This is the final installment of the 3 part series of nuggets I gathered from the DVD series titled The Children of Caesar, in which Voddie Baucham, Jr takes a refreshing look at education in America, and what the Bible says about educating our children in light of His word. You can see the first post, The School of Caesar: Introduction, and the second post, The School of Caesar: Christian Worldview and Humanism.
While I am not a homeschooler yet, I am preparing myself for the possibility in 2013 to educate my 3rd grader at home. I have a strong support system of mothers in my church who homeschool and my husband and I are thrilled about taking this journey with our family. Currently my child is in a Christian school and the education had been a blessing to us. However, considering that my second child is going to begin his schooling soon and the tuition costs that will come with that, we’d like to pull my 3rd grader into homeschool while the younger one begins his fundamentals at the school site, which reaps wonderful fruit.
The Bible has spoken on education. It says:
“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” Deuteronomy 6:6-7
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Colossians 2:8
On the topic of homeschooling, there are three significant questions that are posed by others about it. Unfortunately, these questions come from people who have been discipled by the same teacher: Caesar. But there are answers to these questions:
What about socialization?
It is said that high school students miss out on socialization if they are homeschooled. However, it is the American school system that provides unrealistic and overwhelming negative socialization. Just look at pop-culture. And moreover, remember that no other time in a child’s life will they be in the same room with people in their age group except for in the secular classroom. Thus, public school children have more behavioral problems and are given a false sense of security by being socially groomed with others of their own age.
Where does the curriculum come from?
Again, this question stems for a mindset of being bound by the state. It implies that the state and the parent share the child together, and this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Is homeschooling legal?
This question is asked by sheep who have forgotten they are free. It is asked because it is believed that children are a ward of the state and this notion comes from the fact that people are discipled by a system that says it owns us. A follow up to this question is How can you educate your own children and why would you want to? The answer to this one is simple:
My children are mine, not wards of the state. The government has no jurisdiction over my children.
Sadly, so many people have been brainwashed to feel that they need to ask for permission from the state in order to educate their children themselves. The Ninth Circuit Court says to parents: send your kids to us and relinquish your rights to decide what will be taught to them in the classroom.
I think the Lord is clear about what His expectations are for our children and it certainly is not a public indoctrination. See the trailer from IndoctriNation below:
Objections About Homeschooling
Parents are not trained teachers.
The truth is, the American school system is the one that is unfit to teach children—not the Christian parent.
Homeschool children miss out on socialization.
Data was collected by the Fraser Institute and put into a PDF called Home Schooling: From the Extreme to the Mainstream. This paper spans 20 years of research and claims that ninety-eight percent of home schooled students are involved in two or more outside functions on a weekly basis. This reflects, in part, the fact that home schooled children watch much less television than their public school peers. Of all home schooled children, 65 percent watch one hour or less of television per day, compared to 25 percent nationally. Moreover, the research found no evidence that these adults were even moderately disadvantaged socially. Two thirds of them were married, the norm for adults their age, and none were unemployed or any on any form of welfare assistance. Also, in the personal interaction and communications research, home schooled students were found to be more mature and better socialized than are those sent to either public or private school. Data has also been collected suggesting that home schooled students are friendlier than their public school peers, as well as more independent of peer values as they grow older. Home schooled children are happier, better adjusted, more thoughtful, competent, and sociable children.
Homeschool children miss out on team sports.
The answer to this is simple, again.
Is it a priority for the Christian to worship the god of sports? It is said that capable students must bow down to sports. Not so for the child of God. The fallacy is that sports build character but anyone who believes this must think that the men with the most character are in the NBA or the NFL!
Another fallacy is that homeschooling closes the doors for scholarships to higher education. This is not so. The Citadel and MIT have admitted homeschooled children into their programs.
Low income students are left in secular schools.
To answer this notion against homeschooling, let’s look at two scenarios:
Mother #1—she didn’t finish high-school and her children are in government schools.
Mother #2—she also didn’t finish high-school but her children are homeschooled. This mother’s children score 55% higher than the children from Mother #1 and are already outscoring the national average of public school students.
Affordability
The cost of homeschooling is $546 annually.
The cost of a public school education per child annually is $7000.
What about being the salt and the light? In other words, go the world and be a light in the darkness.
In response to this, let’s remember that Matthew 5 has nothing to do with sending our children to public schools. Matthew 5 relates to being distinct, separate, not assimilated. Thus, we homeschool because we believe in being salt and light.
The Dutiful Parent
My duty as a parent is to equip, train, discipline, and instruct my children in the Lord. I am to sharpen my arrows, aim them, and launch them forth.
But the world will tell me, “Give me your little twigs, let me sharpen them and aim them back at you.”
