Teaching Them Diligently Conference

I attended my first home school convention over the course of the last few days. Our journey into a homeschooling family is young and somewhat comedic as we were the ones who declared. NEVER! will that be our family. As a journey that began out of obedience to the Lord, I am now understanding the why of doing what we are doing. I can honestly say after this conference, It would again take an act of God for me to ever let anyone else educate our children.

 We can not live in fear. We will be miserable. Have to live in faith. there will be gaps in our child's education. We had gaps in ours. God will make sure that our kids have what they need for His purposes.Trust Him. he wants us to have peace.They are His kids and His purposes will be fulfilled in their lives.

In this blog I will share some of what I took away from the conference. My thoughts will not be complete, So feel free to share your thoughts or ask questions.

1. 2/3 of young people are walking away from the church. 95 % of Christian kids go to Public Schools (not born again, just people declaring they are Christian.)  You can be either for Christ or against Christ. there is no neutrality. Therefore, the Public School system is against Christ. One argument Christians usually use against homeschooling is Matthew 5:13-16 How do you take an indicative into an imperative and ignore what the verse teaches about discipleship?This verse just tells me what I am!

2. We are training our children for the Kingdom..for heaven..NOT for college. I have been really challenged in this area lately.I had always been the one raised with the importance of education. Education and higher education was a high value in our house. Two days before my mom passed away she told my (then) friend, Andrew Page, "Please let Lindsay finish her education." I always thought one should just go to college regardless..just get the degree! Oh, how I think differently now! I have three degrees..and a lot of student loans.I agree with the speaker we heard over the weekend that we have bought into a lie. The lie that we all need to go to college. Everyone's gotta go to college- Where did we get that from?? We all need a bachelors degree.We often spend too much money, too much time, and go to colleges that are antagonistic to Christianity for a degree that is not worth the paper it is written on.  He mentioned, that you can now pay full price and four years for a BA in film studies, metal Smything, chicano studies, womens studies, drama, turf management. We are living in a time where we are desperate for a useless degree so that we feel good about ourselves, or good and validated about our children. "we got a bunch of educated fools." HA! The point is some people are better suited for non-college trades. Of course, if God has created you to be a Dr. or engineer then yes, you are going to be drawn naturally towards the higher maths and sciences and will need to go to college. But you can also do alot of the requirements at community college for cheaper. We also say we would never send our kids to the public school down the street but then we send them to four years at clemson. With the tuition, lost income for four years, loan interest...we are not gaining that much more money over the course of a lifetime as we think we are by having a bachelors degree...oh, and I have two ;)

3. What about Socialization? Oh , the number one! Everyone wants to know, how do you "socialize" your home-schooled  kids. Have you ever heard a school teacher say, "you are not here to socialize." "no talking in line..be quiet.!"..more on this later....

4. What do I need to teach? Primary thing we need to teach is bringing our kids hearts to God. We get so caught up in curriculum and that brings so much anxiety. We are going to have many imperfect homeschooling days but that is the day God chose for you. It may not include getting all of your curriculum done :) Homeschooling is real life and ITS NOT ABOUT THE EDUCATION.It is about the heart. God has not called me to home-school for the academics.

5.And before certain readers have a heart attack, lets talk about the "education" the public school system is giving. School system promotes the worst way to learn. Worksheets, tests, and separated subjects to assess their learning...not engaging the child or the mind at all.Lets learn about pollination for the test. Not because pollination is exciting and we want to learn about it. Kids do not have to think about the information . To be a thinker you have to mull over the information and narrate it back. Which leads to my next point.

6. Charlotte Mason. When I first read about this pioneer in education, her method resounded with my heart. Education is an atmosphere, a discipline,a  life. In our day we have a relaxed morning for devotions, bible memory, good habit forming, soaking in the holy spirit, We use living books over textbooks..presenting a broad curriculum that "spreads a feast" before the child.We also use narration with anything we do and note booking to make the kids assimilate the material and make it their own.How much do you remember from middle school and high school? Do you remember some facts here and there.yeah, you can google those facts now. Lets educate!

7. God first; Spiritual maturity will produce maturity in all other areas.Including educational maturity.Seek God first and He will move their hearts to do that which he wants them to do.

8. A study done by a professor who noticed a certain group of kids coming in and out of his classes. they were articulate, self directed, engaged learners. he decided to find out which kind of high schools they had gone to. They were all home schooled. The kids had learned how to teach themselves and in college they could handle themselves.

to be cont...