Values-Driven

Cindy and I just started a very interesting dialogue—discussing why it is people homeschool. We asked ourselves, why did we decide to homeschool? We also asked our oldest children why they thought we homeschooled. The simple answer of why we originally elected this option, and why our children thought we homeschooled, was sheltering from the worldly. This is a noble goal and a reasonable consideration for choosing this path. However, I would argue that it isn’t the right reason.

The conversation brought to mind a review done by a homeschooling publication that included a caveat (subtle warning, really) concerning our book that said we were not “homeschool only.” The reviewer clearly misinterpreted what we were saying because of a reigning philosophy that homeschooling is (in and of itself), the end, rather than a means to an end.

In our writings we focus on discipleship—and we said in the reviewed book that imparting God’s Word to our children and making double effort to counterbalance cultural influences while using public school is “good.” Doing the same with private Christian school is “better,” and discipling children at home via homeschooling is “best.” You see, the reviewer thought we were saying public school was good—when we were saying parents taking a leadership role discipling their children was good, not the academic environment. I would even go as far as to argue that homeschooling with a secular focus, without incorporating the Word, is BAD. See the perspective difference?

This focus of homeschooling itself being the holy grail—the pinnacle of achievement and accomplishment—is a myth. Homeschooling does not guarantee that our children will grow up serving the Lord or even be people of character. It is not the end. Homeschooling is a means to the end. It’s what we do with this vehicle as a means for discipleship that dictates our success.

Now, let me be blunt. The Bible never even so much as mentions the concept of school. Are we honestly to make something that the Bible is silent on our lead item, our raison d’etre? Should this really be our focus? I would question the wisdom of that decision.

So you may be wondering, why does this guy homeschool if it’s not sheltering? In a nutshell, the Bible is not silent on the subject of parents imparting God’s Word to their children. In Deuteronomy 6:6-7 it talks about how this is done: through real-life discipleship. Homeschooling is truly the only means for accomplishing this. That is the right reason to homeschool—for doing what the Bible says to do.

With this in mind, it befuddles me why so many homeschooling parents work so hard to emulate the public school environment at the neglect of simple biblical discipleship—text books, lectures, workbooks and worksheets—everything you’ll find in public school—none of which will be even remotely alluded to in Scripture. These tools aren’t bad. However, majoring on the minors—focusing on the things the Bible is silent on to the neglect of the things the Bible is explicit on is a bit perplexing to me. I think we really need to keep our priorities in order if we are to use homeschooling for what it is: simply, the best tool available to us parents to fulfill our biblical mandate of discipling our children. We just need to keep our priorities in order. At least that’s my two cents.