I signed Anna and Ryan up for the Book it program. I just found out that Home schoolers can participate in this. I am very excited about it. I am pretty sure they are going to love reading books to earn pizzas from Pizza Hut.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Book It
I signed Anna and Ryan up for the Book it program. I just found out that Home schoolers can participate in this. I am very excited about it. I am pretty sure they are going to love reading books to earn pizzas from Pizza Hut.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Why Homeschool? part 2
Below is an article written by Greg Harris. I got this article from this website. This article, while offensive to some, really portrays Bill's and my heart. I really liked how Greg Harris expresses his heart towards his children.
**************************************************
Priceless Treasures: My Reasons for Home Schooling
Thursday, 20 July 2006
C.S. LEWIS ONCE OBSERVED that God is not so much offended that we want too much as by the fact that we are satisfied with so little. Though He offers us the highest of adventures in our Christian life, we settle for the stale mediocrity of our lukewarm religious routines. The parental counterpart to this idea is that most mothers and fathers actually want too little for their children - they settle for success in this world's terms. But God would have us aim higher, not like an ambitious stage mother pushing her mildly talented children into the spotlight, but like a fine jeweler making the best possible use of each bit of gold, silver, and precious stone he has. My children are priceless treasures, and I want God's highest and best for them.
What does it mean to aim high in this way? What am I really trying to accomplish in the education of my children?
Is it enough that they read well? No, not for me. I want them to commune with great authors from throughout the ages and be able to comprehend the profound ideas and truths that God has used to change the course of history. Let them be voracious readers of truly great literature.
Do I want my sons and daughters only to write and spell correctly? No, I want them to correspond with fellow enthusiasts in their chosen areas of endeavor. If they have the gifting, let them eventually author intelligent, superbly written works concerning the important issues of their day. Let them be prolific writers, whether privately or publicly
Do I want them merely to know enough history to pass a written test? No, I want them to understand the times in which they live and to be able to pass the real tests of life they will face in voting booths and on battlefields. Let them be like the sons of Issachar ("who had understanding of the times," 1 Chron. 12:32) in the unfolding dramas of future events.
But education is so much more than mere academics. It is primarily matter of character development. Self-discipline may be out of style, but it is never out of work. Do I want my children simply to be nice, well-behaved, and safe from peer pressure? Not at all! Aslan, in Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, is not a tame lion, but he is good. I prefer my children to be like that - good but not tame, men and women of integrity, not conformity. Let them be so influential and contagious in their faith that they turn the hearts of their companions toward God. Let the world grieve that its best and brightest have become Christians.
What about marriage and children? Are these things only a matter of personal comfort and enjoyment? Is a lifelong marriage aiming too high? Is the average number of 1.5 children per family enough? No, I want each of my sons and daughters to have a marriage and a family like that of Jonathan Edwards - enduring, large in number, and deeply devoted to God. Let each future household be devoted as a team for ministry as an effective embassy of the kingdom of God.
On an economic note, will it be enough if my children manage someday to find good jobs, regardless of how restrictive and disruptive their work schedules may be? No, I would like to see my adult sons provide for their wives and children through family business ownership and entrepreneurial stewardship. Contrary to the best efforts of the ACLU, there are still millions of public school students praying secretly to find decent jobs someday. Why not prepare our homeschool students to hire them?
Ultimately, neither academics, nor character, nor a strong marriage, nor a large family, nor financial freedom will matter if my children are still dead in sin and alienated from the promises of God. God help me never to raise up "civil men, lost in sin," as the Puritans would call them. Salvation in Christ is more than merely foundational. It is everything.
Deep within the secret counsels of God's sovereign decretive will lies the very real responsibility I bear as a father to train up my children in the way that they should go (Prov. 22:6). Only God can save my children. Will He do so? The very fact I care at all for the salvation of my children is good evidence that God is already at work on their behalf. Our God is a covenant-keeping God and His sovereign election is the norm, not the exception, when parents respond in faithful obedience to His Word.
As I read the biographies of great men and women, I notice that godly parents often do make a difference. "As the twig is bent, so grows the tree." Our sovereign God, working by concurrence through His created order of parents training their children and children obeying their parents, has ordained that special instruments of His grace will be forged on the anvil of a mother or father's heart. If I am both wise and diligent in my child training, it may be evidence that something extraordinary is brewing in the heavenlies - perhaps my children will be special gifts to Christ's church in their generation.
But if, like Eli of old, I am passive and negligent in this matter, it bodes eternal ill for me and my children. Insight is not action. Knowing is not the same as doing. Faith without works is dead. Think about it. Taking the easier path of conventional schooling is by any measure taking unnecessary chances with the souls of my children. Willfully sending them off to an institution that denies my authority, where the dominant social life is ungodly, where God is not feared and His Word not taught, where I cannot protect my children from falling into dangerous activities that could ruin a young life in one casual act of foolishness, where I cannot even vouch for the moral character of the teachers and administrators, seems to me an odd way of being diligent. The spirit of Eli is upon our nation and our churches as we rationalize with all our rational lies. That is why I ask God for grace to understand and obey Him in all of my obligations. Then, strong in the grace of God, I exert myself to do what He has commanded, even when it is not easy.
But salvation must lead to sanctification, and as a father I have a part to play in that as well. It is not enough that my children confess faith in Christ and go to church. Luke-warmness will not do. I want to see the fire of passion for the presence of God safely burning in the doctrinal fire place of each child's Reformed faith. A perpetual state of spiritual childhood, or even of spiritual adolescence, is not acceptable to God. Why should it be acceptable to me? I want my children to grow up to full maturity in Christ. I want them to bear the fruit of the Spirit and one day be qualified to serve as elders and deacons in a strong local church, with the courage and faith to roll up their sleeves and plant that church themselves if they have to.
To those who ask, "But what about socialization?" I can only weep. Socialization has always been a double-edged sword; it cuts both ways. "He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm" (Prov. 13:20, NASB). What my wife and I are doing in our home school is positive, biblical socialization that makes our children become wise. My children walk with me, and though I definitely have a long way yet to go, I try to be an acceptable companion to my children.
Most of our modem school-based socialization is of the foolish, harmful sort. Pooled ignorance leads to poor taste in clothing, music, films, and TV - the kind of people who read the grocery store tabloids and believe them. But the harm is far more than cultural. Disinterest in school, disrespect for teachers, rapacious dating, promiscuity, substance abuse, and gang violence also come in waves-- pounding waves of youth culture that erode moral standards. Even a small population of these poor creatures requires that high schools be run like youth prisons.
Good socialization is primarily age-integrated. It occurs when the young are included in the lives of older and wiser people, especially parents and other family members at home and the spiritual family of one's local church. Walking with the wise is a lifestyle, not a program. It is a club of fellow enthusiasts, not a class of uninterested age-mates. It includes working together, eating together, playing together, worshiping together, and studying together, This is where God placed the responsibility for child training and education, and it works very well in aiming children at God's highest and best targets in every area of life.
That is what I want for my children - God's highest and best - and that is my purpose in homeschooling them. Forgive what may seem my audacity, but I don't want my children to be merely counted among the Reformed. I want them to stand with the Reformers.
Gregg Harris is the author of
The Christian Home School and the director of the Noble Institute in Gresham, OR.
**************************************************
Priceless Treasures: My Reasons for Home Schooling
Thursday, 20 July 2006
C.S. LEWIS ONCE OBSERVED that God is not so much offended that we want too much as by the fact that we are satisfied with so little. Though He offers us the highest of adventures in our Christian life, we settle for the stale mediocrity of our lukewarm religious routines. The parental counterpart to this idea is that most mothers and fathers actually want too little for their children - they settle for success in this world's terms. But God would have us aim higher, not like an ambitious stage mother pushing her mildly talented children into the spotlight, but like a fine jeweler making the best possible use of each bit of gold, silver, and precious stone he has. My children are priceless treasures, and I want God's highest and best for them.
What does it mean to aim high in this way? What am I really trying to accomplish in the education of my children?
Is it enough that they read well? No, not for me. I want them to commune with great authors from throughout the ages and be able to comprehend the profound ideas and truths that God has used to change the course of history. Let them be voracious readers of truly great literature.
Do I want my sons and daughters only to write and spell correctly? No, I want them to correspond with fellow enthusiasts in their chosen areas of endeavor. If they have the gifting, let them eventually author intelligent, superbly written works concerning the important issues of their day. Let them be prolific writers, whether privately or publicly
Do I want them merely to know enough history to pass a written test? No, I want them to understand the times in which they live and to be able to pass the real tests of life they will face in voting booths and on battlefields. Let them be like the sons of Issachar ("who had understanding of the times," 1 Chron. 12:32) in the unfolding dramas of future events.
But education is so much more than mere academics. It is primarily matter of character development. Self-discipline may be out of style, but it is never out of work. Do I want my children simply to be nice, well-behaved, and safe from peer pressure? Not at all! Aslan, in Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, is not a tame lion, but he is good. I prefer my children to be like that - good but not tame, men and women of integrity, not conformity. Let them be so influential and contagious in their faith that they turn the hearts of their companions toward God. Let the world grieve that its best and brightest have become Christians.
What about marriage and children? Are these things only a matter of personal comfort and enjoyment? Is a lifelong marriage aiming too high? Is the average number of 1.5 children per family enough? No, I want each of my sons and daughters to have a marriage and a family like that of Jonathan Edwards - enduring, large in number, and deeply devoted to God. Let each future household be devoted as a team for ministry as an effective embassy of the kingdom of God.
On an economic note, will it be enough if my children manage someday to find good jobs, regardless of how restrictive and disruptive their work schedules may be? No, I would like to see my adult sons provide for their wives and children through family business ownership and entrepreneurial stewardship. Contrary to the best efforts of the ACLU, there are still millions of public school students praying secretly to find decent jobs someday. Why not prepare our homeschool students to hire them?
Ultimately, neither academics, nor character, nor a strong marriage, nor a large family, nor financial freedom will matter if my children are still dead in sin and alienated from the promises of God. God help me never to raise up "civil men, lost in sin," as the Puritans would call them. Salvation in Christ is more than merely foundational. It is everything.
Deep within the secret counsels of God's sovereign decretive will lies the very real responsibility I bear as a father to train up my children in the way that they should go (Prov. 22:6). Only God can save my children. Will He do so? The very fact I care at all for the salvation of my children is good evidence that God is already at work on their behalf. Our God is a covenant-keeping God and His sovereign election is the norm, not the exception, when parents respond in faithful obedience to His Word.
As I read the biographies of great men and women, I notice that godly parents often do make a difference. "As the twig is bent, so grows the tree." Our sovereign God, working by concurrence through His created order of parents training their children and children obeying their parents, has ordained that special instruments of His grace will be forged on the anvil of a mother or father's heart. If I am both wise and diligent in my child training, it may be evidence that something extraordinary is brewing in the heavenlies - perhaps my children will be special gifts to Christ's church in their generation.
But if, like Eli of old, I am passive and negligent in this matter, it bodes eternal ill for me and my children. Insight is not action. Knowing is not the same as doing. Faith without works is dead. Think about it. Taking the easier path of conventional schooling is by any measure taking unnecessary chances with the souls of my children. Willfully sending them off to an institution that denies my authority, where the dominant social life is ungodly, where God is not feared and His Word not taught, where I cannot protect my children from falling into dangerous activities that could ruin a young life in one casual act of foolishness, where I cannot even vouch for the moral character of the teachers and administrators, seems to me an odd way of being diligent. The spirit of Eli is upon our nation and our churches as we rationalize with all our rational lies. That is why I ask God for grace to understand and obey Him in all of my obligations. Then, strong in the grace of God, I exert myself to do what He has commanded, even when it is not easy.
But salvation must lead to sanctification, and as a father I have a part to play in that as well. It is not enough that my children confess faith in Christ and go to church. Luke-warmness will not do. I want to see the fire of passion for the presence of God safely burning in the doctrinal fire place of each child's Reformed faith. A perpetual state of spiritual childhood, or even of spiritual adolescence, is not acceptable to God. Why should it be acceptable to me? I want my children to grow up to full maturity in Christ. I want them to bear the fruit of the Spirit and one day be qualified to serve as elders and deacons in a strong local church, with the courage and faith to roll up their sleeves and plant that church themselves if they have to.
To those who ask, "But what about socialization?" I can only weep. Socialization has always been a double-edged sword; it cuts both ways. "He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm" (Prov. 13:20, NASB). What my wife and I are doing in our home school is positive, biblical socialization that makes our children become wise. My children walk with me, and though I definitely have a long way yet to go, I try to be an acceptable companion to my children.
Most of our modem school-based socialization is of the foolish, harmful sort. Pooled ignorance leads to poor taste in clothing, music, films, and TV - the kind of people who read the grocery store tabloids and believe them. But the harm is far more than cultural. Disinterest in school, disrespect for teachers, rapacious dating, promiscuity, substance abuse, and gang violence also come in waves-- pounding waves of youth culture that erode moral standards. Even a small population of these poor creatures requires that high schools be run like youth prisons.
Good socialization is primarily age-integrated. It occurs when the young are included in the lives of older and wiser people, especially parents and other family members at home and the spiritual family of one's local church. Walking with the wise is a lifestyle, not a program. It is a club of fellow enthusiasts, not a class of uninterested age-mates. It includes working together, eating together, playing together, worshiping together, and studying together, This is where God placed the responsibility for child training and education, and it works very well in aiming children at God's highest and best targets in every area of life.
That is what I want for my children - God's highest and best - and that is my purpose in homeschooling them. Forgive what may seem my audacity, but I don't want my children to be merely counted among the Reformed. I want them to stand with the Reformers.
Gregg Harris is the author of
The Christian Home School and the director of the Noble Institute in Gresham, OR.
Why Homeschool? Part 1
The beginning of our journey...
It is really by God's grace and His leading that our family is homeschooling. I am someone who said I would NEVER homeschool. I want to share a little of my background and what lead to my thought processes.
I grew up being homeschooled, and for the most part had a positive experience. Because of our flexibility we were able to do a lot of traveling during the school year. Our family was able to visit many historical and very educational places. I have been to most of the 50 states. My school experience was definitely very hands on. I think my parents were very creative in the things they did with us. I don't know that as a child I fully appreciated all of their efforts, or realized what a blessing my experiences were. However, around the age of 15 my parents split, drastically changing the dynamics of our lives. My mom pretty much allowed herself to fall apart, and told my sister and I that she wanted nothing to do with our schooling. She gave us an option, either continue on our own or go to public school. Having been taught at home all my life, and knowing nothing else (and I was a very shy kid), and with everything crazy that was going on in our lives, I chose to teach myself at home.
Because my mom offered little to no help with my schooling, I often struggled to understand things, especially those harder upper grade subjects (Algebra being one of them). To make a long story short, I ended up spending a month or so with my best friends family during my Senior year. I flew to VA to stay with them and get caught up on my schooling so I could graduate. It was alot of hard work, but with determination I did it. I graduated from homeschool high school
The struggles in my last 2 years of high school really left a bad taste in my mouth for homeschooling. I felt in a way my mother had failed me. I know she did the best she could, but her best just honestly wasn't enough. I didn't feel like I could handle that kind of responsibility with my own children someday. I didn't want to look at my children and feel like I had failed them in their education. I was pretty dogmatic about this. Whenever the subject was brought up, I was quick to point out that I would NEVER homeschool because of my own experience.
It's funny how the Lord can change your heart. When Anna turned 4, Bill and I decided that we wanted her to go to 4k. She seemed like a pretty smart kid and ready to begin her schooling. We searched around and found a private 4k program near our home. It was a non religious school...we didn't pick it for that reason. That turned out to be a big mistake. I don't think there is such a thing as non religious. We were very unhappy with some of the things that Anna was being taught, so at Christmas break we pulled her out and enrolled her in St. Johns...that turned out to be mistake #2. Anna being the bright and sensitive child that she was, questioned the religious views that were being expressed there. They talked about things like Lent and baby baptism. We had to spend a lot of time explaining to Anna why we don't believe in those things. That was actually a good thing. I mean, it did give us good opportunity to teach scripture to our child and explain why we believe what we do. Being sensitive, Anna was very upset that her teachers were "teaching me lies".
The education that Anna received was good and really laid a good groundwork for kindergarten. But, we wondered at what cost had she received it. I feel it was God's way of getting the wheels turning in our heads. Bill and I began to question what we wanted to do for Kindergarten. It wasn't an option to put Anna in Christian school (too expensive), and going to a public school really made my stomach turn in knots (even though up until that point, I figured that we would send her to public school).
Bill and I spent lots of time praying about it. Bill started to feel more strongly about us homeschooling. Of course I had my reservations at first. Bill asked me one night why I was feeling resistant. I had to think for a little bit. First, was my fear of failure. And second I was afraid that if we kept her at home she would be too sheltered. Even as I uttered those words, they sounded a little silly to my own ears. Bill's response was, "What is so wrong with being sheltered? Especially when she is young?" I couldn't find one thing to respond to his question with. He was right, what was so wrong with sheltering her while she is young...absolutely nothing, was my conclusion.
After much prayer, and getting godly advice from trusted friends, Bill and I decided that God was leading us to homeschool. We didn't know for how long, we just knew that we were following God's leading for the moment. We are still taking it one year at a time. We had our challenges the first year, but I really enjoyed it. And of course this year had it's ups and downs, but I feel myself growing to love it more. I love the opportunity that the Lord has given me to teach my children at home. It is so amazing to get to see first hand their minds develop and grow. Teaching Anna to read was one of my favorite things. I know that at some point God may call us to put them into school, but for now I am trying to enjoy the time that He has given me. I had to let go of some things that I wanted to do in order to homeschool. It was a bit of a struggle for me to let go of the outside ministry that I was in at first, but am finding that there is so much joy in obedience. I do not regret one bit giving anything up in order to teach...it has been a privilege and blessing to do so.
As for my fear of failing with my kids, well the Lord has really been teaching me alot about that. First, I tend to put really high expectations on myself which are often unrealistic. Second, I am beginning to see that having fear about not "getting it right" is robbing me of joy. I could write a whole post on that alone. God is so good. I love that he is using my children and my experience with homeschooling them, to mold me and draw me closer to Him. I am very blessed. God gives me the strength and wisdom I need. It is only by His grace and doing that my children do well in school.
Bill and I feel that our responsibility as parents is to guide our little ones to God. We felt that that the best way for us to do that right now, was to keep our kids at home. We want them to really be grounded before we send them out among the wolves. I realize that every family is different. I am probably offending people by what I am saying. God does not call everyone to keep their little ones at home. It is a very personal decision between you and God. I do not judge other families for what they do. The most important thing for every family is to seek out what God wants them to do and be obedient to that.
This journey that we are on is so amazing. I look forward to all that God is going to do in our lives...and how He is going to change me.
It is really by God's grace and His leading that our family is homeschooling. I am someone who said I would NEVER homeschool. I want to share a little of my background and what lead to my thought processes.
I grew up being homeschooled, and for the most part had a positive experience. Because of our flexibility we were able to do a lot of traveling during the school year. Our family was able to visit many historical and very educational places. I have been to most of the 50 states. My school experience was definitely very hands on. I think my parents were very creative in the things they did with us. I don't know that as a child I fully appreciated all of their efforts, or realized what a blessing my experiences were. However, around the age of 15 my parents split, drastically changing the dynamics of our lives. My mom pretty much allowed herself to fall apart, and told my sister and I that she wanted nothing to do with our schooling. She gave us an option, either continue on our own or go to public school. Having been taught at home all my life, and knowing nothing else (and I was a very shy kid), and with everything crazy that was going on in our lives, I chose to teach myself at home.
Because my mom offered little to no help with my schooling, I often struggled to understand things, especially those harder upper grade subjects (Algebra being one of them). To make a long story short, I ended up spending a month or so with my best friends family during my Senior year. I flew to VA to stay with them and get caught up on my schooling so I could graduate. It was alot of hard work, but with determination I did it. I graduated from homeschool high school
The struggles in my last 2 years of high school really left a bad taste in my mouth for homeschooling. I felt in a way my mother had failed me. I know she did the best she could, but her best just honestly wasn't enough. I didn't feel like I could handle that kind of responsibility with my own children someday. I didn't want to look at my children and feel like I had failed them in their education. I was pretty dogmatic about this. Whenever the subject was brought up, I was quick to point out that I would NEVER homeschool because of my own experience.
It's funny how the Lord can change your heart. When Anna turned 4, Bill and I decided that we wanted her to go to 4k. She seemed like a pretty smart kid and ready to begin her schooling. We searched around and found a private 4k program near our home. It was a non religious school...we didn't pick it for that reason. That turned out to be a big mistake. I don't think there is such a thing as non religious. We were very unhappy with some of the things that Anna was being taught, so at Christmas break we pulled her out and enrolled her in St. Johns...that turned out to be mistake #2. Anna being the bright and sensitive child that she was, questioned the religious views that were being expressed there. They talked about things like Lent and baby baptism. We had to spend a lot of time explaining to Anna why we don't believe in those things. That was actually a good thing. I mean, it did give us good opportunity to teach scripture to our child and explain why we believe what we do. Being sensitive, Anna was very upset that her teachers were "teaching me lies".
The education that Anna received was good and really laid a good groundwork for kindergarten. But, we wondered at what cost had she received it. I feel it was God's way of getting the wheels turning in our heads. Bill and I began to question what we wanted to do for Kindergarten. It wasn't an option to put Anna in Christian school (too expensive), and going to a public school really made my stomach turn in knots (even though up until that point, I figured that we would send her to public school).
Bill and I spent lots of time praying about it. Bill started to feel more strongly about us homeschooling. Of course I had my reservations at first. Bill asked me one night why I was feeling resistant. I had to think for a little bit. First, was my fear of failure. And second I was afraid that if we kept her at home she would be too sheltered. Even as I uttered those words, they sounded a little silly to my own ears. Bill's response was, "What is so wrong with being sheltered? Especially when she is young?" I couldn't find one thing to respond to his question with. He was right, what was so wrong with sheltering her while she is young...absolutely nothing, was my conclusion.
After much prayer, and getting godly advice from trusted friends, Bill and I decided that God was leading us to homeschool. We didn't know for how long, we just knew that we were following God's leading for the moment. We are still taking it one year at a time. We had our challenges the first year, but I really enjoyed it. And of course this year had it's ups and downs, but I feel myself growing to love it more. I love the opportunity that the Lord has given me to teach my children at home. It is so amazing to get to see first hand their minds develop and grow. Teaching Anna to read was one of my favorite things. I know that at some point God may call us to put them into school, but for now I am trying to enjoy the time that He has given me. I had to let go of some things that I wanted to do in order to homeschool. It was a bit of a struggle for me to let go of the outside ministry that I was in at first, but am finding that there is so much joy in obedience. I do not regret one bit giving anything up in order to teach...it has been a privilege and blessing to do so.
As for my fear of failing with my kids, well the Lord has really been teaching me alot about that. First, I tend to put really high expectations on myself which are often unrealistic. Second, I am beginning to see that having fear about not "getting it right" is robbing me of joy. I could write a whole post on that alone. God is so good. I love that he is using my children and my experience with homeschooling them, to mold me and draw me closer to Him. I am very blessed. God gives me the strength and wisdom I need. It is only by His grace and doing that my children do well in school.
Bill and I feel that our responsibility as parents is to guide our little ones to God. We felt that that the best way for us to do that right now, was to keep our kids at home. We want them to really be grounded before we send them out among the wolves. I realize that every family is different. I am probably offending people by what I am saying. God does not call everyone to keep their little ones at home. It is a very personal decision between you and God. I do not judge other families for what they do. The most important thing for every family is to seek out what God wants them to do and be obedient to that.
This journey that we are on is so amazing. I look forward to all that God is going to do in our lives...and how He is going to change me.
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