Lessons Learned From Years of Homeschooling

Rules of Engagement

2009-07-03T10:20:00.002-04:00

Well over a decade ago, I first encountered a recording entitled “The War,” a compilation of the preaching of Dennis Peacocke and the worship music of Ted Sandquist. The full title is “Battle Songs for the War Between Two Seeds.” I was so encouraged by the project that in addition to playing it repeatedly for my family, I shared it with a junior high/senior high co-op class I was teaching on church history.1

Rev. Peacocke points out that the people of God are simultaneously involved in a cultural war and a spiritual war. He notes that no Christian volunteered for this war, but rather was predestined to be a part of it. The question isn’t who wins the war. The Word of God makes it very clear that Christ has already won the victory. Rather, the question becomes, Are God’s people engaged in the battle or sitting on the sidelines?

Peacocke declares that this war has been engaged and there is no avoiding it. Furthermore, Christians will always have opposition from those who are the seed of the serpent when it comes to our shaping, changing, and challenging the way the world system operates. We must take Jesus at His Word, “[U]pon this rock [the testimony that Jesus is Lord] I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt.16:18). Now that’s the sort of recruitment promise that engenders confidence and resolve! [more]

Rushdoony on Christ's Kingship

2009-06-23T11:22:00.002-04:00

In contemporary church and state trials, the language of state theology is ... far-reaching in its claims. In no trial of churches, Christian schools, home schools, or parents in which I have been involved has there been any question as to the superior educational achievements and training of youth on the part of Christians. This, however, is considered usually an irrelevant issue because the main concern of the state is to maintain its claims to sovereign jurisdiction. The issue is thus a religious one: who is the Lord, Christ or Caesar? Who is the Sovereign? We are plainly told by Scripture, not that Jesus will be King and Lord, but that Jesus Christ “IS the blessed and ONLY Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15). Because He is the King here and now and forever more, His law-word must govern us now and always, and all things must be reordered and remade to conform to His royal word. No sphere of life is exempt from His government, and not an atom of creation was created apart from Him or has any right to independence from Him. Christ is not lord over merely a corner of creation, nor only the church, but over all things. He is not less than God but very God of very God as well as very man of very man. There can be no justice or righteousness in man nor in society apart from Jesus Christ as Savior and King.

Moreover, no more than the Romans could lock up Jesus Christ inside a sealed tomb can the churchmen of our day confine Him to the church. If they continue to try to lock Him into the church, He will shatter the church as He did the tomb, and leave it empty as He emerges to rule the world, for He “is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15).

{excerpted from Sovereignty by RJ Rushdoony}

Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Crude Boys

2009-06-18T18:39:00.001-04:00

My daughter plays in a summer league that often has her on the golf course with young people her age. For the past couple of weeks, her match play event paired her with young men from other teams. Now you have to understand that she has been out on the “links” since she was very young and is familiar with how some people verbally handle their frustrations on the course. She learned from an early age that taking the Lord’s name in vain or using disgusting language is unacceptable and behavior she must not imitate. She has also been taught that when men talk in a crude and disgusting fashion in front of women, they are dishonoring them, and opening the door for worse behavior.

I wish I could explain away the behavior and disgusting speech of the young men she has played with during the past weekends by saying they came from low-income, single-parent households, or that they were products of public school education. However, in both cases, they came from well-to-do, intact families, and were students or graduates of some of “best” Catholic schools in the area. In spite of the fact that my daughter made it quite clear that she was disgusted by their behavior, they reacted as though she was a relic from a distant past.

How many young women either laugh at dirty jokes, or remain quiet in the midst of regular perversion? How many women fail to realize that when they laugh or remain in these situations, they are encouraging and silently affirming the dishonoring of God, themselves, and all women?

At first, my daughter wanted to verbally spar back at these crude young men, using sarcasm or ridicule to silence them, but she recalled our many discussions about answering a fool according to his folly and becoming just like him. As we discussed the situation further with her, my husband made it clear that in the future, she should just walk off the course – that there was no reason to continue to expose herself to abusive speech. However, my husband felt that more needed to be done and contacted those who supervised these teams to express his outrage. Although seemingly shocked by the behavior and very apologetic, there was a sense of resignation—this is how kids act these days.

One of the most important realizations my daughter and I have had was just how much we have taken for granted all these years with the Christian young men we have been around in our homeschooling circles. There is nothing like a dose of the unsanctified world to make one appreciate what a godly upbringing produces. Not all the young men she has known through golf have been crude and vulgar, but, very few are untainted from the cultural influences that glorify sexual perversion and “R” rated speech.

This serves as a reminder to parents that the most important aspect of Christian education is character formation. Reclaiming the culture for Jesus Christ will include instructing our sons to think, speak, and act in a godly respectful way toward women, and teaching our daughters to recognize the difference between those who will reap God’s blessing and those who will receive His cursing.

Learning to “Look Well”

2009-06-18T13:14:00.000-04:00

Proverbs 31 describes a worthy woman as one who “looks well to the ways of her household.” What exactly does that mean in real time? And why does the Word of God assign this task to a woman, specifically a wife and mother?

Adam was never intended to carry out the dominion mandate without a companion who would give special attention to his needs and vision, and who would be uniquely suited by God for the task. God’s creation of a helpmeet (a suitable helper) came after Adam became aware of his “unmet need.” Thus, it should not surprise us that women have giftings and talents that are separate, yet complimentary to those of men.

In day-to-day life, a woman, in fully embracing the role of wife, ensures the smooth running of the household. In addition to the obvious responsibilities of overseeing the meals, seeing that all have proper clothing, and attending the needs of the children, there is the overall management of the place called home. Whether it is furnishing the household, purchasing necessary items, overseeing the repair of broken appliances, ensuring that vendors make good on the quality assurances of products they’ve sold, guaranteeing that the family isn’t paying too much or receiving too little service with utility companies and/or service providers, the woman is the God-ordained manager who sees to it that things run smoothly. Additionally, there is the important function of being an active volunteer, staying up–to-date and in touch with family and friends, and being ready and able to provide assistance when the need arises. These are all important aspects of marriage that are often overlooked in the education of girls.

An engaged woman during in her prenuptial months should be mentored by a seasoned “veteran” who can walk her through the various aspects of the role of wife. Those raised in a homeschool setting should already be familiar with the managerial tasks of a wife, as they have had their mother as an example. In the case of those who do not have a mentor, they should call upon stay-at-home wives as potential tutors.

Women who work outside the home end up with the responsibilities I have outlined above, which only adds to the stress of their lives and unduly burdens them. Divided loyalties and work deadlines and projects stand in the way of a smooth-running household. It is just another small aspect of the sanity of God’s plan for families that men were created to act as the protectors and providers and women as the nurturers and administrators. The Creator knew what He was doing!

HSLDA Corrects Misleading Story

2009-06-16T17:19:00.002-04:00

On May 28, 2009 USA Today published a story based on a report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which is part of the Federal Department of Education, titled “The Condition of Education 2009.” The headline of the USA Today story was “Profound shift in kind of families who are homeschooling their children.” A few days later the title was changed to “More higher-income families are homeschooling their children.”

Regrettably, among other problems with the article, USA Today made one blatant error and one very misleading claim. The blatant error is USA Today’s statement that homeschoolers are increasingly white. We do not understand how USA Today can reach this conclusion. Simply by reading the NCES report you will discover that the estimates for white homeschoolers, as a percentage of the entire homeschool population, were 75.3% in 1999, 77% in 2003 and 76.8% in 2007. The obvious conclusion is that for the years 1999–2007 white homeschoolers consistently represented just over three-quarters of the homeschool population. (More)

Profound shift in kind of families who are home schooling their children

2009-05-31T10:54:00.005-04:00

Parents who home-school children increasingly are white, wealthy and well-educated — and their numbers have nearly doubled in a decade, a new federal government report says. What else has nearly doubled? The percentage of girls who are home-schooled. They now outnumber home-schooled boys by a wide margin. (more)

Rushdoony on the "Functions of the Family"

2009-05-29T13:32:00.001-04:00

"Historically and Biblically, the family is the central institution in law and in society. Although we do not think of the family normally as a law-making body, the family is nonetheless the basic law-making body in all history…

"Procreation is a function of the family, and, in a healthy, Biblically oriented and governed family system, this function is preceded by an important fact that conditions birth. The parents marry because there is a bond of faith and love between them, a resolution to maintain for life a covenant under God. As a result, a heredity of faith and a unity in terms of it is established as a prior condition of birth, so that a child born into such a family has an inheritance that cannot be duplicated. The Biblical family cannot be rivaled by man’s science or imagination as the institution for the procreation and rearing of children.

"The family is man’s first and basic school…

"The family is also the first government in the life of the child, with the father as the God-ordained head of the household and his government under God as the child’s basic government…

"A basic function of the family is motivation and guidance. The child is provided with the best kind of guidance, because the family is most interested in him, and the child is, in the Christian family, given the highest kind of motivation for his own future and present development…

"The family also has a major economic function. The father provides for his family, not for strangers….The family as an economic unit has an excellent division of labor plan, whereby certain duties are required of the father, others of the mother, and still others of the children. There are mutual rights and duties, all of which are discharged with a greater degree of success and efficiency, despite all the problems, than in any other institution. The family, moreover, can withstand and survive more shock than any other institution – economic disasters, personal disagreements, social catastrophes, and the like…

"The state has extensively interfered in the family’s functions, and it has claimed vast areas that properly belong to the family. Does this mean that the family has been weakened? Does the future portend a decline in the importance of the family? On the contrary, the more the state has interfered, the more it has thereby underscored man’s need for the family. The incompetence of the state as family has made more obvious the competence of the family as a family. The prevalence of sickness does not make health obsolete, but only all the more urgently needed and desired. Historically, every period of statism is followed by an era of an intensely family-oriented society as men turn from sickness to health.

"We are today in an era of burgeoning statism. On every side, the family is under attack, and the state is assuming progressively more and more of the family’s functions, and progressively finding itself more and more prone to social disintegration and demoralization. More than ever before, the Biblical faith and law concerning the family, its functions, property, and faith, must be stressed and taught. The future does no belong to disease; it belongs to health. Because this is God’s world, it is God’s order that shall prevail. “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it” (Ps. 127:1)."

{Excerpted from Law & Liberty, by RJ Rushdoony.}

The Basic Operations of God's Law in Your Life

2009-05-26T14:04:00.002-04:00

"...[T]he true God is the God of Scripture, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God who blesses and curses. And He shall prevail, “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8). The real question is not as to whether God is alive or dead, but rather, it concerns ourselves. Where do we stand in terms of His word, law, grace, and calling? Under blessings, or curses?"

~(RJ. Rushdoony)

Destined Daughters

2009-05-23T10:51:00.006-04:00

Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing sisters Anna Sophia and Elizabeth Botkin , authors of the book So Much More: The Remarkable Influence of Visionary Daughters on the Kingdom of God, featured in the follow-up DVD Return of the Daughters, and founders of VisionaryDaughters.com.

We had a lively discussion regarding the dominion role of daughters and their impact on the Kingdom of God. Listen to this special Law & Liberty Podcast.

No Short-Cuts to Liberty

2009-05-22T14:15:00.003-04:00

"Our society makes adolescence a legitimate form of insanity. We have come to associate adolescence with rebelliousness and emotionalism, and we consider this to be naturally a time of stress in a person’s life. But this is not true of every culture, nor was it once true of our own. Adolescence has often been in history a particularly proud and happy age, the time of maturity. It is a mentally sick and spiritually sinful adolescence that wants independence while being subsidized by the parents...

"Socialism is simply a social order which attempts to take over the functions of the family and provide cradle-to-grave security which is the function of the family. In order to have socialism, there must be a population of spoiled children who want a great father who can provide them with more than their parents can, take their parents off their hands, and protect them from the necessity of growing up. Whenever and wherever the family breaks down, socialism results as the substitute for the family. But socialism destroys itself, because is cannot truly replace the family, and, unless the family re-establishes its godly order, the result is chaos. There are no short-cuts to liberty and maturity. The godly family is basic to a free country."

[excerpted from RJ Rushdoony, Law & Liberty (Vallecito, CA:Ross House Books, 1984), 103-07.]

"Custom and Morality"

2009-05-19T18:20:00.004-04:00

Excerpted from Law & Liberty, "Custom and Morality" by R.J. Rushdoony.

"Customs or social mores govern us often much more strongly than does morality. Most people are more afraid of offending their friends through bad taste than of offending God by sin...

"In every age there are many to whom appearance is more important than morality, but, when an age is dominated and controlled by such a disposition, the result is a rapid social decline. Morality requires faith and courage. It means making a stand and taking a course in terms of God’s reality rather than man’s reality. Morality in a sinful world places a man in tension with that world at the very least, and potentially in direct opposition to it. The moral man is governed by God and his conscience, and as a result, he is more inclined to be independent of the group and self-reliant in relationship to society. Morality is productive of godly individualism and independence of spirit.

"Where custom rules, however, a contrary spirit prevails. People become group-directed, and they feel it imperative to be members of the pack. Their standards vary as the customs and fads of the group vary. Instead of being individualistic, they are collectivistic, anxious at all times to be with a particular group whose customs are their social code. Society then is governed by mob psychology, by the law of the pack, and the social order lacks stability or character...

"Wherever a society places custom above morality, there a revolutionary situation exists. When custom is more important than morality, the first step toward revolution has been taken. The moral foundations of the social order have been denied, and a revolution in standards and behavior has taken place. As a result, an important thrust of all subversive activity is the undermining of morality. Where morality has been undermined, law and religion have also been undermined, so that the major task of revolution has been accomplished. A revolution cannot readily succeed where the existing order has moral vitality, but a revolution is virtually accomplished where moral order has been destroyed...

"The greatest asset to any revolutionary group is a large body of people who are governed by conventions or customs. With such people, since appearance is all that matters, the country can be gutted of its historical position, constitutionalism, and liberties, and there will be no objection as long as the form is retained. The same is true of their church relationships; they do not ask that their church be truly Christian, but only that it retain the form of being Christian. Their church can deny the faith every Sunday, teach their children the new morality, abandon its confession of faith, maintain through its missionary programs a revolutionary campaign and these people will never leave. They will maintain a façade of being Christian by complaining indignantly about some of the most flagrant activities of their church and clergy, but they will never leave. And rightly so, because they belong there: the dead among the dead. These people who cling to the appearance rather than the reality are the bread and butter of all revolutionary groups; they finance them, support them, and defend them, because they too are revolutionists. They are in revolt against moral order, and they substitute conventional order in its place. They are the first wave of every revolution, and, even though the second wave first uses them and then destroys them, the conventional people are still part of the revolution.

"This means we cannot treat people who sit complacently in apostate churches, and who ignore all subversion in the political order, simply as blind people. They are themselves the first great wave of social revolution, of moral anarchy and national and religious decadence. They are more deadly, these conventional people, than the organized revolutionists, because their position is more contagious and more destructive. There is, after all, a measure of honesty about an out and out revolutionist. He knows what he is, and he makes sure that you also are aware of it. He issues his manifestos and tells the world what he plans to do.

"But the conventional people have a deadlier revolution. They approach Christianity and they bury it under their mass of conventions and forms. They are for the Bible, but it doesn’t really mean what it says, and we mustn’t go overboard on these things. They believe in Christ, but only in terms of a sensibly modern perspective, of course, and so on. They retain the form of Christianity and the church, but totally deny the faith in actuality. They replace reality with their conventions...

"[T]he conventional people, having substituted appearance for reality, customs for moral order, cannot face reality in any direction. They cannot see God as God, nor Satan as Satan. They recognize neither good nor evil, only appearances. Nothing else is real for them. All people are exactly like themselves, or they are mentally sick. Conventional people are only blind in the sense that they are self-consciously, deliberately, and passionately averse to facing reality. They are like the people of whom Isaiah spoke, who, hearing will not hear, and seeing will not see, lest their minds understand, and their health be restored (Isa. 6:10-11). The destiny of such people is then to be blinded by God and led to destruction. Their nature and destiny is death. Our nature and destiny in Jesus Christ is righteousness and life."

CreationMinute.com

2009-05-13T11:29:00.004-04:00

A wonderful blend of creativity, technology, good science, and "storming the gates of hell." My personal favorite is episode #2. Visit their website @ creationminute.com.

Does It All Add Up?

2009-05-11T16:28:00.008-04:00

While speaking with a teacher this past weekend, I commented that many homeschool mothers spend inordinate amounts of time trying to be "as good as their public school counterparts" when it comes to subjects like math. The following is this teacher's account of what much of state education has become. Although this account focuses on the UK, I have heard corroborating accounts from many teachers here in the U.S.

By What Standard?*
by M.T.

State education has sought to divorce itself from a Biblical standard and as a result every school is left to determine the standard for itself. Everyone does what is “right in his own eyes.” The results should not surprise us.

As a high school mathematics teacher I am increasingly aware of the lack of standards. With no set standard in place, teachers are encouraged to do “what looks the best” for the school. The State argues that it has introduced standardized tests to ensure that all schools are meeting established standards, but the reality is that these are counterproductive and their results are deceptive.

I could give many examples of this. Perhaps a good place to start is to share my recent experience with the Year 9 (grade 9) SAT examinations in the UK. The 2008 national SAT examinations for year 9 were a complete fiasco, and, as a result, the government of the UK has cancelled national testing of students in year 9. Many schools are still writing the examinations that had been planned for 2009 but are marking them internally. The school I teach in is doing this in order to track students’ progress in order to publish our school statistics as to how well we are achieving. That may sound good to most parents, but there is much that parents do not realize.

Our year 9 students have just written their examinations. I am marking them at the moment. I will have final marks out of 150 for each student, but will not know how my students have achieved until after the assessment process. We, as a department, are not able to determine what the grade boundaries are until after the results have been recorded. This is usually the case in standardized public school testing. Children’s results are, literally, first determined and then the grade boundary (what level of achievement for an grade A, B, C , etc (in USA terms) – or 6, 7, 8, etc(in UK terms) would be acceptable. Our school has set targets as to how many students should have a certain level of achievement, and the idea is that the grade boundary should be adjusted to meet that – else the teachers’ heads will be on the chopping board. In a world where students’ laziness cannot be an adequate excuse for lack of achievement, teachers are made the scapegoats for poor grades and, therefore told by schools to adjust marks so that the truth of the students’ lack of achievement is not revealed to parents. Conversations involving being asked to alter results or “make up a grade that fits” are not unusual and are common practice – though for obvious reasons disguised.

That is just one aspect of the testing that takes place. The other side is that when exams are being set, standards are being dropped so that the grade boundaries do not have to be so low. I think this will be more obvious to you if I give you some examples of the type of questions on this year’s final year 9/grade 9 (13-14-year-olds) mathematics examination.

Here are some examples:

1) Join the numbers that add together to equal 1


0.1        0.99
0.11       0.9
0.01       0.999
0.91       0.89
0.001      0.09

2) How many millilitres are there in half a litre?

3) Houses cost GBP60000 one year ago. They now cost _______________. This is a 25% increase.

Many parents will recognize that this level of mathematics is what they did in primary school yet it is now high school curriculum. I graduated high school less than 10 years ago and can see a lowering of standards in that time, which to me is mind-blowing.

Schools are teaching-to-the-test. They tell students to answer "examination style" questions in a certain way. Since students are unthinkingly following a rote method, they have little comprehension of what they are actually doing. As a result, parents who help their children with their homework often find the schoolwork difficult as they do not understand the one method that students are being taught. The truth is that many parents are more than capable of doing the math, but their method of getting to the same answer is often different from their child’s “reproduce what the teacher does” method. This leaves parents thinking that the level of education is high when, in fact, it is designed to give parents that impression and make them more dependent on the schoolteacher.

The public school system is symptomatic of a society seeking to live autonomously, throwing out the standard of God’s Word. Each person seeks to benefit "self" and do what will make "self" look good. If a few grades need to get altered in the process, then that is what happens. Students, teachers and parents are left confused as to how their children really are progressing (or regressing). That is why I believe that only a school that recognizes the absolute and unchanging standard of the Word of God can truly be effective in educating children.

* (In order to maintain her anonymity, the pseudonym "Mae Thematics" has been used!)

Lines That Divide

2009-05-08T12:59:00.004-04:00

Brian Godawa's Lines That Divide: The Great Stem Cell Debate is an excellent resource to understand and explore the core ethical and scientific issues involved in the use of embryonic stem cells.

This 57 minute documentary is an important addition to a family or church library and would make for an excellent Sunday School presentation, sure to produce lively discussion. I recommend that Christians purchase this excellent educational tool,and lend it out for viewing to other family members and friends as an effective means by which to unmask all the euphemisms and double-speak surrounding this topic.

Once Upon a Time: Challenging the Status Quo

2009-05-05T11:23:00.003-04:00

Once upon a time, there were children who were eager to learn to read. They wanted as much help as possible to be able to read wonderful books like the Bible. This was not surprising because these children watched and listened as their parents and older brothers and sisters looked at pages with small, black symbols on them and learned important ideas such as our duty to love and obey God and how Jesus Christ died on the cross to make atonement for His people. In fact, in many households, the reward for learning how to decipher this code was a Bible of one’s own. These children did not work for test scores or scholarships. They just wanted to learn. (more)

A Father's Charge

2009-05-03T15:44:00.004-04:00

This clip provides an excellent example of the vital role God directs a godly father to play in the life of his daughter and her future family.

Work & Responsibility

2009-05-02T21:52:00.002-04:00

It is important that education does not become an end unto itself, but rather a means to an end.

Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary defines education:

EDUCA'TION, n. [L. educatio.] The bringing up, as of a child, instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties. (emphasis added)

Christian homeschooling provides the atmosphere and supervision to achieve the educational ends expressed in the definition above. A truly Christian education identifies all people as sinners in need of a redeemer. All subjects are taught within this framework and each subject is brought under the guidance and direction of the Bible, with an eye to refining and advancing the talents and gifts God has placed in each student so he can fulfill his calling under God. On the other hand, humanistic education promotes the deception that people are inherently good, but require the guidance and direction of an all-powerful, Messianic state in order to help them reach their fullest potential, which they define as service to the state. The Christian model is firmly planted in the real world. The humanistic model is the world of illusion, a flight from knowledge, and a pronounced escapism, which reaches its fullest expression in the area of higher education.

Rushdoony, in Law and Liberty (p. 123-24), states:

A prominent area of escape for the past century has been the academic world, the university in particular. Men who found the realities of the workaday world unpleasant turned to the university as a way out. It was not scholarship they loved, but the business world which they hated. To them the test of a working world was anathema; they were in a sense a new kind of hermit, running away from the civilized world and renouncing it for a new way of life. Speaking of some of these men in England, the critic Edmund Wilson spoke of them as belonging to the “monastic order of English university ascetics.” Their asceticism was forsaking the world of capitalism and Christianity, the world of the family and its morality, for a new order, an anti-Christian one. Everything in the old world was and is to these men evil and anathema, and they denounce it with religious intensity and passion…

The university is still a major form of escapism. The perpetual student who is unwilling to grow up and leave the university is a common fact today. Most universities are crowded with non-students or unweaned students who cling to the school because they are unwilling to face the hated adult world of work and responsibility.

Parents who have taken on the God-ordained role of teachers in their children’s lives must not lose sight of the fact that the overriding purpose of the educational endeavor is to further the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Thus, ample time needs to be spent in searching out and developing those gifts and talents God has placed in each student, with an eye for effective service in the Kingdom. However, this will not happen unless parents become Kingdom-minded themselves, placing more emphasis on furthering God’s agenda rather than working for test scores, athletic achievements, and potential earning power. Home education needs to prepare students for much more than just being students.

Laying Waste Our Heritage

2009-04-28T18:52:00.002-04:00

[From the soon-to-be-released book by RJ Rushdoony, In His Service: The Christian Calling to Charity (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 2010)]

Children are a God-given inheritance for our conquest of the world for Christ. They are a means of subduing the earth and exercising dominion under the Lord. If we give our children to state or private schools which are not systematically Christian in all their curriculum, we are then giving the future to God’s enemies, and He will hold us accountable for laying waste our heritage. We thus must have Christian schools and Christian homeschools for the Lord’s children. We are commanded to “bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the LORD” (Eph. 6:4). This is a necessary step for that great consummation of God’s will, announced beforehand for us in Revelation 11:15:

The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our LORD, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

"Learning" from Liars

2009-04-28T12:08:00.008-04:00

Many homeschool graduates venture into the world of college and university. For a variety of reasons, they often do not end up in Christian colleges. Finances, distance,or career focus issues send them to secular settings.

A walk through college bookstores reveals that, for the most part, they are religious bookstores thriving because of a monopoly over customers (students) who have to pay outrageous sums for indoctrination materials.

Take, for example, biology texts. One example with nearly 1000 pages “connects the concepts” for its students:

Before the 1800s, most people believed that each species had been created at the beginning of the world, and that modern organisms were essentially unchanged descendants of their ancestors.

… Charles Darwin aboard the HMS Beagle….had ample time during his five-year voyage to reflect on the ideas of [various] authors…. From them collectively, he built a framework that helped support his theory of descent with modification.

One aspect of scientific genius is the power of astute observation – to see what others miss or fail to appreciate. In this area Darwin excelled… [emphasis added]

…The theory of evolution has quite rightly been called the grand unifying theory (GUT) of biology….*

The Bible has this to say about Darwin’s astute observations:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. (Romans 1:18-23)

Christian students, rightfully, are dismayed at the prospect of going through science classes forced to “learn” and “spit back” concepts they know are false at their root. So, what should a student do who feels called into a specific profession that requires a college diploma?

First, it is important to view these classes as comparative religion rather than science. As I said to one student, “You wouldn’t take it personally if you were studying Islam and discovered that a Muslim’s faith and practice were different from yours. You would be studying to understand its theology and application. Likewise, you should view a required science course as a religion course in the belief and practices of secular humanism.”

In order to help this student further, I contacted a number of graduates of secular colleges asking their advice, based on their experiences. Here are some of their answers:

From a woman with a BS in Biology who is currently working in veterinary medicine:

Been there and loved it! It just gave me greater ability to counter evolutionary theory. During my courses, my professors were very open about stating that there are areas requiring further study and/or theories that were proving incorrect based upon new research. In essence, they were furthering my knowledge regarding the fallacies of evolution because their theories were not holding valid. Student truly only have to regurgitate what they are being asked for, and use the scientific information to support discussions about Creation. They can always preface their answers with "according to evolutionary theory..." rather than agreeing with the professor or otherwise stating evolution as fact.

Another student who recently completed a masters program in nursing said:
The first advice I would give would be to be scrupulous in doing the homework required. Go above and beyond what is required. Read every assignment and be able to discuss it fully. Never be faulted for incomplete work. That should also take care of any problems with a grade in the class, if the instructor is fair, and it will prepare the student to discuss and refute the material. Most professors just want to have the material repeated back, so students should be prepared to do that.

Then I'd suggest books like Ken Ham's The Lie
and Bahnsen's Always Ready. These will suggest key questions to ask the teacher and challenge the material. In addition, students should be studying the Bible so it is fresh in their mind.

Also, remember that God created the world to run on orderly principles -- principles that can be discovered through scientific study. Students should view a biology class as a means to acquire the tools of beginning scientific inquiry and not consider it a total loss. But over all, going to a humanistic school will require self study if one really want to learn anything in that subject.

I faced almost complete opposition philosophically in school and used these techniques to survive. I even received an A + in one class where I completely disagreed with the instructor and told her so. Nicely, of course.
Another student who is currently attending law school suggested:

Think of this as an opportunity to learn the other side. Looking at the class as a way to bolster one’s own position by understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the other side might help with the mental hurdle of actually learning the material.

I suggest a student change his frame of mind about the testing situation. Is the test really an attestation of belief or is it a demonstration of knowledge about a particular subject that he has been taught by the professor? If he looks at it as the latter, that might help.

Take advantage of office hours. Go to office hours and talk with the professor. The time to discuss in great depth personal issues about class material is definitely not during class and I would be careful to not use the office hours as a time for debate, but rather use it as a time to learn. A good professor will be open to teaching and answering questions if a student comes in with a genuine desire to learn. Office hours are an appropriate time to discuss things like this. A one-on-one discussion alerts the professor to the fact that this is not just a sassy college kid wanting to talk in front of a class, but rather this is an important issue that the student feels strongly about and wants the professor to know that his personal beliefs differ from the class material.

Another graduate who now works in the dental field had this to offer:
Oh the joys of secular education! It has been a while since my science classes, but I approached it in the following ways:

I maintained a high level of respect for my instructor, regardless of our differences...Meaning, that I never "confronted" her in class or belittled her in any way. There were a few outspoken creationists in the class, but they were annoying and disrespectful, and very poor testimonies to Christianity. I made it a habit to thank instructors after their lectures.

I strove to be the best student that I could, so that the instructor would respect me for my efforts, and consequently, respect my differences of opinion. This is not as much about getting an A or B, but rather, that the teacher notices that the student is doing his best. I would encourage other students to humbly go to the teacher with questions, so that the instructor knows that they truly wants to do better...that they’re not lazy, etc. I made it a point to go to office hours, even when I wasn't struggling, because I became a face to the instructor; it allowed for a relationship, and he knew that I was interested in his class (and in him as a human being too).

If the exam/homework were in essay form (not scantron, where you cannot write on the paper), I would write, "The BOOK says..." etc. I would sometimes write a little something in the margin as well, such as ..."I do not agree with this, however" ...but always in a respectful way.

I used these approaches in my bio class, and because of the respect that my instructor had for me, it opened up doors for deeper conversations...including creation, God, etc. One of our last written assignments was something about evolution, and I chose to go out on a limb, risk my grade, and write my opinion. Again, I maintained a respectful attitude throughout the paper, and I had already established a friendship with my instructor. She ended up giving me an A in the class, despite the paper, and she and I maintained contact even after the class was over.
These suggestions are offered in the hope that those confronted with similar situations can learn from the experiences of others. However, this should never cloud the reality that evolutionary scientists are suppressing the truth of God’s creation more than most other people, in spite of the fact that their profession is about investigation and observation. As Psalm 19:1-3 proclaims:

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

God’s call to dominion and the Great Commission is operative in the secular realm. Christians called to battle in this realm need to connect daily with their Savior and make use of Christian mentors who will help them through the morass of these “academic deceptions.” In addition, they would do well to recall daily:

For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. (Romans 3:3-4)

* Mader, Biology (McGraw Hill, 2010).

An Army in the Making

2009-04-27T13:45:00.003-04:00

This past weekend I spent a day and a half representing the Chalcedon Foundation at our local homeschool convention. This year the overall attendance was less than last year, which was down from the year before. Many long-term attendees were saddened by this fact. Some attributed the smaller numbers to the economy. Others felt it had to do with many homeschoolers casting their lots with public school independent study programs that lured them with cash-in-hand for music, swimming, or horseback riding lessons. Still others felt that prospective homeschoolers were concerned that the political climate would soon turn nasty toward those who homeschool.

Although the numbers may have been less, the dedication and resolve of those I spoke with are as strong as ever. It was encouraging to see how many fathers were actively participating in curriculum decisions. (Years ago, moms carried most of the weight.) I had wonderful conversations about biblical law, the need for a Christian curriculum, and the new Chalcedon Teacher Training Institute for homeschool moms.

Many other exhibitors came to our booth thanking us for our presence, as we were one of the few booths that provided material that would equip parents to be better teachers. One of the featured speakers and Chalcedon’s good friend, Israel Wayne, expressed gratitude for our presence as he gladly picked up a copy of the newly released Sermon on the Mount. He also brought attendees from one of his sessions to our table to purchase Mathematics: Is God Silent? saying “This is the book I was telling you about. It will explode your mind – in a good way!”

For many , this was their first introduction to Rushdoony’s materials. Many homeschool dads commented, “This man wrote on just about every subject, didn’t he?” One woman who had purchased The Messianic Character of American Education last year told me, “You were so right about that book. What an eye-opener.”

So the number of attendees may have been down, but a small army is awakening – awakening to the fact that homeschooling is not an end unto itself, but an activity that is integral to seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. How do I know this to be the case? This past weekend, I saw more pregnant women walk through the exhibit hall than I see in a month in the general public. Moreover, there were more strollers being pushed around with books and curriculum brimming out the sides, which included the recently released Chalcedon Position Papers:

Education, Liberty, and the Bible,
Economic Crises and the Bible
Judgment, Politics, and the Bible
Taxation, Liberty, and the Bible
National Defense and the Bible

Chalcedon is positioned to be an integral part of the growth and instruction of this future army, not to mention the present one made up of its parents.

To God Be the Glory!

Another Good Reason to Avoid the Public Schools

2009-04-21T01:57:00.001-04:00

Informed Choices

2009-04-15T13:33:00.001-04:00

Tough economic times cause people to make choices. Families that take regular vacations or frequent restaurants look for respite in other activities. There are varieties of righteous options that do not compromise the moral and ethical standards of Christianity.

Sometimes, the choices that are presented by a culture at war with God are not really choices at all. An example would be the options given young women in dealing with unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Rather than encourage the most basic and foolproof method -- abstinence until marriage – society offers “solutions” to these “problems” which include over the counter medications, various devices and vaccinations, and surgical murder. Like I said, not a good choice in the lot.

Cultural assaults begin even earlier when the fashion industry becomes an accomplice in the moral degradation of young girls and women. It is no accident that it is nearly impossible to find clothing that does not entice or provoke sexual response. Either the neckline is so plunged as to make imagination impossible, or the bottom of the top is significantly separated from the skirt or slacks to draw attention to this portion of a woman’s anatomy. The clothing selections in major department stores are deliberately abysmal so that one’s standards must be compromised if one is going to purchase anything. Is it any wonder that as a society we are seeing an ever-increasing number of families and individuals torn apart by pornography, promiscuity, and all sorts of perversion? What would have been categorized as degradation and humiliation in decades past, has now become fashionable.

This is another arena where Christians can reclaim and reconstruct the culture. In the entrepreneurial spirit outlined in Proverbs 31, worthy women can provide godly choices for their sisters in the faith. There are many possibilities, whether creating patterns that are easy to follow while being attractive and economical, or setting up shop and making custom clothing. IF Christians are willing to be both the proprietors and the customers, new cottage industries could spring up. Sewing and tailoring would become more than hobbies or family necessities, they could become a means by which we provide godly alternatives in the midst of a sea of poison.

I know women are out there with an eye for fashion. I also know that there are those who have talent in marketing and advertising. Further, there are those with capital looking for businesses to invest in that seek to honor God and keep His commandments. In these uncertain times, domestic skills like sewing and design should be included in any serious curriculum.

I Once Was Lost….But Now Am Found

2009-04-13T11:31:00.001-04:00

A number of years ago I acquired a portable Global Positioning System (GPS) to lessen the amount of time I spend getting lost. Prior to this, I would call for directions or print off point-to-point directions from internet-based maps. If I were traveling to a museum from my home, I would print out the directions with my home as a starting point. However, if I left for a museum from a relative’s home, I would have to print out the directions from that starting point. This meant I had a binder full of directions for all the possible stops I might make.

Now with my faithful GPS system that makes use of satellites, I key in my location and get step-by-step instructions to my destination. The GPS takes my destination location and calculates directions, driving time, and provides a map showing me my progress along the way. If I should happen to make a mistake – for example missing an exit – the program immediately alerts me and begins to “recalculate” the correct route from where I happen to be. With this device, I am assured of getting to my destination with less stress, confusion, and lost time. It is a great feeling when the GPS program announces I have arrived at my desired location.

The Word of God is much more than a GPS system, although there are similarities that bear mentioning. The satellites that make a GPS system work are positioned above the earth to be able to cover the entire globe. God, being the Creator of space and time, exists outside of them, and thus has the omniscient view that allows Him (and His law-word) to be our only reliable set of instructions as to how to glorify and enjoy Him. In addition, God’s Word has a “recalculating” function, alerting us when we have strayed from the narrow path that leads to life, and providing instructions for the way to return to it. Moreover, we are assured of arriving at our ultimate destination (heaven), free from the self-inflicted stress of indecision or autonomy that makes the journey more complicated than it need be.

Hands-on parenting, especially in the homeschool setting, provides the opportunity to help children make use of the Word of God in every area of life and thought. The Bible is the Christian’s – G.P.S. -- God’s Positioning System.

"Education and Sovereignty"

2009-04-03T20:53:00.002-04:00

The following is an excerpt from RJ Rushdoony's Sovereignty.

Our culture is in sympathy with the devil because it resents the claims of the sovereign God of Scripture. As a result, it will stomach any absurdity in the name of education; it will continue to tolerate the destruction of its children morally and intellectually; it will continue to tolerate crime in the streets and in every corner; it will continue to tolerate degenerate men as politicians. It will continue to do these things and more because it has said of the sovereign, Jesus Christ, “We will not have this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14).

Let me highly recommend a lecture series that speaks to the heart of this issue, The Crown Rights of Jesus Christ.

Targetting the Family

2009-04-03T20:36:00.003-04:00

As if the death of 40 million plus babies at the hands of the abortionists were not enough, there are now societal protocols in place to eliminate more and more children with the net result of further weakening the institution of the family. In spite of all society’s pressure to kill her baby, if a woman decides to remain pregnant, there is the bill making its way through the halls of Congress called the Mothers Act, designed to “help screen new mothers for depression” and mandate treatment if indicated. Here is a description from a website critical of this legislation:

The MOTHERS Act, a bill that clearly violates informed consent and places mothers and children at risk. This bill would mandate the government to screen all new mothers for subjective mental conditions. This special interest bill entitled The MOTHERS Act should fool NO MOTHER into thinking it is harmless! It is truly lethal.

One shudders to think how the questionnaires might read to determine “fitness for parenting.”

With the economic situation we face, is it surprising to note that some in the media elite are touting abortion as a recession survival tool? In a recent blog entry Bonnie Erbe, contributing editor to U.S. News and World Report and host of PBS' "To the Contrary," included these "pearls of wisdom" to her readers:

But in the long run, can we not agree that an unwed couple's decision not to bring a fourth child into the world when they are having trouble feeding themselves and three children is no tragedy? It's actually a fact-based, rational decision that in the end benefits the three children they already have and society as well.

As in the days of the Hebrews in Egypt, there is a concerted effort underway to eliminate more and more children. Recall that Pharaoh’s agenda was put in place to prevent opposition. Truly, our society is similarly hell-bent, repeatedly countering the biblical notion that children are a blessing from the Lord and a full quiver is a good thing. All one has to do is note the antipathy to women who mother more than one or two children. They hear quaint remarks such as “Don’t you know how to prevent children?” or “How many more of those do you plan to have?” If women do not voluntarily kill the fruit of their womb because of peer pressure, how long before deeming them “psychologically unfit” will be the rule of the day?

Do not be fooled into thinking that because you homeschool these realities will not touch your children. These wicked ideas are contagious and few of us are free from exposure to them in some way or another. Instead, parents need to be pro-active in educating their sons and daughters into biblical perspectives and help them become good apologists (to themselves and others) in order to be ready to share the hope of Christ that is within us.

Additionally, it is imperative that we think twice about all aspects of the educational process, carefully determining how much there is to be learned in “higher education” settings from those whose presuppositions are based on a hatred for God and His word. We must seek and provide alternative methods of further study so that in the process of wanting to serve the Lord, we are not feeding our children as fodder to His enemies. From where will the opposition arise to combat evil, if not from within our ranks?