Why Christian Home Education Matters (Part V)
Common Objections and Questions Regarding Home Education
Several weeks ago, I spoke at a virtual seminar where I made a case for Christian Home Education. This post is the fifth 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.
Common Objections and Questions Regarding Home Education:
Q: What about your child’s socialization?
A: It is often assumed that public schools teach socialization while home education does not. Many people fear that home education makes children socially awkward. However, if you pay attention to public schools, one would be hard pressed to conclude that any sort of positive socialization is taking place. An environment where you spend most of your days with peers is not one that prepares you for life as you engage with people of various age groups. By engaging with parents, external family, fellow church members, and family friends, your children are better suited to learn social skills. It is a myth that public education would provide an appropriate model for socialization.
Q:What about your children being salt and light in the world?
A: The idea that our children can be salt and light in dark places assumes that public classrooms are a possible mission field. However, we must first note that in order for missionaries to go into the mission field they must first be trained. Most children are ill equipped to be courageous and discerning truth tellers in hostile environments. The truth is, your children are the mission field, who are being taught and conditioned to think and behave in a particular way. The idea is that Christian Home Education will thoroughly equip our children to be culture builders who can persuasively argue what they believe and why they believe it to a watching and listening world.
Q: Is this even legal?
A: According to whose law? The education of our children is not something the State has the authority to permit or deny. God is the one who mandates parents to raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. God’s Law commands parents to assume responsibility for their children attaining a Christian Education, even if man made laws may deny this reality. We ought to submit to God even when the State is opposed to our righteous obedience to God.
Q: What about testing and making sure they are up to standard with everyone else?
A: The goal of Classical Christian Education is to promote virtue and equip students to be lifelong learners, thinkers, and builders of culture who submit every single area of their lives to the Lordship of Christ; seeking to be fruitful in all things. Students in public schools are taught to simply regurgitate what has been thrust into their minds through tests and examinations. Although tests and examinations are helpful in assessing whether or not learning has taken place, we should not make them the goal of our learning. Also, the idea is not to be up to standard with the world, but up to standard with what God expects of us.
Q: Don’t you need to have a degree in education to be able to do this?
A: No you do not. Many degrees in education do not enable teachers to teach in a manner that frees a child’s mind to be fruitful. I know of many teachers who earned degrees in education who have admitted that learning Christian Education forced them to have to unlearn much of their previous training. As a parent, you are uniquely equipped to educate your children in a holistic manner. Also, there are many curricula that will help you teach your children. All you need to do is make sure you’re one week or lesson ahead of your children. You are learning as they are learning, and as long as you remain ahead of them, you will be just fine as you teach your children.
Q: What do I do if home education is illegal where I live?
A: Is there a good and solid Christian school nearby? If not, I would advise your family to consider relocating if that is a feasible option. Your children’s education matters and it will be well worth making the sacrifice to leave your comfort zone so that they can be trained to fear God as they study.
The other option is to do the hard work of helping your children unlearn what they are being taught in classrooms and filling their minds with a Christian worldview. This option is delicate and would be a sort of last resort. I would not advise this as a normative option.
A final option is to homeschool them anyway, and disregard State legislation. Ultimately, God is your authority and He has not granted permission to the State to preside over education. A last option is to get the church involved and get members within it to participate in building a school (assuming you live in a country that recognizes privately owned institutions that have the freedom to build and teach their own curriculums).
Q: How will our children find jobs if they are educated from home?
A: Why don’t we think more about creating jobs rather than receiving them? We need to begin thinking of ourselves as fruitful producers rather than passive consumers of goods. Imagine our children being the ones who create jobs rather than the ordinary ones looking for them. Imagine our children becoming courageous leaders rather than programmed conformists. Imagine our children introducing new vocational disciplines on the market or developing existing ones rather than fitting in to systems that have already failed. Imagine our children being the builders of better work cultures where truth, beauty, and goodness are propagated, and where time for family and churched are prioritized. Christian Home Education ought to produce agents of redemptive change in society.
With all this said, it has been well documented that students who have been given a robust Christian Home Education have a high aptitude, a marketable skill set, and virtuous character that make them stand out to prospective employers. They are generally more marketable than students from State-run institutions.
Q: What if I’m a single parent who can't afford this even though I am convinced that this is the best thing to do?
A: I acknowledge that this can be a difficult position to be in. I would advise that you explore getting support from your community of family and church. They may be in a position to free you to raise your children through education every day. Explain your vision and convictions to them and see what happens. There are also organizations that are looking to help people in these situations that you could reach out to.
Q: What curriculums would you recommend for home education?
A: I would recommend a curriculum anchored in the Classical Christian Liberal Arts. Classical Christian Education teaches students to think Biblically, invests in character formation, encourages critical thinking, promotes a love for learning and enables students to engage in persuasive deliberation. Classical Education promotes three stages of learning: grammar (where you learn what things are), logic (where you are able to question and answer why things are the way you are) and rhetoric (where you are able to explain the what and why in your own words and in a persuasive manner). This is closely tied to Christian Apologetics which is about knowing what we believe, why we believe it, and being able to explain that in a persuasive manner.
Here are a few suggested curriculums I think do this well:
The Rafiki Foundation- https://www.rafikieducationsystem.org/
Classical Conversations- https://classicalconversations.com/
Logos Press- https://logospressonline.com/bundles/
Apologia- https://www.apologia.com/
Answers in Genesis- https://answersingenesis.org/homeschool/