The passage that he reference in Deuteronomy 6 says,
"4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
Educating your children is one of those topics that tend to get parents, especially mothers, pretty riled up. (Other topics on my list would be breast feeding, children's names, money and politics.) These are topics that I try to avoid on my blog (and often in life.) I love to talk about these topics, but only with people who know me enough to love and forgive the stupid things that I might say. Topics like this often lead to misinterpretations and thus hurt feelings and a hurt witness. But with that caviate, I think that the comment above and the verses from Deuteronomy do point out some things on which we could all agree.
The most important thing that I want to educate my kids about and towards is a knowledge an
d love of Jesus and other people. My favorite podcast The White Horse Inn, harps on how kids need to be catachized in a formal way about what they believe and why they believe it. I totally agree. My mom got me the book Training Hearts Teaching Minds: Family Devotions Based on the Shorter Catechism. We started it on Monday and it is really good. Each week it focuses on a different question fromt he catechism. This weeks questions was, "What is the chief purpose of man?" Answer: "The chief purpose of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." The passages in the book are managable and short enough for our kids. It includes scripture and it has led to some rich discussion. If you're looking for a good book for daily family worship, you should check this out.If you've read this far, a few questions for you. If you have them, what motivates the decisions that you have made about the education of your children? What topics would you add to my list of "touchy" topics?
3 comments:
You've probably covered the most touchy ones. I think the reason they're such hot buttons is that people feel so strongly about them, and when opinions are expressed it makes the ones hearing those opinions feel as though they're not "doing the right thing" if they don't agree. Maybe that's why it's a good thing to avoid them in conversation. Most people people intentionally do things, especially with their kids, because they really have thought it through and come to the conclusion that it's the "right thing to do". I have managed to get myself into lots of trouble by initiating conversations about such topics.
I'm glad the book is a good one and that you're enjoying it. You will never regret the time spent reading and talking about such things with your kids. They may not remember all of the content but they will remember that you thought it important enough to take time for reading God's word and talking about it. I commend you for that!
Andy - good post. I think that a solid argument can be made for private, public, OR home schooling - as each has pros and cons. I also think that vouchers would create more competition between schools, resulting in better private and public school choices for parents (sorry...had to get that in).
However, I believe that all of those arguments take a back seat to the most influental aspect of a child's education - parental involvement. Knowing what your child is learning, engaging them in discussion about thier interests, and balancing thier fancy book-lernin' with real-life experiences and Bible teaching...these are the things that seem to mold bright, well-rounded children.
Whether you home-school the kids, send them to school, or create your own hybrid situation, you and Amanda have already given them the biggest possible advantage: your daily involvement in their education and an enviornment at home that fosters learning and teaches Christ-centered values.
And I tend to enjoy the "touchy topics" -- but that's probably just because I'm always right. ;)
And you can keep your breast-feeding opinions to yourself...
Our philosophy is based on the verses from Deuteronomy that you shared. There is just no way that we can talk with our children about the Lord throughout the day while they are in public school as we know it today, or in a private school that does not include faith. We can't do that in a Christian school either, but we know that their teachers are talking about Jesus and the Bible and how the subjects relate to our faith in all of their classes (at least in the school our kids attended). Yet we also feel that God calls people to public schools. Some people feel called to be there as missionaries. Others don't FEEL called to be there, but God works in our circumstances; he might close all of the other doors so that our kids have to go to a public school. He puts us there to learn spiritual lessons by what we experience there and to touch people's lives there by praying for them and by how we treat them.
Our kids have been in inner city public school, suburban public school, interdenominational Christian school, cyber charter school, and home education. I could say so much about each of these, but I will just sum it all up with a quote from THE HIDING PLACE. "There are no ifs in God's kingdom. And no places that are safer than other places. His timing is perfect. His will is our hiding place." The right school for our kids is the school where God wants them to be.
I also know that no matter where our kids are, it is so important to be praying for them and about their education--just as fervently when they are in home education or Christian school as we would if they were in a public or secular private school. I love the ministry of Moms In Touch International (www.MomsInTouch.org) because it really helped to keep prayer very high on my priority list--not as a to do task, but as a way of life.
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