The Bible is comfortably silent on school choice. It doesn't say who should teach our kids in the academic arts. It does however command all parents to teach their kids about God, his ways and precepts, God's character, his works and ultimately the salvation of Christ.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NIV)
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Ephesians 6:4 (NLT)
4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.
Psalm 78:4-7 (New International Version)
4 We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
Deuteronomy 11:19 (NLT)
18“So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 19Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 20Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.
To me home school or public/private school parents don't hold a spiritual monopoly over the other. Rather our homes have an advantage if we stay true to how the Bible wants us to raise our kids over parents that don't follow God's advice. I would say that the stats between kids that we're raised from strong loving Christian homes are pretty similar when it comes to keeping the faith into young adulthood. Just an educated guess right now because I have yet to find research on that. But general studies do conclude that all kids have a better shot at keeping the faith if they we're taught it at home.
I guess this blog is a response to other bloggers who promote homeschool solely for Christian families. I've heard some pretty bad things......like...."public school is evil" it is the "devil's camp" or it's "prison for kids," or pretty much saying you love your kids less if you send your kids to school. Or the "exodus mandate" which declares it is a sin to send our kids to public school.
A. I think that attitude has killed a witness for Christ.
B. Such a viewpoint is false, seemingly to me being rooted in pride similar to the pharisees. Being in love with a system of man, rather than willingly honoring God with their lives, in this case honoring God in the system of education you use for your kids.
C. Such a view isn't rooted in scripture.
This topic is honestly near and dear to me lately. While we aren't choosing public school upfront for our kids and we aren't choosing to formally homeschool them either, I just have a desire to equip and encourage public school parents. There is a very vocal minority in the homeschool community that slams fellow Christian parents for choosing public school. Why not offer encouragement, listen to concerns, and offer things to equip them? Why limit what God can do in the hearts of their children or in their home? Even in their schools? Aren't we as Christian parents in the same pursuit for raising Godly kids/families? Aren't we in the same fight when it comes to protecting our kids from the toxicities of the world?
Believe me I know there are good and Godly reasons to homeschool your kids. I support your option. I also believe that Christian families can thrive inside the choice of public school as well. All in all the parents have to decide what's best, adjust when necessary, pray and give it all to God. After all God is the beginning of wisdom. (Proverbs 1:7, Psalm 111:10)
These have been my spiritual concerns on the claims of homeschool. Oh I believe homeschool students can and do thrive spiritually in their homes, but it took parents to foster that environment. Just like it takes parents to foster the same thing in homes that don't choose homeschool as the primary way to educate their children. This to me shouldn't even be a divisive issue among parents in the wider church. Thanks for reading.
I get this monthly newsletter from our MN Christian homeschoolers and so much of what I read..or if I attend the conference in April, is so far fetched. One year a friend and I went into one on vaccinations, of all things...we walked out after 10 minutes. I think that in most things, extremes are always wrong. Saying that your kid will go to hell if he attends public school might be true, but lets rattle off all the ps kids that are actually saved and see where that leads us. There are just as many homeschooled kids that are probably heading to hell too. Homeschooling is not a cure all or an answer to salvation! Only God changes our hearts, calls us to Himself, and saves us. Do I think HS furthers that end? Sure. And I will even say, I think it is harder for a child to remain on the straight and narrow in public school, however, I do not think it impossible. The only reason I say this is because when you home educate, you influence your child A TON. But you can influence your child, if time is used wisely at home, if they go to public school too. I just feel its harder. And it also depends on the school and what is being taught.
ReplyDeleteThis is a lengthy comment, but I was quite fearful, as you know, of sending my daughter to school. Do I like everything about it? No. I wish 5th grade boys weren't flirting with her. I wish they knew her as well as I did and didn't leave her sitting in the hall when she is supposed to be taking a test (they didn't know she was too scared to enter the room). I wish they didn't throw a bunch of random math facts at her but instead built upon what she does know. Those things annoy me for sure! But you know what, for every negative I can list a positive. She loves her teacher. her teacher seems to get her more motivated than I can. She enjoys the speech therapy and the social stuff, where as if I did it, she'd just melt down. So you know..there is no perfect anything except for God and that is where we should look. I don't like when people say you "should" do something unless it is biblical.
Ok lastly, I keep meaning to subscribe, but I cannot find your feed address. Any thoughts?
you know. I'm stupid. DUH. Google friend connect. I have my feeds all going to another address. Sorry...I got it figured out now!
ReplyDeleteConsidering that most Christian kids are NOT homeschooled, that point can be easily debunked. I was a Christian in high school and continued to walk with Christ throughout my public schooling, but I am very strong willed. I will never forget asking one of my teachers a question regarding evolution (which he was trying to pass as 100% fact). The teacher spent the rest of the time in class not answering my question.
ReplyDeleteI can see where the people you are mentioning are coming from- maybe they feel that in public school that there is less time to spend with your kids and influence than when homeschooling?
It's been interesting to find out that some of the people I know from my husband's work, church, and even MOPS were homeschooled as kids. I used to think homeschoolers (and their parents) were "weird", so it's kinda neat to find out friends were homeschooled and seeing that they are well adjusted and pretty cool people.
Anyway, I agree with MB that only God is perfect and that's where we should look. There's a lot of freedom in this area and we each have to make the decision about school as God has convicted us.
Morgan and MB thanks for the comments. At least we can all agree that it's God that changes hearts and minds, not a school system. Study after study still shows that kids are most influenced by their parents.
ReplyDeletePublic Schoolers have different challenges and blessings than homeschoolers. It's just my desire to equip them. There is a sea of books and resources for homeschoolers, not to mention co-ops, retailers catering to them, and many para-ministries to help with the HS journey. I've only found 2 books that encourage and equip public school parents for that journey. Says to me the church is failing to equip on that front.
Homeschoolers are just as weird or normal as there other school counterparts on my experience. I've seen some really Godly kids and some really ornery kids. I've seen homeschoolers thrive and I've also seen cases of homeschool neglect. One boy where I work was homeschooled and just started coming to shcool.....he's behind in every academic field and his social skills lack as well.From basic hygene to social interactions with students. Not the norm but that does happen. Just like there are bad public schools.
I just can't stand by in the "blogosphere" when I see some in the homeschool community bash their fellow Chrisitans for choosing public school for their families. Reminds me of the pharisees for slamming others who didn't follow their man made rules.
God wants our homes and relationships to be strong and Godly. While I am choosing private school, there will most likely be a time we land in our great public schools. Also I keep the HS option for review at any given time. Our school choice doesn't mean we honor God less or more, rather all of us should strive to honor God in our parenting and how we oversee our children's educaiton.
Homeschoolers are at a place in society, and rightly so, where they are empowered. I talk to many parents my age with kids not in school yet. It's taboo to talk about school choice, secretly many have told me they feel guilty if they choose public school, because there is a lot of pressure out there to now conform to the HS movement and its claims. I just tell them that there is no need for that, the guilt comes if you aren't "training them up" in the faith.
Studies show parents at wide in the church aren't doing that. Imagine the impact if just half of those parents started discipling at home as scripture commands?
Thanks again guys.
Hello. This is an old blog, but I thought I'd respond anyway.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to give you a glimpse of what it can be like to be a HSer in Australia. Unlike HSers in the US, we are a rarity. So, we come across plenty of "interrogation". Most of the time people have a genuine curiosity, but there are many who want us to justify our reasons, display that our children fit with their idea of 'normal' socialistaion, and give an account of how our children's academic requirements are being met.
From my experience here, it's not the HSers looking down at christians who don't HS. My HS friends certainly don't go about telling others that they should HS. However,simply by being a HSer we are different, and there are many times where we end up having to defend our choice. After years of this it actually got me thinking - why don't the public/state schoolers ever have to defend their choice? I know you've tried to encourage those who don't HS, but what about the reasons for your choice.
So, I ask you in christian love, why do you send your children to school? Have you ever seriously asked yourself this question? Is it the 'best' way to teach academics? In reality, is academics the only thing that school is teaching? Is it the 'best' environment for raising Godly children? Is there any scripture that points in the direction of this type of schooling? Is the type of socialisation in schools generally showing positive results?
My answer would be 'no' to all of these questions. So, why send your child to these schools? Scripture certainly does not teach that our 'children' are to be witnessing to the lost, so that cannot be the reason. I know alot of mums say that they don't have the patience or the skill, but God equips us for every good work. And, my children will attest to the fact that I certainly don't have the patience thing under control. However, do we wait until we are perfect before we do anything?
Now when you are giving your reasons for your choice, question your assumptions. I'll give you an example: I often hear that children need to learn to socialise with other children at school. Do they really? Kids need to learn "proper" social skills through socially well-adjusted adults, not the same aged 'still learning' class friends. It's the blind leading the blind in school. I've seen it first hand - I was a school teacher for 6 years before having my own children. So, children do not NEED to go to school to learn how to function socially. In fact, see what the Bible has to say about children and socialising. It certainly does not point to lots of kids(naughty and nice)often being together unsupervised.
I'd better stop as this is a really long comment - more like an essay :) I actually stumbled across your site as I was interested to see if there were any statisics on HS children. How many follow Christ when they are adults. If you know of any stats, please let me know.
I virtually never make comments on websites, but I saw that you are "open to review" about HSing. I also don't usually say anything to try to persuade someone to HS unless I see that they are open to it. So, I would encourage you to review it. While it is hard yakka (work), it is so rewarding. My kids and I have such close relationships that I know I would not have if they were at school simply because the time is not there to talk like we do. Seriously, life is too short to let someone else enjoy the company of your children for 6 hours a day. I'm happy to share mine, but only in tiny doses :)
We 'gave HSing a try' 7 years ago and now wouldn't change it for the world.
All the best.
Kind regards,
Lyn