DISCLAIMER: I am not writing this to try to talk you into home education. I Don't believe it to be the only way. I have written this because of the frequent of question of why I decided to home school, and to answer the occasional criticism of my choice. Home education is what I believe that God is calling me to do. I am simply answering that call!
You might be asking yourself right now: Does she think I have to home school if I want my kids to love God? Most definitely not. Parents who love God generally have children who love God. BUT, when your child has so many things competing for his or her attention, where will God be on his priority list? Where will you rank?
When children are taught in Sunday School that God saved part of our race through Noah, and then learn at school that there was never a word wide flood, confusion reigns. Children look up to their teachers. And why not? They have a college degree in this stuff...right? Well, the truth is, evolution and secular humanism reigns supreme in the public school setting. Both are the equivalent of a religion, yet the are pushed as indisputable truth while the idea of an intelligent designer is laughed at. Neither of the theories have be scientifically proved, yet the school system still shuns one for the other. This doesn't have to be. We can home educate our children about Darwin, evolution, and all of the world religions and still instill in our children a Biblical worldview. But a child will most likely believe what the teacher is telling them to believe. Therefore, is it not appropriate to place your children under someone who believes the same as you do? My children have learned about Confucius, Buddha, and Muhammad just this year. They learned to origins of each line of thinking and where it departs from Biblical Christianity. They have learned that all of these religions have good things about them, but they are missing one thing...Jesus.
I am not saying that you can't teach your kids truth if you send them to school. I am saying that without a doubt, it is much harder to do. I have friends at church who say that they do not even have time to work with their kids on memory verses for the sheer lack of time and the mountains of homework the kids have every night. God's Word falls to lower priority when you have to live on someone else's schedule. But when you wake up and have your kids next to you, when you take them along with you throughout the day, when you spend your days and evenings with them, it is much easier to fulfill God's command in Deuteronomy 6:7 "You shall teach the diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." It is our responsibility to teach them.
And then there is the issue of friends. 1 Corinthians 15:33 "Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits." We know this is true. Even adults are affected by those they keep company with. How can we expect our kids not to be? So all of the time and energy that we put into our kids character training could possibly be sabotaged by the fact that they see their friends more than they see us. Most likely, they will have a strong desire to be liked or fit in. It is hard for me to remember that it doesn't matter what my friends think......it is much harder for my kids.
There is the common argument of "salt and light" among Christian families. We are supposed to send our kids out into the world to be little missionaries for the Gospel. Unfortunately, statistic show that more Christian kids are evangelized by the world than the other way around. In the book Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What You Can do to Stop it." by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer, it is estimated that some 85% of evangelical youth will leave the church at some time or another. This really tells me that our kids are not being salt and light to the world, but rather, they are losing their "saltiness" and having their faith trampled by the world. The authors of the book think that the solution is to teach science at church. I sincerely disagree. There are many great thinkers out there in the Christian community that disagree over certain areas of science, creation, etc. For the most part, the things that they disagree on can never be proved. But if we simply endeavor to grow our kids with a Biblical Worldview, then they will learn to filter everything through God' Word. There are incredibly smart people out there doing research in the areas of creationism providing us with scientific data compatible with the Bible.
But far more insidious than creation versus evolution is the idea of secular humanism. Secular humanism is the idea that man is inherently good, and can do without a God. It rejects (supposedly) anything that is taken on "faith" and only accepts that which can be proven by science. It is a more subtle form of anti-Christian philosophy. I say that it is anti-Christian because the Bible teaches the absolute opposite. We are all sinners, we are all separated from God, we all need a Savior. Jeremiah 17:9 say that our hearts are desperately wicked. Secular humanism also teaches that human life is no more valuable than any other form of life. Man has dominion over nothing. As you can see, this is very contrary to Bible teaching. As a matter of fact, secular humanism rejects anything supernatural or based on faith. For the Christian family, this is simply not an option.
If you still intend to send your kids out into the school system, I would encourage you to evaluate their beliefs closely and keep close tabs on what they are learning. It is important to know that these subtle philosophies are creeping in.
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." Psalm 1:1-2
"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Amos 3:3
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