Home Education Myths

Forward

When my husband Karl and I made the decision to homeschool our children in the fall of 1973, it was a life-changing undertaking. It proved to be, and is still, one of greatest fulfillment and lasting satisfaction.

To be a wife and mother has always been a most pre­cious treasure in my life. God has blessed our marriage of more than thirty-four years with nine, now grown, children; six girls and three boys. He has added yet many more blessings to our household including twenty-seven grandchildren—and we're still counting!

As the wife of my missionary, and pastor husband, we have been more than satisfied with having our chil­dren with us day by day. Homeschooling became a natural part of our daily living, one that has all too soon been completed. We are very happy to see and be a part, with several of our children now homeschooling their children.

There were, from the beginning, many questions which relatives and other concerned people would bring repeatedly to our attention, while we were in the proc­ess of educating our children. These questions are still being asked of homeschooling parents today. The an­swers are still the same and certainly proven to be true. Home education does work; is not a burden, and does produce the desired results. A mature, capable young man and young woman, with a firm belief in God, the home and family, and a strong patriotic citizen, as well as being self-sufficient are results which homeschooling parents should see.

When beginning, it seems like such a long lonely road to take, but in reality it is a truly blessed way of living. Children are the heritage and blessing of the Lord. We have so few short years to have the compan­ionship and closeness of our children. That which we impart to them during their years of nurturing and training will be the basis for their character and beliefs when they mature.I have often taught of Jockebed, Moses' mother;Hanna, Samuel's mother, and others in the Bible who, in the formative years of their children's lives, instilled in them the faith and belief in God that influenced these men and women as they became leaders before God.

We need not, as parents, feel that we are depriving our children by homeschooling them. Indeed we are giving them the foundation for their lives. God will honor and bless our determination to do things His way.

Besides being concerned myself, our own capability to teach our children was challenged on occasion. I also know, though, that the source of ability' comes from our Heavenly Father. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). Our God who gives us our children requires us to teach them His righteous statutes, judgments, laws, and His Holy Word. God who gives us children also gives the ability' to properly raise and teach them.

I guess it is a very strange thing that the educational system that taught most of today's parents would so question the results of their own products.

The challenge to Karl's credentials to write seems equally foolish. Having been a minister for over twenty-five years and actively involved in the education of our own children for over fifteen years; Karl has gained a wealth of insight, knowledge, and understanding. Karl has also been the director of the Christian Home School Association in Northern Arkansas until recently. He has spent considerable time and effort in study, working in legislative activities, and in legal cases involving homeschool issues.

Virginia Reed

Introduction

The decision to teach one's own children at home rather than sending them out to a school can be a very difficult one since it is a break with the traditions under which the present generation of Americans have been trained. The trauma is greatly increased by the very na­ture of that training. Furthermore, public education has taken on the nature of a religion; promising answers for all ills of life and nation.

That "religion" holds that men can successfully disregard God's teaching mandate bestowed upon parents. and that by other means and by their own understand­ing they can educate children so as to save themselves, their nation and the world. That "religion." or belief system, incorporates into its dogma a faith in "The Secular State," which is now carved in the likeness of God.

Along with holding to a belief in "The State" has come a total lack of confidence in God and His founda­tion for true primary education which rests upon par­ents, family, and faith in God. Disregarding all of that. state-run schools have taught Americans to put faith in "The State" where they once put faith in God and His way. It can readily seen that the error has produced generations of Americans who have been robbed of their faith. As a direct result of being trained in "secular" schools, they lack real faith in God and have little, if any, confidence in parents or their God-given abilities.

Sad, though true, many Christians and churches have now accepted the error as truth. When thy think of edu­cation they think of public schools. When they think parents they think of failure. When they think of homeschooling they think of poor cheated children.

Blind faith in the error has further laid the ground­work in our thinking, allowing a myriad of myths and fears to become accepted as if they were very real dan­gers to anyone considering home education. Those myths and fears, however, are but paper tigers which can be readily expelled by a return to faith in God, His Word, and His way!

Although Virginia and I did not begin with a lot of confidence, it was our growing faith in God which sus­tained us throughout the years of homeschooling our children. I speak not only of a faith in His being near to support our efforts day by day, but more specifically of a return to a belief in the methods He originally designed for passing knowledge from the older generations to the up-coming generation.

It was but few generations ago that the education of children was looked upon as neither a problem nor a li­ability, but to the contrary, a normal duty of parents. With natural support from grandparents and commu­nity they were expected to be well able to accomplish their duty. Parents could readily get help with whatever they might lack. The imagined threats we face today and accept as hindrances to proper education were not even considered those few generations ago. They were certainly not accepted as menacing beasts. Even today, however, these "beasts" can easily be exposed as paper tigers. So let's take a closer look at our "paper tigers."

Myth: Only Highly Trained Educators Can Teach Children

In thinking back over my youth, if I were to list all of my teachers (those who taught me something of value for life) most of them would not be my public school teachers. The majority would be just ordinary people who crossed my life, some ever so briefly. They would include many who had never been to college or high school. Some of them did not even finished grade school. My own father falls into that last group.

Among my list of teachers would be some very beau­tiful people who had never gone to school at all. I can only wonder how much more they could have passed on to me had they but believed they could. How much more could I have asked of them had I only known to do so? I have eventually come to regret that I often failed to ask. Time has now taken many of them beyond the reach of mortal men.

It is also noteworthy that even children can and do teach children. A reporter for a local newspaper once told me that he and his wife, neither of whom had more than a high school diploma, made a set of flash cards and taught their three-year-old daughter to read by the time she was five. Then using the same flash cards they also taught their second daughter to read by the time she was five. Those two sisters, one five and one seven then took that worn set of flash cards and taught their little, three-year-old sister to read by the time she was five.

Isn't it interesting that a seven-year-old and a five-year-old can teach their three-year-old sister to read without the aid of a trained teacher, yet amazingly, the more educated each succeeding generation becomes the more it tends to look upon itself as being incapable of teaching its own children? The exact opposite should be the case. The more educated parents become the more capable they should be! The apparent lack of self-confidence is a by-product of godless (secular) school­ing; which leads to a lack of confidence in God who created us and commanded us to teach our sons and our son's sons. (See Deuteronomy 4:9). Is it any wonder that a people taught to have no confidence in their Creator will have no confidence in the creation— namely themselves?

While considering my observations. Virginia con­cluded that the lack of self-confidence can best be cured by stepping out, in faith, to do that which we feel we can't. She believes such is the case, not only in homeschooling, but in most everything. I might add. she has followed homeschooling to success and has gained the confidence to take up midwifery, becoming much in demand. It is amazing the things which homeschooling parents will do once they break the shackles ofl-can'l-do-it thinking.

The original intent of teacher certification and school accreditation was to assure parents that the school run by the government was a good place to send their chil­dren for an education, and to assure the taxed public that the public school was a good investment. It was never instituted to use as a club against anyone, or to prove that without certification one cannot teach. To use it that way now defies intelligence. A license to teach no more proves that one can teach than a license to fish will automatically assure us of a fish dinner. Teacher certification means that the teacher has been through an approved course. Accreditation means that the school has certain specified facilities, courses, and faculty. It is commonly assumed that such has some­thing to do with education.

Whereas, even children can teach children, it should be obvious that children are going to leam with or with­out highly trained teachers! The more important ques­tion is not who is going to teach them; rather. What are they going to learn?

Myth: More Money Equals Better Education

Quite frankly, from observing the historic results of spending more and more money for the elusive better education while the product degenerates proportionally, there is only one possible conclusion. The less money we spend, the better we educate. The not-so-obvious reason for the failure of the massive infusion of tax dol­lars is: the more money America has invested in educa­tion the further we have drifted from the natural elements of learning, and from the simple teaching tools which God originally set before us.

In America, education has been four-walled and a premium has been placed upon those walls of folly. Those four walls of the classroom now are a barrier

against creation and the Creator. The child once inside is surrounded with the man-made. On the outside is the God-created. Strange as it may seem, the books on the inside are written about the real world on the outside, which is supposed to be a better way of learning than simply staying out and learning in the real world.

Myth: Good Education Requires Expensive Facilities

For the life of me, I cannot see what the cost of a building has to do with children's ability to leam! Per­haps. if the roof leaked on the textbook it might make some difference. Most homes, though, do not have a se­rious problem with a leaky roof. Even if they did it would not be too difficult to move the book until the rain stopped or the roof was repaired. Now that I think of it. repairing the roof might give homeschoolers an excellent educational experience.

I have enjoyed observing children learn from their simplest experiences and in some of the simplest cir­cumstances. There is wisdom in God's instructions in Deuteronomy 6:7. which calls for parents to teach their children when they sit with them in the house, while they walk with them in the way. at bedtime, and upon rising in the morning. Quality education can readily be accomplished in the natural setting of the home during the daily affairs of the family, and in the arena of the world around us where God has so clearly recorded both knowledge and wisdom. Psalms 19:1-3 tells us;

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firma­ment sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard."

Our forefathers received an education by the light of the ebbing fire, or out in the field, or perhaps in the for­est, cutting logs. On the other hand. I see the modem student standing beside the road, after the morning rush to swallow breakfast and locate all the lost shoes, books and paraphernalia, waiting to catch the regulation yel­low bus with its regulation seats. It will carry him to the regulation building with the regulation classrooms and on and on ad infinitum regulatum. Are regulation shoes treading the regulation halls as blessed as toes at home in the soil?

Myth: More of Everything, Educational Tools, Books, etc. is Better

The fact is that too much tends to confusion which contributes to burnout. Furthermore, education does not occur through osmosis. Surrounding children with vol­umes of books, educational toys, and numerous other supposedly educational gadgets does not necessarily create a good educational environment.

Children leam best when they are in familiar sur­roundings and working comfortably in an unpressured atmosphere. Parents also do better teaching in an un­cluttered, unpressured home. There is neither cause nor reason to clutter or confuse the education process.

1 further believe that one of the reasons for our in­ability to pay attention or concentrate for very long is because we are too often interrupted, being surrounded by too much flash and color. Radio and television noise often fills our ears. Cars, airplanes and various other vehicles are endlessly racing by. Even being surrounded by a crowd of people can be disrupting. People, noise, and clutter often distracts from study.

Myth: Quality Education Requires Lots of Money

According to my own cost estimates, I have con­cluded that educating children at home is less expensive than sending them to a "free" public school. I include in my cost estimates the numerous expenses which are laid upon parents who send their children to a public school. There are the required school supplies, transportation costs in driving to and from the school for various rea­sons—registrations, emergencies, and this and that meeting etc.—and shame shame on the parent who fails to take time out from their busy schedule to attend a meeting or conference. There are the gym clothes and shoes etc., to be taken into account. Consider, too, the cost of lunches, whether it be a "sack lunch" or a hot one purchased from the school. One must also take into account all the slips brought home from school "re­questing" $5.00 or $10.00 for this or that. Regardless of whether or not it's a requirement, clothing is a major factor which in and of itself can easily be enough to off­set the cost of a complete homeschool curriculum.

In addition to the above, there is the peer pressure on a child to conform to the popular styles—"Reeboks," designer clothes etc. That also translates into pressure upon the parents. The cost for a child entering into extra-curricular activities can be staggering, but what public schooled child doesn't? Although it cannot be calculated in dollars, there are certainly some long term costs related to peer pressure which can eventually become very costly!

It remains that homeschooling is less expensive than the free public school even when parents order a complete course from one of the many suppliers now mar­keting homeschool curricula. Many parents, however, Virginia and I included, prefer to develop their own curriculum which can be done very readily by simply using the numerous resources close at hand, such as: li­braries, Sunday school supplies, the Bible, as well as daily experiences. There are also several homeschool suppliers who will gladly mail parents a complete cata­log of available supplies from which to select.

It stands to reason, however, that two plus two is still four and it doesn't make any difference whether it is two Cadillacs plus two Cadillacs or two pebbles plus two pebbles when teaching children to cipher. In fact, most children would enjoy throwing two pebbles plus two pebbles at bubbles into the brook, anyway. Money is not the source of either knowledge or wisdom. Ex­pensive covers don't necessarily mean it's a good book. Neither do more dollars spent insure a better education.

Myth: The Family Cannot Provide Opportunities Necessary for Children's Education

Again, there is no need to fear or panic; it is not the number of opportunities which leads to success, but the ability to handle one that counts. Our children's lives, like our own, are not directed by man-made opportuni­ties but by the hand of an all-wise God. who declares in Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;

and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths."

God provided the home for children and he will provide for the children therein. There is, therefore, no need to attempt to invent numerous opportunities which can easily lead to confusion and frustration. Providing opportunities is not the goal. Preparing children to choose rightly is our goal. Parents need only teach their children the precepts which will aid them in discerning between a true and a false opportunity. Again the Scrip­ture gives insight, "...that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good" (Isaiah 7:15).

Although such is the case, every resource available to the public school is available to the home. When the time comes for a child to pursue a particular field of knowledge, the opportunity to take hold of it is seldom very far away. In addition, educational opportunities are available through the family which the public school can't possibly offer. An immediate example is our daughters heiping their midwife-mother deliver a baby. No public school child ever finds that to be part of the curriculum.

Let's put the shoe on the other foot where it belongs. Rather than providing our children with opportunities the public school, in many ways, denies children opportunities.

Myth: Some Parents Just Can't Teach

That charge is often leveled at parents by "experts" who claim that parents either lack qualifications or ability. In view of God's command that parents teach their children, I ask. What kind of a charge is that? Surely, it flies in the face of God!

I really don't know if Moses was qualified to lead Is­rael out of Egypt or not. I don't know if he was qualified to teach them the law. I do know that he was told to do it rather than being asked to do it. Furthermore, when he argued with God about his qualifications the Lord answered "...I will be with thy mouth, and will teach thee what thou shall say" (Ex. 4:12). Parents are like­wise "told" to teach their children, "And thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children..." (Deut. 6:7). God will likewise be with them as He was with Moses.

Much like any other task, large or small, teaching children depends more upon willingness and upon obe­dience to the command of God than upon measurable ability. God gives parents the desire and he has also promised to give them the ability. "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleas­ure" (Philippians 2:3). Somewhere, then, there is within the heart of parents a place where God created an abil­ity to teach children. It will, if nurtured, bud and bloom into a fragrant blossom leading to a very rewarding and fulfilling experience. As well as experiencing it our­selves, Virginia and I have seen it happen to others.

Probably the most forgotten ability in all the hassle over the education of children is the ability' of the child to work out his own education. The major factor in any child's education is the child's ability to. ask, seek, and knock, which, by the way, is an underlying principle in anything in life. including salvation. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Man. 7:7).

Children who succeed in getting an education de­serve far more credit than any of their teachers. The thirst for knowledge and the hunger to lay hold upon it is absolutely essential to success in education. Without that natural thirst and hunger education cannot be ac­complished regardless of who teaches; with it, educa­tion can be accomplished, often in spite of who teaches.

Myth: Home Education is Not for Everybody

God established the family with commandments, one of which is that parents and grandparents are to teach their children and grandchildren. "Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen. and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thv life: but TEACH THEM THY SONS, AND THY SONS' SONS" (Deut. 4:9, emphasis added). That's "sons' sons" as in grandparents.

Thus, when God gives children he also gives, along with the child the requirement that parents teach, as can readily be seen in the above scripture. To say, then, that home education is not for everybody is to shirk re­sponsibility. It certainly goes contrary to a direct com­mand of God. In other words, it is a cop-out. It is the same as saying, it is not for all parents to be faithful, or that obedience to parents is not for all children.

I am not saying that all education must be done by parents and grandparents or that parents can't hire tu­tors because the Scripture clearly allows for such. Parents can also send their children to schools should the}' so choose, providing said schools measure up to certain godly standards.

On the other hand, I am saying that parents have the duty to teach and the corresponding responsibility over that duty, which cannot be cast off. Parents are account­able to God, who gave them their children, for seeing that their children be educated in accordance with His instructions, whether they do it all themselves or hire tutors. The duty to teach comes with the child. There­fore, even when children are tutored or schooled outside the home there always remains a major portion of their education, the duty for which first falls upon the parents and then upon the grandparents.

Neither parent nor grandparent can stand before God at the final judgment and say, Was I my child's (or grandchild's) keeper; wasn't The State supposed to do that? Parents neither receive their children from the government nor are they commanded to abandon their children to the government.

A sad note here is the average American grandparent who fails to discover the pleasure of being involved in their grandchildren's education. Tragic, the motor home driving off into the sunset with a bumper sticker which reads, "We are spending our children's inheritance." Not only are they in derelict of duty. they are missing one of the greatest blessings of their lives—giving knowledge and wisdom to their own grandchildren.

It is important to realize that all homes do teach their children something. In fact. there are statistics to show that most of that which children leam is learned before they ever reach the age required to be able to go out to a school. Children having learned to converse in our own language is but one example. Therefore, when we are talking about formal education we are not talking about the total sum of the child's learning. We are only speak­ing about a portion of it being done in a formal setting somewhere. All of that being said, it is then obvious that home education, at some level, must be for everybody!

Myth: Home Education Requires Super-Human Effort

Once we became able to shake off inherited miscon­ceptions about education, Virginia and I discovered that homeschooling our children has required no super­human effort. There is no need for home education to cause hardship or to take hours upon hours. Parents are commanded to teach their children, and we are told, "None of the commandments of the Lord are grievous" (I Jn. 5:3). Obviously the command to teach was never intended to be grievous. It is only the errors of the edu­cation establishment which has caused the education process to be difficult, and more recently the errors creeping in through ill-advised home school laws.

Does not reason demand that laws relating to educa­tion show a certain similitude to intelligence? Sad to say the similitude to intelligence for a long season has been lacking in education statutes and the homeschool movement will follow suit if it does not change course.

Regardless children are an asset, not a liability. They have a lot to contribute to their own education which can go a long way in easing the work load on the teach­ing parent. Older children can often do many of the chores around the home while mom teaches the younger children. They too can be teachers of their younger brothers and sisters. All of which can, and should, be considered part of their own education and part of the blessing of children.

"Lo, children are the heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the ene­mies in the gate" (Ps. 127:3-5).

"Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord" (Ps. 128:3,4).

Myth: Home Education Creates Hardship Upon Parents

Such will be the case should parents try to copy the public school, and secondly, when they try to have a structured study time in an unstructured home. A more recent development has been the passage of homeschool laws which place unrealistic requirements upon parents teaching their children at home. (That latter develop­ment must be seriously addressed and corrected since it bodes considerable mischief for the teaching home. For the most part, however, we will leave the question of homeschool laws to our other writings.) It is important that the home be structured after a godly pattern. Thereafter, the home education process should fall into place quite naturally. In other words. structure the home and you will hardly notice when homeschooling begins.

In spite of whatever we may have been taught, to have a spouse is an asset and to have children is a bless­ing. When the home is set in order with parents in charge and children are taught to obey, in-home aca­demic learning will easily fall into place. (Again, we will put shoe on the other foot. Consider the loss to the home when about the time children become helpful within the home they are sent out for their education.)

Above all else. parents must not try to copy the pub­lic school program! Keep in mind that the objective is that children become educated, and not that we create a program.

Creating a program, however, seems to be at the base of some homeschool laws. Requiring a certain number of hours or specifying certain times of day or certain days, as well as certain courses can lead to burdens which have nothing to do with good education. It only accomplishes turning that which God intended to be a blessing into a burden, plus eventual homeschool burnout.

My son Jonathan testifies that he had only about an hour and a half a week of formal education time during his years of secondary education. Yet he, along with his brothers and sisters, have done exceptionally well when tested against the norms. The hour and a half a week cannot possibly equal a thousand hours a year, yet a thousand hours of instruction is a requirement in at least one homeschool law.

My sister Karen attended public school but was sick one year with rheumatic fever and could not attend school most of that year. The public school sent out a tutor for and hour and a half a week. Karen kept up with her class and accordingly got her best grades that year.

Myth: Children Need Socialization and Peers

The original goal of the common school and later the public school was education, not socialization. Years of compounding failure by the public school has created a need to grasp at straws to justify its continued existence and the massive infusion of tax dollars.

Without the alleged need for socialization there would be little reason to go back to the well year by year seeking more money for the public school program. There would be no justification for attacking homeschooling families. Therefore it becomes ex­tremely important to the educational establishment and to the parasitical organizations it supports that the al­leged need for socialization be shouted from every soap box.

For those reasons it is perhaps the most touted myth which parents who are beginning home education will hear. I don't know who first invented the concept, but plenty of people arc firmly caught in the deception. I do know the ones who stand to profit most from state education, accompany the parading of that paper tiger with their extremely loud roaring. Regardless, fact remains that children do not in any way develop good character from each other. Good character is developed in a child by learning God's way and by learning to obey Him.

I don't know if I should, but I am going to ask anyway: if children need to be in a gang of peers their own age why didn't God have them bom in litters?!

Now on the other hand there is the high risk of negative socialization. That occurs when poorly trained, or undisciplined children corrupt other children.

Three or four years after Virginia and I, with our brood of nine, moved to Arkansas, a respected life-long resident of the South, then in his seventies, told me about the losing struggle to maintain local control of education. The occasion he spoke of took place during the 1940's while the Second World War was yet raging and many of the native sons were still fighting in Europe against a man maddened with many wild claims, one of which was that the children belonged to The State.

A wise old farmer raised his voice to protest the con­solidation policy being pushed upon the people by the department of education. It was during those last days of the little one room school houses, which then dotted the Ozark Mountains of Northern Arkansas. He pro­tested, "It won't work. You put a sheep killer in with your pups and they will all become sheep killers." His protest fell upon deaf ears and the subsequent record. now posted under the lengthening shadow of crime. drug abuse, and overflowing prisons, speaks for itself.

Myth: Homeschooled Children Will be Too Sheltered

Even our laws shelter children from alcohol, cigarettes, movies, pornography, physical abuse, etc. Children need sheltering!!

I confess! Homeschooled children are being shel­tered, and that is exactly the thing that parents must go right on doing! God fully intends for the home to shelter developing children and parents need not feel guilty for obeying God in doing that very thing.

Not only is the home a warm. clean refuge for the body, it is especially so for the soul and spirit. The dan­ger to children in this world is not under-exposure but over-exposure. I have one question to ask my skeptical friends. How do you send your child's "secular" to school and keep his soul and spirit at home?

Myth: Homeschooled Children Will Become Too Dependent Upon Parents

That's one myth I have occasionally wished our skeptical friends had been right about. However, they were wrong and in due season our children have all grown up and have become happy to leave home and launch out on their own.

I do admit that our children did appear a little shy at times; especially so when we compared them to other children. I suppose it was partially due to the fact that we had the firm conviction that girls should act like ladies and that boys should be gentlemen. Regardless, none of our children suffer from shyness now that they have grown-up.

Myth: Homeschooled Children Will be Unable to Handle the Real World

Let all understand, the real world is not the one trimmed with flashing lights and decked with earthly, fleshly, devilish trinkets. Neither is the real world the one paved with concrete. The real world is the clean, pure, and beautiful one which God created and governs by his law and his authority. Children brought up in the real world under the law of God will be well able to stand true and faithful against the cheap, imitation one. Furthermore, a child brought up to be a servant in the kingdom of God for eternity will be perfectly fitted to live on earth a few short years.

Myth: Homeschooled Children Won't Fit Into Tomorrow's World

That's the easiest myth of all to handle. Who holds tomorrow's world, "The State" or God? It's doubtful that many people really want to know the future as bad as they think they do. If they did, would they know how to prepare their children for it? The education of children is best left in the hand of the one who holds the future in His hand. It is He who has stated, "The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord" (Pr. 16:1). It is He who has stated, "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy chil­dren" (Is. 54:13). It is He who has declared, "I have cre­ated the smith that bloweth the coals..." (Is. 54:16). See also Ex. 36:1.

Myth: Children Taught at Home Won't be Able to Go to College or Get a Job Without a High School Diploma

Any school can issue a high school diploma. That in­cludes parents who teach their children at home. Most home educating parents have chosen a name for their homeschool. All they need to do is order a blank diploma from a supplier or design one of their own, which would include the name of their school and then have it professionally printed. They can then issue a lovely, official looking diploma to their child upon completion of their child's home education program.

It's not surprising that there are enterprising indi­viduals who are willing to issue a high school diploma to homeschooled children. Their fee for a diploma, however, could be saved if parents choose, as I have suggested, to issue a diploma of their own design, which would be no less valid than any other high school diploma.

As far as jobs go, if the experience of our own nine homeschooled children holds true employers will soon be scouring the market for promising homeschooled children. The same is true of colleges. I recently at­tended a homeschool convention in one of the mid-western states. At that convention there were no less than nine colleges represented there, all seeking to at­tract home-schooled young people to their campuses.

With few exceptions, homeschooled children have little difficulty, either entering or keeping pace in col­lege. One young mother told me that when she in­formed her mother, who is a college professor, that she was going to homeschool her child the response was, "Good. at least one young person will come to this col­lege knowing something." Too bad all grandparents don't feel that way.

Parents should not be too quick, however, to believe , that jobs. diplomas, and college are necessarily the highest goals for the little jewels God has loaned to them for upbringing, training, and educating. It's doubt­ful that many of the men of God would have fit into a college mold—Elijah and John the Baptist to name but two. Where do you suppose they got their credentials? Where is Backside of The Desert College, anyway? (See Exodus 3:1).

Myth: Home Education is a Radical New Idea

Nothing could be further from the truth. The teaching home has been with mankind since the dawn of creation. The home was instituted of the Creator for that very purpose. He designed the home for producing godly children who are to be, in due course, returned to our Heavenly Father. It was for that reason that the marriage and the family were instituted in the opening chapters of the Bible.

In the closing chapters of the Old Testament the pur­pose of God in creating the Family is made quite clear:

"...And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed..." (Mal. 2:15).

In between those chapters many references and instructions are given relating to parent/child relationships. In short, marriage was ordained of God to conceive, birth, nurture, and train up a child. It was to be "line upon line, precept upon precept" until the child is fully ingrained in accordance with the principles of Scrip­ture. Then the child, having been a sacred trust, is to be returned to God who alone committed that precious child to the parents. It was done that they might, for a little season, share with our Heavenly Father the joy of training and nurturing that child. Although parents might then consider a grown young man or young lady mature. God considers them seeds, ready to be sown in the earth, to bloom into fruitful service for the kingdom of heaven. Thus the cycle of life continues.

Throughout the ages home education has served well, blessing men and nations. Home education was the most common method of education in the "New World" serving to lay the foundations of America. It was the teaching home which brought fourth the men who preached God's Word from the nation's pulpits, re­vealing law and government, judgment and justice. It was the teaching home which produced the men who produced our government, anchored upon the revelation of God.

If a list were to be made of successful home educated Americans it would include a long list of our presi­dents, generals, inventors, business leaders, and many other men and women of renown. Successful people of every profession and walk of life would fill many vol­umes. Why then should we believe it so radical? Why not return to a way which was so successful in the early years of our country? Or has academic freedom now become our fearsome foe?

Sad though true, the departure from the teaching home, being a departure from the Way of God, has brought upon this nation much sorrow and pain, many heartbreaks and tragedies. A return of the teaching home is the only real ray of hope for the education quagmire into which our nation has sunk. The teaching home will again produce success, providing it is not destroyed by ill-advised legislation, or by ill-begotten court decisions.

In Conclusion

Although teaching children at home instead of send­ing them out to be educated seems like a new idea, ob­viously it is not. History clearly records that home education was alive and well in the formative years of America, and for centuries before anyone thought of having a school run by the government. In fact it is edu­cation in a public school run by the government which is relatively new. A few decades of public schooling, however, has conditioned Americans until the idea of home education seems like a radical departure from good judgment.

Many of us who, a number of years ago, chose to de­part from the accepted norm are now considered pio­neers in the modem homeschool movement. I prefer, however, to think of us as adventurers because the course we took was one of rediscovery and pleasure rather than of hardship and toil. If anything it was a process of throwing off the crushing bonds of the fossil­ized thinking of the education establishment and launching out upon the course of academic freedom once enjoyed by Americans in days gone by.

Perhaps the fears and tremblings, the tears and stumblings were necessary accomplices to our first steps of departure from the ingrained dogma of our society. But even as our adventuring forefathers did not fall off the edge of the world, we have not found the home to be an unsafe place for our children. Our quest for academic freedom has been rewarded. Our steps back into the good way have not been in vain. Time has honored our decision.

If we have blazed a trail it cannot be said that we were the first to travel that pathway, because each step was taken before us. We merely followed the Master who like ourselves was dishonored for lack of creden­tials, but the dishonor of this world is not always dis­honor with our Creator. In fact, there are blessings from God. in heaven above, upon all who obey His Word, es­pecially so in the training of one's own children whose souls are eternal.

In addition to eternal rewards we were to discover many joys, here and now. In seeking to obey God in the teaching and upbringing of our children we discovered the joy of having our children around us everyday. That made it possible for us to watch and help as they daily stretched a little farther to reach yet another stepping stone.

Yes, homeschooling allows parents to lay up treas­ures in heaven while enjoying the priceless rewards that come with being with one's own children in the prime of their tender young years. What greater stewardship can there be of the talents our Creator has bestowed upon His servants? What greater joy?