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 …
If the phrase ‘family worship’ sounds odd, then this may be because whilst the church practiced family worship for 2000 years, ours is the generation to have departed from the discipline. Family worship is simply the gathering of the family on a regular, preferably daily basis to worship God. My husband and I have always …
Kicking Off Our Day: The Centrality of Family Worship Read More »
When we started home educating, I had not quite banked on all the added bonuses. I did not realise quite how much fun I would find it, how I would enjoy the close relationships with my children as they get older (I’m not just in it for the cute, baby stage), the extra family time …
Deliberately Teaching a Biblical Worldview (It Won’t Happen by Accident) Read More »
Dad: ‘Who made you?’ Three-year old: ‘God made me’ Dad: ‘What else did God make?’ Three-year old: ‘God made all things’ Dad: ‘Why did God make you and all things?’ Three-year old: ‘For his own glory.’ It is morning and we are catechising our kids. I think we have been through our ‘Catechism for Boys’ …
Several years ago, I came across rather an aggressive post on Facebook that has stayed with me. It must have been posted by somebody who was in the process of adopting a child and the article, highly sarcastically, answered lots of the most common questions put to adoptive parents from friends and relatives. I realised …
Several weeks back I made an error at the opticians. Approximately forty-five seconds into our appointment he discovered that we are a home educating family. I was taken aback to find that he was fully supportive of our educational choice. We agreed that bright children thrive and struggling children blossom when they are allowed to …
Hiding Behind What is Good: The Real Reason We Home Educate Read More »
If you have home educated for any amount of time, somebody will have asked you what opportunities your child has for socialisation. There is a strong temptation to immediately reel off a long list of all the activities and meet-ups that your child takes part in outside of the home. I know this because I …
If we are Christians who home educate our children or who have taken the decision to send our children to a Christian school, then at one point or another we are certain to come across the ‘salt and light’ argument, namely the idea that as Christians we should be ‘salt and light’ in the government …
Christian Education and the ‘Salt and Light’ Argument Read More »
The unknown can be daunting. I wonder how many Christian families abandon the idea of home education in blind panic because they cannot comprehend how to teach mixed ages a full curriculum with housework, shopping, cooking and meet-ups thrown in. What a tragedy to disregard a wonderful educational choice for our families because we more …
Home Education is Not 0-100 in Sixty Seconds: The ‘One-Thing-at-a-Time Rule’ Read More »
Mothers with younger children whose hearts have been warmed towards the idea of home educating their little ones are often plagued by a nagging doubt, ‘I am just not clever enough to teach my children’. After all, the mental image of our three-year-old sitting down to do exams at the age of sixteen is understandably …
‘I’m Just Not Clever Enough to Teach My Children’ Read More »
