Why We Home Educate Part 3

This is part three of my series on Why We Home Educate.

III. We are to teach our children what God has done.

Exodus 13:8, 14 And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage:

In the Old Testament,  the Children of Israel were told to teach their younger generations about the things that happened with their fathers and grandfathers. This was so the new generations coming along, would know the works of God and believe in Him.

How are our children going to know about the Lord and the things that He has done for our families, if we don’t tell them?  If they don’t hear about the times when the Lord provided our needs or answered a very special prayer request, then they are going to go into the world to find how the unbelievers are succeeding according to the worldly view.

 IV.Now that I know what the Bible says about teaching our children, what am I going to teach my son?

The state of Georgia has a “standard” that is required in home education. This standard is the “core” of an education: Math, Reading, Language Arts, History and Science. As parents, we can expand and go in different areas as long as these are taught.

I remember the day, that my husband and I decided that we were going to home educate our son. I was very excited. Would you believe that it was during the first week of school? I had to face 9 months of  teaching other people’s children, before we could step out on faith and trust the Lord with the education of our son. Those months were some of the longest, that I have had to live through.

Through out the months, I had to deal with Satan coming and attacking me with doubt. The biggest thing, he placed in front of me was Science and Math. How was I going to teach my son these subjects, when I really don’t care for one or have a hard time with the other? As I began praying and asking the Lord for perfect peace about this decision He brought back James 1:5 to my remembrance. As a child growing up and struggling with Math, I memorized the verse,  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

I have come to a point in teaching my son, when I really needed some help. I prayed and asked the Lord to give me the wisdom to show Monkey how to work that Math problem, without confusing him more than he was already. The Lord opened my mind and Monkey’s and we were able to get through it, now, he loves long division.

There are many who say that home educators are not qualified to teach their children at home. That is a bucket of hog wash! I have seen many “qualified” teachers in schools who could not teach. They could not keep their train of thought together to make it through a situation that came up in the class room. Why is it that it is alright to put these “qualified” teachers in a role of educating our children. But it is wrong for a parent, who knows the specific needs of their child to make the decision to educate their child at home?  All I can say is, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” I think this statement works with parents who have answered the call to educate their children at home.

 Not only are we teaching the “core” subjects at our house. We are also teaching a set Bible curriculum. Right now, we are working on a New Test survey and we are learning so much. There are many things that my husband is able to reinforce with our study.  We are working on Character Traits that are included in our Bible.

Life skills are an important thing to me. My son is learning how to clean house and cook. Boys and men need to know these things, because we don’t know what is in our future for our household. He is also learning how to sew buttons on and fix a hem in a shirt or pair of pants. He is also working on keeping up with the money he spends, so he’ll know where it all goes. He knows that credit cards are a SIN and to stay away from them. If he wants something, he’ll pay cash for it. Monkey has been able to learn to use a couple of saws in the work shop. He learned how to plow the garden last year, and is looking forward to it again this year.

We are working on Sign Language as this will help us in communicating in our ministry. Once we return to Montana and know where we are going to be settled, I want us to be able to learn some of the language of the closest Native American Nation.  This too, will help in being able to reach the unsaved.

Home educating our son takes a lot of prayer. It is not something that we went into lightly. The Lord has blessed us to live in a free country and right now, we have the freedoms to choose what to teach our children. As for our family, we are going to work to make sure our son succeeds in all his does. We are going to encourage college when the time comes. As of right now, Monkey has decided that he wants to drive big trucks. That is fine with me, as long as he lives for the Lord.
When we meet other people and talk about our home education experience, I want them to think, “Wow, you’re one of those!” not “Oh, you’re one of them.”