The Mother Lode

Thrown them into the pit…cast their souls to perdition.  Or at least that’s what this article suggested.

I read it in a homeschool magazine; the author’s opinion was quite clear: If you put your kids in public school, you are rejecting “Godly” teaching and indoctrinating your child in the world.  (And hence you’re in disobedience to God.)  You’re on a slippery slope!  And next thing you know, the kids won’t want to go to church and then they’ll turn away from God, get body piercings, tats and run with people named, “Spike” who has the a vanity plate on his pimp mobile that says, “PlaaaBoy.”

Oh Puh-leez.  I am SO over the Public School is the Boogey Man.  I am SO over every Christian parent MUST educate their children at home.  I am SO over it all.

The approach this man took in the article is not unfamiliar to me:  State fearful statistics…quote a few highly disturbing articles of evil liberals trying to get homosexual agendas into the classroom and in short….remove any options for education beyond a Bob Jones, honest-to-God, King-Jimmy- approved-homeschool-education.  (Gee, too bad about those stress related health issues, mama.)

Don’t forget to throw in the Scriptures that support Worldy vs. Biblical views.  (As interpreted by the American Religious Association Code of Behavior.)

Finally….the script offers the promise to the faithful:   Do all these things and your kids will follow God and your home will be free from stress and the evils of the world.  And they all lived happily ever after.

Uh huh.  (Can you say, “Embittered, disappointed believer?”)

Now, I’m not writing about this to start a spitting match on what education model is better than another. Every kid is different…every family….every school.

For the record, I personally do not agree with the model the public schools follow.  And I hope that I am always clear in my distinction between “The System” versus the hard working, devoted teachers that teach there.  (And yes, I know there are some bad teachers out there, okay?)

Nor do I think homeschooling is a good option for some families.  In a perfect world, right?

This is about that wonderful, freeing, God given gift called CHOICE.

When my daughter first approached me about attending public school, it challenged me.  She called me on something that I’d always given lip service to.  That, each year we would decide to home school or not for the upcoming year.

This article highlights some of my objections to government schooling but now I look past the rhetoric and see a butt-load of fear, hyperbole and control behind it.  And we set up a stranglehold of immovable boundaries.  It sounds something like this:

We must keep our children home at all costs.  Remove any choices from them.  And in the still of the night when you’re staring wide eyed at the ceiling….hope to God it all works out okay.  And gee.  Too bad about that migraine; but we all know that Saxon Math is tHE WAY to go, right?

Oh, bleck, bleck, BLECK!  Did you notice “trusting peacefully in God” never enters into this picture?

Releasing our children to make some choices….even if I don’t agree with the choice….is, what I believe is a healthy step toward teaching them about the grace of God.  (Now don’t go an email me that it’s stupid to allow a six-year-old to play in traffic.  That IS stupid and it’s not what I’m talking about.)

The grace of God does not order me to a live a certain lifestyle.  Nor does it order me to convince you to live the same way I feel I must live.  It is an invitation to a relationship whereby changes occur that are more organic than an overpriced apple at Whole Foods.

The grace of God says perfect love casts out all fear.  The grace of God says, Jump in and find me in every circumstances….yea verily….find me in the heart of a devoted teacher, who, btw….is also frustrated with the system.

The grace of God says, Let’s sit down and talk about your decisions.  Let’s talk about the bad ones….the good ones….and then let me help you walk through the consequences.

It’s a scary and empowering journey to embark on.  Instead of learning to follow the do’s and don’ts …I’m learning to follow His voice and trusting my kids to do the same.

A child who is unafraid of making choices will become a powerful adult.

And for right now, it means embarking on a journey with my kids I would never have imagined.  And we’ll explore it together…

Filed under: church, education, family life, homeschooling, parenting, Public schooling Tagged: | fear, home school, homeschooling, public education, public school, worldy thinking