Why Christian Home Education Matters (Part II)
Why A Home Environment Might Be The Best Avenue To Teach A Christian Education
Several weeks ago, I spoke at a virtual seminar where I made a case for Christian Home Education. This post is the second installment in a series of articles on Christian Home Education derived from the notes I presented at the seminar. Considering that these are just notes, keep in mind that several thoughts have been summarized in brief statements rather than explained in full.
Why I highly recommend home education as the best means to provide children with a Christian Education:
1. God provides parents with unique tools and opportunities to train a child’s heart, mind and soul.
-Authority
Parents are naturally in a position of authority over their children. This authority is meant to be used a tool to instruct children toward a fear of God. As children submit to the authority of their parents, they ought to be learning obedience to Christ. Authority over children is a unique responsibility that is primarily given to parents. Rather than having children submit to some type of pseudo-authority, I think it best for a child to submit to instruction from parents. Authority is not a part-time role to be occasionally assumed and deferred to others. It should be a duty that is consistently assumed at all times of the day. And who is better placed and suited to go about this task than parents?
-Love and Affection
No-one loves your child more than you do. No-one will pay particular attention to the needs of your child more than you. Teachers in public schools are usually just trying to make ends meet and get their jobs done, but they are rarely motivated by a genuine love for your child. Home Education is a wonderful opportunity to express a sincere and consistent love for your children, while paying close attention to what they need. Your children need your love and affection, and the best way to provide for this need is to be ever-present in their lives; discipling them day in and day out.
-Time
I have begun to prefer the term ‘home education’ over the term ‘home schooling’. The reason for this is, schooling can often refer to a concentrated period of intentional study whereas home education refers to a whole life approach to learning. Home education gives you more time to teach your children. It gives you time to teach them in both formal and informal settings. It gives you time to time to talk, to listen, to explore, to make mistakes, to have fun, to laugh, to focus, to rest, and to worship God together. Home education gives you time to teach your child throughout the day, from morning until evening, across various disciplines, and in several contexts. Education isn’t confined to the structured events that occur in a classroom. Education ought to address the whole of life from brushing teeth to mathematics, from cooking to science, from learning to read the Bible to history, from gardening to literature. Home education gives you time to build a holistic approach to learning.
-Structural Infrastructure
Who said learning should only happen while sitting behind a desk? Imagine solving math problems in a garden, or reading a book in your favorite tree. Home education provides a variety of ‘classrooms’ to be learned in. And rather than just learning skills to build your child’s mind, imagine making great use of the kitchen to teach your children how to cook and bake, using your garden to teach them how to grow and harvest food, using your garage to teach them how to service a car, and using your back porch to paint on canvases. Home education provides you with an opportunity to turn every location around your household, neighborhood, city, and world into a forum for learning.
-The rod
Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.- Proverbs 13:24
The rod is a tool that God has given parents to wield for the corrective discipline of children. The rod has not been given to the State or to the church but to parents alone. Home education gives you a platform to correct moral infractions with immediacy, and without giving room for the sins of your child to fester and become normalized behavior. The godly and constructive use of the rod must be a common feature in a faithful household. The rod is a necessary tool for discipleship through which your child is being shaped to live a life of obedience to God.
-Insight of your child’s character
No-one ought to know your child better than you. A teacher in a public school classroom is most likely concerned with ensuring uniformity in all students; ensuring that they are all working at the same pace and in much the same way. A child who disturbs this decorum in any way will be treated as an expendable inconvenience with behavioral issues, even when ‘failure’ to ‘ keep up’ was no fault of their own. Home education affords you the opportunity to recognize and develop your child’s strengths and gives you the opportunity to work on their weaknesses. This can be done at your own pace and in your own way. A child who loves a challenge and enjoys being competitive should not be chided for these virtuous proclivities. A child who is not enthusiastic about learning needs to be paid attention to in a particular way. Home education gives you the freedom to know your children and to appeal to their unique personalities and characters.
2. Parents have greater control, freedom, and flexibility over what and how their children learn.
Home Education affords parents the freedom to decide on a curriculum of choice, a style of teaching, how to utilize time, and how to develop unique strengths in each child. Rather than being told by some ‘expert’ what your child needs to learn, you have the freedom to determine what curriculum and method will best instruct them in the fear of the Lord.
3. It promotes a culture of learning
Children need to learn to love learning. A home environment is the best place to develop a culture of learning, where children are taught to not need to split academics from the rest of life. Your children need to see you delighting in learning as they watch you read, work and go about your life. Be humble before your children and let them see you learning how to solve the problems they present to you. We should make learning look and feel like a joyful privilege and gift rather than a burdensome punishment.
A practical way of building and nurturing a culture of learning in your home is by reading to your children. Let them connect reading with relationships and times of great adventure. This can make a significant difference in how your children perceive learning
4. It’s a wonderful opportunity for parents to disciple their children daily.
Education is a means through which we go about fulfilling the great commission in making disciples and teaching them to do all that God has commanded ( Matthew 28:18-20). Parents are called to assume responsibility for the discipleship of their children (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Home education provides a wonderful context for fathers to mentor their sons in masculinity and for mothers to mentor their daughters in femininity. It provides an opportunity for parents to train children in what to think and how they ought to behave as they seek to honor Christ through their lives.
5. It’s a great way to build and forge strong relationships.
Home education is the best platform to foster deeper relationships with your children while also providing a platform for your children to deepen relationships with each other. Ultimately, life is about relationships, with God and one other. Home education offers a chance for parents to teach children that everything they are learning is meant to equip them for greater service to God and neighbor.