Home Schooling Opportunities
The world is in very interesting times. We are so blessed to know God and see that His plans for His creation have been planned before the foundation of the world. We can trust that not only God is in control, but He calls us His children and his desire is that we all enter an eternal relationship with Him. Sometimes He places things in our lives that throw us and put us in a position where we have to re-think about our lives and what we see as important and try new things. This huge upheaval in our society is causing so many people to panic and live in fear. I encourage you, instead, to trust God that He is control and His plans will happen. In Colossians 1:16 we read, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him." Now our schools are closing down and we have been given the responsibility for the next few months of having our children home full time, it is a good time to re-think what our role is as Christian families. What does it mean to be Christian parents and what role does education play in our children’s lives? There is a huge change in our Christian community as we have wrestled with the responsibility of raising children in the way God is calling us to. James 1:22 says “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says”. So what are the key things the Bible is saying that can guide parents on how they are to raise their children? The biggest concern that we should have as parents is the way education is sold in our western world. The lie we are told is that if we have a good education we will be successful in life. If we believe this then we see that education is the thing that will bring success to our children. In 1 John 5:21 we are told “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” God is calling us to go to Him for success and to trust Him with our lives. Our prayer is that God uses education as one of the tools He uses to equip and grow us, but the success of our children in life is not based on their education. Success both now and eternally come through a relationship with Jesus and then through learning our identity in Him. I want to explore a number of key ideas on the role of parents and how we can intentionally grow our children to be successful in life:
Growing them in a relationship with Jesus. As parents, we guide them as we grow in our relationship with Jesus. This involves prayer, discussion of important topics to you and them and sharing your relationship with God and guiding them as they grow in their relationship with God. In their relationship with Jesus, we reveal their identity, which is what God says about us.
To understand God’s message to us through the Bible. It is vital that children know the whole story of the Bible. God’s metanarrative or big story is amazing. By knowing the big story and then they can understand the context of different Bible verses and how it relates to this big story. They can see then how they fit into this big metanarrative.
Teaching a biblical world view - When children know the big story they can then start seeing the world from God’s perspective. When you encounter millions of years ideas, hate, fear, rebellion you can then point it back to how it fits into the story of the Bible. They can learn to be critical thinkers and evaluate everything in light of what the Bible says which is the truth.
Growing our children as trees of righteousness. I love Jeremiah 17:5-8. In Verses 7 and 8 we read
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
And whose hope is the Lord.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
God is calling us to grow our children through hard times so their roots are deep to access the Word and the Spirit of God and they have their foundations in Jesus. When they do this, no matter what is happening around them they will be able to have green leaves to shade and protect others and bear fruit to feed those who are hungry around them.
5. Equipping them for the “Good Works” God has made them for. Ephesians 2:10 is one of my favourite verses. The version from The Passion Translation is excellent:
We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfil the destiny he has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfil it! God has made us for a relationship with Him and through that relationship, He is in the process of preparing us for the good works He has made us do with Him. We are made to fit into His creation to cause His world to function as He has made it to. As we understand our role as parents, we see the importance of being intentional in raising our children. In Romans 8:19 we read “ For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.” God is calling us to be intentional in the way we raise our children. Satan is wanting to rob, kill and destroy (John 10:10) but as we rise to the challenge of what it means to be Christian parents, we will see a new generation of young people rise and fulfil their destiny in Christ and cause our country and world to function as God has intended. A world where Jesus rules and functions as He has made it to. This is a very brief overview of what God is calling us to do in raising our children. With the shut down of our schools, it is a good time to look at the different types of schooling available in Australia at the moment.
Models for education:
Day school - public education
Day school - private education with the emphasis on a good education
Day school - private education with an emphasis on a good education which does include Christian education.
Day School - private education which is a partnership with parents and the school to help raise your children together.
Distance Education School - run by the government. Totally secular.
Distance Education - Christian school that gives a curriculum package to families depending on which grade they are in. Children work independently on their work at the grade level they are at. Work is set and marked by the school.
Distance Education - Families and school work in partnership to raise the children. Parents are the home educators who are supported by the school. The curriculum is written for each individual family to help achieve the goals of the family under the umbrella of the National Curriculum. The program is written to have the families work together as much as possible. The emphasis is supporting Christian parents in raising their children.
Instead of looking at this time as being bad, seek God in what He is saying to you in this time. Ask Him how He is calling you to raise our children to know Him and to know their identity in God and discover the good works God has made them for. As you do this, ask Him to show you if education has been an idol in your family and what you can do to raise your children with great purpose so they are able to be trees of righteousness and not only weather any storm that they encounter in life but bear fruit and fulfil the destiny God has made them for, which is both here on earth and for eternity.
Since you will be trying some form of homeschooling for your children you can have a greater say in what they are learning and how they are developing as people!
Our children are the greatest weapon that God is using to bring about victory on earth and through Godly parents, He is raising a mighty army. Let’s do this together! Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. 4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. 5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court. (Psalm 127:3-5)
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