The Biblical Basis for Homeschooling Christian Children ~ Part II ~ Homeschooling: A Revival

Homeschooling: A Revival

“He decreed statutes…He commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so
the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget His deeds but would keep His commands.” (Psalm 78:5-7)

Many homeschool parents look upon the rising numbers of homeschoolers in the United States as a revival. A revival of godly families raising up their children for the future…to be godly parents themselves and to be the leaders of the future. Homeschool parents are picking up the baton of godly education that those before them dropped. And when the baton was dropped in this country (in the 1840’s when the first Government-funded public schools opened their doors[1]) it slowly started to roll…away. It picked up speed in the 1960s when prayer was taken out of public schools[2], a little faster in the 1970s when authority was taken away from teachers and principals to discipline students[3]. And faster and faster through the 1990s and the beginning of the twenty-first century when immorality and violence have become so rampant in our public schools that parents must wonder if they will ever see their children again after they walk out the front door to school.

It will take a revival to reverse these trends. Trends set by those of influence in the public school leadership who think little children who, having been influenced by the love and care of their mothers, are “sick” because they hold godly values. Harvard Professor Dr. Chester M. Pierce of The Association For Childhood Education International, boldly displayed his disgust of traditional values and families when he admonished teachers in saying: “Every child in America entering school at the age of five is mentally ill because he comes to school with certain allegiances toward…his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being…It’s up to you teachers to make all of these sick children well by creating the international children of the future[4].”

Homeschoolers understand this undermining of God’s plan for the Christian family. Not only are they building their children’s education on the foundation of God’s commands (Deut. 6:4-7, see Part I), but they are creating and cultivating a Biblical mind-set in their children. As Chris Klicka says in his book, Home Schooling – The Right Choice, “[H]ome schooling parents, aware of the anti-God curriculum and complete lack of absolute values in the public schools, cannot sacrifice their children to such a system[5].”

Because of the command of God in Deut. 6:4-7, how can we not see that God requires truth be taught to our children…by the parents. We know that God specifically says that, regarding His commandments (or “words” in the NASV), parents are to talk of them all through the day: sitting at home…walking along the road…when we lie down and when we get up. How can parents do that if they are separated from their children and teens a minimum of six to eight hours a day, five days a week? That doesn’t even include time spent on the bus. Parents are sending their children to a place that does not teach God’s thoughts, but man’s thoughts, for 35 hours a week. Can any thinking, rational parent conclude that all will be cured with a mere one or two hours in church on Sunday morning to turn the tide of bombardment of daily indoctrination of evolutionary theory (taught as fact, of course), of negative peer pressure, of the outlawing of the mention of God – how much more the Name of Jesus? But, our culture and society has certainly shown us that, yes, so many parents are simply conditioned by our culture to believe it.

{Continued...}

[1] Christopher Klicka, Home Schooling – The Right Choice! (Loyal Publishing, 1995), 82
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Dr. Chester M Pierce, a written address delivered to over 2,000 teachers in Denver, CO; see Schooling Choices, (Portland, OR: Multnomah, 1988), 131.
[5] Christopher Klicka, Home Schooling – The Right Choice!, (Loyal Publishing, 1995), 109