I wonder how often people assume that Christian home educators are teaching a host of neutral facts in a hiding place (our homes). After all, a believer and an unbeliever can memorise times tables, identify Orion, dig for fossils, or dissect sunflowers. The difference (goes the argument) is that home educators are fearful of the world and think that by shutting it outside the house and our children inside the house, we can stave off some of its worst excesses.
The Lie of Neutral Knowledge
I think that the ‘knowledge is neutral’ lie is one of the most devious assaults on the idea of Christian education. It is true that rain falls on the just and on the unjust (Mt 5:45) and that in his grace, God allows a great host of facts to be known by all who try to master them. Nevertheless, the knowledge that unbelievers have about this world is only partial since they actively supress the truth of God in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18-21). Furthermore, this line of thinking misses the fact that God’s character and nature are clearly on display through all of all of the subjects that we teach in our homes.
Indeed, for many of us, there is a tremendous disconnect between academic subjects and their source in the Lord because we have never been taught to view Christ through them. It takes a bit of work to have our thinking changed but here are a few ideas for starters:
Mathematics: God is Unchanging, God is Eternal
Why is maths useful to us? It is useful because it is reliable and unchanging just like our Creator (Malachi 3:6). Multiplication problems always give us the same answer, not matter how many days in a row we check them out. Because maths is reliable, it supplies a short cut to working things out. During maths this morning, my child was working on fractions using manipulatives this morning. I reflected that everything he was trying to do could be worked infinitely more quickly on paper or in my head through mathematics. Maths is the language of science, a tool given to us by our creator to help us to be certain about what we do not know. Without using a tape measure, we can be certain of great distances and facts about the universe.
Additonally, the Psalmist writes, ‘from everlasting to everlasting you are God.’ (Psalm 90:2). The eternal aspect of God’s nature is clearly obvious in the uncomfortable concept of infinity which crops up time and time again in Maths. Even younger children start to grapple with this when they learn the properties of a straight line: ‘A straight line carries on forever in both directions’. I find it remarkable that the mindboggling attribute of the eternity of God is demonstrated in something as simple as a line with arrows at either end on a scrap of paper. Let us not pass over these moments without drawing the eyes of our children to the Creator.
History: God is Just, God is Merciful
I will always remember the week when we tackled the account of Lenin in history. Lenin was the first man to take the ideas of communism and put them into practise and if you were in my house that afternoon, you could have heard a pin drop as the children sat colouring and I read the sobering account of the man who was directly or indirectly responsible for the suffering of millions. These stories are important to tell, but difficult to receive.
The only way to understand these parts of history is in the context of the justice of God. Lenin will one day stand before God and give an account for his actions. Consequently, justice will be exacted whether it is demanded from these wicked men or whether it is satisfied through the death of the Lord Jesus. How wonderful then to end with a reminder to the children that they will one day stand before the Lord, deserving of justice but in hope of mercy. (Acts 17:31; cf. Exodus 34:6-7).
Language skills: God is Orderly, God Communicates with his Children
The apostle Paul writes that ‘God is not a God of confusion…’ (1 Cor 14:33). God is orderly as is evident across his creation, but perhaps less obviously so in language and parts of speech. Imagine if each one of us were to spell and punctuate as he saw fit? I would have a hard time trying to write this article and you would have a hard time deciphering it. Spelling and grammar may not be the most glamourous parts of the curriculum but as we discover the way that languages work, we can give glory to God that they work because they were his idea in the first place and that they reflect his orderly nature.
I often ask my children ‘Why do we learn grammar?’ Their memorised response is that ‘God is a God who communicates with us and we want to be able to be able to communicate with others about God.’ We need to be faithful to learn the conventions of our own language (and perhaps those of others) so that we can articulate and communicate the glorious gospel of Christ.
A Final Word
It is absolutely right that we teach the nature of God in family worship, or Bible study. But what a shame to completely miss the way God reveals his nature through the rest of the curriculum. I have not even begun to describe how science reveals the glory of God, how cookery demonstrates the servant nature of Christ (most of our cooking is eaten by somebody else right?), how music and art reflect his creative nature and how geography is a reminder that he seeks and saves the lost.
As we teach our little ones, let’s ask God to show us how knowledge isn’t neutral but is indeed a lens to view the source of all knowledge.
‘O God,
Praise waiteth for thee,
And to render it is my noblest exercise;
This is thy due from all thy creatures,
For all thy works display thy attributes and fulfill thy designs.’
Valley of Vision
