By Cory Mentink
So why do we homeschool? That is a good question and one with kind of a wide and varied answer to it. Martin Luther King Jr once said “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and critically. Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education.” We haven’t always homeschooled our kids, we started in the local government school, then to a wonderful K-8th Christian school that was near us, and then progressed on to homeschooling which has been working for us ever since.
The most important reason we homeschool is that God has put it on our hearts to teach, train, and disciple our children. Deuteronomy 6 shows us that we are to diligently teach the commands of God as we “sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” This seemed very hard to do if we were sending our kids off somewhere else for 8 plus hours a day. Being able to incorporate God’s word and principles in our curriculum and learnings is a huge advantage as far as I’m concerned. We know that homeschooling won’t save or children, but we are trying to be faithful and trust that God will do His work in His timing.
One of the other things that is great about homeschooling is being able to be flexible in our schedule, we still have to get the three R’s done (reading, writing, and arithmetic), but we can also take time for other ways of learning. All the kids have or are learning to cook, everyone gets to be a lunch helper at some point. The older girls were blessed to be taught how to sew by their Grandma Peterson and have helped teach the younger kids that skill, so I guess that covers Home Economics. Shop class has been covered over the years by remodeling the home we now live in and by various projects around the farm. Caleb has taken to metal working and Aiden always has a wood working project going. Kailey has been experimenting with tanning hides from animals we have butchered, not sure what category that falls in. Fortunately, I come up with a flat tire every now and then, so all of the older kids (and a couple of the younger) have had a chance to learn how to change a tire, so were working on basic automotive skills as well.
People often act like it doesn’t matter what type of school your kid goes to as long as they are getting an education, but I think it matters a lot. If I send my children off to Caesar to be educated should I be surprised when they come back as Romans? Luke 6:40 says “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” Now don’t get me wrong, I think there are a lot of good Christian teachers out there in the government school system and I think a lot of them have good intentions, I’m not bashing teachers, but they are working in a system that is anti-God by Federal mandate, and is becoming more and more that way all the time, their hands are tied. If a teacher has 20-30 kids in a class they only have so much time they can spend on any one kid, so the kid who excels in class doesn’t get challenged to do even better and the kid who is struggling can get lost in the shuffle and pushed on without having even learned the subject. Basically, we’re trying to drag everyone to average. With homeschooling we by default have small class sizes and can help each individual learn in the way that works best for them, we can be flexible when a kid is struggling with a particular subject and give them extra help, you just can’t get that from a government school.
You may have noticed I’m using government school instead of public school, I do that for a reason. If you think that a school is a “public” place just show up and try to hang out there for a while, like you would at a grocery store or a mall. You’ll probably be questioned about what you are doing there and be asked to leave. Government school is more accurate when you consider the indoctrination that is truly going on, teaching our children to rely on the state and obey authority.
On top of the indoctrination, government schools cost a lot. I recently received an information flyer from our local school district showing the number of students K-12 and the budgets for the school year. Doing the math (not common core) it came out to over $18,000 per student per year to have them in school! We’re paying for this monstrosity and in a lot of cases, not even getting a good education out of the deal. I would encourage everyone to look at ways to get your kids or grand kids out of the government school system, there are so many good options out there for home schooling or Christian education either online or off. If you want to do this, but don’t see how you can do it try talking with neighbors, family, and friends to see if there are ways to make a flexible schedule and help each other out. It may take some effort, but I believe it is very worth it!
Stay Free
Cory