Why Homeschool?

God tells us in Luke chapter 6, verse 40, that, "A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he is fully trained, will be like his teacher."  Who is the teacher in public schools? Is it a curriculum that honors and glorifies God, or is it one that points to the individual as the supreme being? Are the teachers heterosexual Creationists, or is their sexual orientation varied as well as how they believe the world came in to existence? What of fellow students--is what they are exposed to at home going to negatively influence your Christian child? Is a child able to defend his faith while the cement of his character is still hardening?

A further question-if 9 children are outside in dirty t-shirts, what are the odds your child, who is wearing a white t-shirt, is going to come in with a dirty shirt? What are the odds the 9 kids will dirty shirts will come in with white shirts as a result of your child going out to play with them?

There are many resources available to help parents successfully home educate their children. In my area there is a co-op on Monday afternoons that covers core and extra-curricular activities, a co-op on Thursday mornings for students of all ages, classes on Tue/Thur for middle/high school aged students, and then there is a program (Classical Conversations) that provides instruction one morning a week for K-6, or alternately for older kids, all the work they will do for the week is given once per week. Along with that one-day instruction, there is the classroom time to allow peer influence and that feeling of competition some students thrive on.

The bottom line is that there is no  magic. We can't put our kids into the ungodly public education system, where government is god, and expect them to hold on to the faith we're trying to instill in them. It works out to one or two days at church, plus five in the public school setting where the onslaught of worldview-shaping information is against God. Even students who seem to be Christian after going through the public school system will likely take on beliefs that are contrary to Scripture. There is simply no way to not end up with more of the world in us when we rub elbows with it day in and day out.