why homeschool?

T and i watched a 2-dvd set the other night called "The Children of Caesar" with Dr. Voddie Baucham. i highly recommend it. the first disc is about education. the second disc is about what an "orderly" christian home should look like. i will probably blog about that later but for now i'd like to talk a bit about the education issue.

my purpose in writing this is so that other christian parents who might read this may really consider (and maybe re-consider) the educational choices they've made for their kids.

WHY SHOULD CHRISTIANS HOMESCHOOL (or Christian School) THEIR KIDS?
reason #1: we're losing our kids--both mentally AND spiritually
the public school system is teaching christian kids to think like the rest of the secular humanistic world. i'm a public school graduate, so you can't convince me it's not true--i've "been there, done that"--and i know it's only getting worse. one thing Dr. Baucham said was something like "If you send your kids to Caesar for their education, don't be surprised when they come home Romans." isn't that a profound statement? what it means is that when we choose to send our kids to government-run public schools with anti-christian curriculums for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, we are letting THEM "raise" our kids, THEY are the ones indoctrinating our children--not the parents, not the church, and definitely not Jesus. the little time parents have left each week to try and unteach the things we disagree with isn't enough and it doesn't work. it's appalling to me and a bit shocking, but i suppose it should be no wonder that over 75% of kids that grow up in christian homes are no longer following the christian faith by the time they are freshmen in college. we need to reclaim our kids for Christ!

reason #2: i want to know that my child is learning and not struggling in school
it's my opinion that a loving parent can and would do a much better job at teaching their children themselves because we, as the child's parents, naturally want our kids to excel! when you homeschool, you know exactly what your kids are really learning. so if a child is having trouble reading, you know it and you work with them until they can read well and oftentimes they end up liking it too. if they don't understand a math concept, you don't go on to the next concept until that "little lightbulb goes off above their head." plus there's no need for parent-teacher conferences (unless you really like to talk to yourself!) because you are your child's teacher. you know.

reason #3: socialization
i love what Dr. Baucham said about "the socialization question." basically, he says that the socialization that kids get in public schools is unrealistic. (not to mention oftentimes very negative!) once you're in the "real" world, you rarely find ourselves in actual situations where there are 25-30 other people your age like in a public school classroom. in REAL life, we work with a variety of people--not just our "age group." so the social skills (socialization) we learn in a public school classroom really aren't very useful in real life where it's more likely we'll find ourselves in a group (at work, at church, etc.) where some people are older and some are younger than ourselves. that takes different social skills altogether. in fact, he says about the only real social skill that public school teaches kids is how to stand in line. hmmmm...we do that every sunday at church so my kids are well on their way to being standing-in-line pros even though we homeschool! ;-)

reason#4: christian kids should be "salt and light"
one reason many christian parents give for sending their kids to public schools is that they think if all the christian kids were pulled out of public schools and either put in christian schools or homeschooled, there wouldn't be any "salt or light" left in the public school. at what expense? yes, we are called to be salt and light to the world, but the only way to be that is to be DIFFERENT than the world! how is sending our kids to public school any different than anyone else? and can christian kids ever really be different if they are being taught ("brainwashed!") with the same humanistic views as the rest of their peers? it's much more likely that the christian kids will become just like the secular world surrounding them.

i'm glad that T and i made the choice to homeschool our kids from the start. my son's education is oozing with our christian faith. we read Scripture daily and we pray in school. EVERYTHING from science to math to history is taught from a Biblical THEISTIC perspective. can anyone with children in public school say the same? no.