Christian home education is controversial. It is controversial because it brushes aside popular thinking about the role of government in educating our children. It is controversial because, for the most part, it requires that the mother return to the sphere of the home and it is controversial because it assumes that “untrained” parents can take responsibility for the education of their children and do a great job.
It is perfectly reasonable to question an action that runs against the grain. I am the world’s biggest advocate of Christian home education and I love the fact that believing families are starting to come to grips with the importance of this wonderful means to raise our children in the Lord. At a time in UK history when evil is dubbed good and good is dubbed evil, the Lord has graciously preserved the freedom for us to teach our children the truth of the gospel within our own homes and away from the government’s agenda. To advocate for Christian education is to be able to help people think through the challenges and perhaps these three resonate with you.
1. “I Do Not Know Enough to Teach My Children!”
Perhaps you can just about remember how to add fractions, you recall a smattering of French phrases and you have a vague memory of Queen Victoria’s lengthy reign. How then can you give your children a full-blown education? The idea that our four-year-old might one day need to pass exams is understandably daunting. After all, schoolteachers spend several years training for the classroom. Who are we to think that we could do their job?
Herein lies the key: we learn alongside our children. My own love of learning has been set aflame by teaching my little ones. One morning I opened our history book to read. I was accidentally gripped. Egyptians, Sumerians, Minoans – who were these amazing civilisations that I knew nothing about? We breathlessly turned the pages waiting to learn whether Howard Carter would discover King Tut’s tomb (he did!). We scoured the internet for documentaries about the pyramids, Khufu and Stonehenge. We learned hieroglyphics “for fun”. I thought I was the facilitator; I rapidly morphed into co-student.
We also work with wisdom, playing to our strengths. Have you asked the Lord to show you where your own abilities lie? Do you have an A-level in chemistry that you have kept quiet? Do you love reading Jane Austen? Can you cook? Do you peruse gardening magazines for fun? If Jesus was a carpenter because that was his father’s trade then surely there is a precedent for our children to follow in our own footsteps somewhat? Perhaps you have a home-educating friend with a skill that you lack. Could you meet together once a week and “pool” lessons? Perhaps you could enjoy a coffee and a play-date at the same time?
When necessary, we learn to thoughtfully outsource. Perhaps maths for our thirteen-year-old is miles beyond our comfort zone. Might the Lord have provided a relative, spouse or friend who would gladly offer support? Could our child sign up for an on-line course? Perhaps we have finances to pay a tutor? Is our child so motivated that they can teach themselves with some well-chosen books (it does happen!).
2. “My Children Will Not Be Properly Socialised”
I wonder whether you realised that the dictionary definition of socialisation is “the process of learning to behave in a way that is acceptable to society”? The question of course is which attitudes and beliefs are acceptable to our society in 2024? Is the idea that gender is fixed or that marriage is a life-long commitment under God between a man and woman a popular position these days? Is the belief that life begins at conception welcome or unwelcome? Is the gospel itself “socially acceptable”? I would argue that one of the incredible benefits of home education is that we may teach our children how not to behave in a way that is acceptable to society. In fact, if they grow up to love the Lord, they probably will stick out like sore thumbs.
Of course, in thinking about socialisation, I think you want to know whether your children will be able to relate to people outside of the family. But before sending them to a classroom to spend six hours a day with thirty other children of the exact same age who we know nothing about, might it be worth pondering the Lord’s words, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” (Proverbs 13:20). As parents, should we not exercise some discernment as to whom we are sending our children to in order to learn “social skills”?
The reality is that my children regularly meet with people outside the family. We have treasured friendships on our street, we run a home education group at our local church, and the children enjoy football, swimming and meet-ups with friends and relatives. Relationships take time to build and there were some lonely years but we never fell for the lie that any companion is better than no companion.
3. “What About the Cost?”
Home education can be accomplished on a shoe-string or with great extravagance. Perhaps you do have financial resources. Why not be inspired by the God-honouring curricula available at Answers in Genesis UK or Conquest Books, or consider joining a “Classical Conversations” community?
Perhaps you have extremely limited resources. The good news is that resources abound for free or minimal cost. “The Mother’s Companion” flash-drive, “Reading Made Simple”, or christianeducation.weebly.com have been written by Christian home-educating mothers. You could also profit from countless free online courses. I have children learning to play piano using “Hoffman Academy” and children learning French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Polish using “Duolingo”! Perhaps a paid tutor would do a better job, but what a thrill to watch young children motivate themselves to learn subjects that I do not have space in our timetable to teach!
Questions about the cost of home education move me to very gently ask back: what is the cost of allowing the government to educate your child? I realise that government education is seen as the “free” option, but what might be the cost of your child learning that gender is fluid at a tender age? What might be the cost of years spent in the classroom learning that same-sex marriage is a right and opposing views are bigoted? What might be the cost of allowing your children to learn that we evolved from ape-like creatures and that the Bible is mythology?
I recognise that Christian education in the home is a challenge to pervading thought. It places the responsibility of raising children firmly on the shoulders of the parents and there is always a cost to swimming against the flow. Yet home education is a gracious gift from a heavenly father who will never leave himself without a witness, but who has opened a way by which the next generation of little ones can be taught about our dear Saviour when they sit at home and when they walk along the road and when they lie down and when they rise up (Deuteronomy 6:7). Fittingly, they are taught by the ones who love them the most.
