The Heart of Home Education

Here is a great verse describing what home education should be all about:

“Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.”
Psalm 34:11

Reasons to Homestead

I received a great book for Christmas this year: Storey’s Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self Reliance by John and Martha Story. As I read some of it, several ideas that have been swirling about in my mind emerged.

I am coming to understand that homesteading is not easy. It is rewarding, but not easy. It takes time, energy, and money (at least at first). I am at somewhat of a crossroads in life where I can decide how much more to put into homesteading. I am beginning to think I should go ahead and put more into it. Here is a list of reasons why:

We can grow food that is good for us: fresh (at its height of nutrition), organic, and whole.

We can be producers instead of consumers. This is more than something you do; it is an attitude. God calls us to work and produce. We can see in our culture what happens to people who primarily consume and rarely produce. It allows people to see a certain standard of living as a right. Often it produces laziness, self-centeredness, and dependence on the system.

We can learn to build things and solve problems and learn skills for life. All of these things contribute to a broader, sharper mind and spill initiative and confidence over into other areas of life.

We can be more self-reliant . . . in a good way. Not independent from God or community, but from “the system.” From industrialization that focuses on mass production of unhealthy goods, from government, and from an economy highly dependent upon oil, gas, and transportation. In addition, the US economy is not stable right now. The vast amount of debt and the ridiculous solution of printing more paper money only ensure some type of economic crisis. Self-reliance may come in handy.

We can pass on homesteading skills to our children and grandchildren. “If I figured out the cost per jar in our pantry, that wouldn’t be impressive . . . . But none of that is important . . . to develop and pass along some country skills to children and grandchildren, makes it all worthwhile” (Storey’s, xi).

We can integrate our children’s education into homesteading. I have already written about how important it is to allow education to take place in a real life environment as opposed to primarily a fabricated classroom/textbook type setting. All the work, problem solving, creativity, discipline, and business required for a homestead provide a wonderful learning environment.

Speaking at the NCHE Conference

I was notified last weekend that my workshop proposals were accepted and I will be speaking (for the first time) at this year’s North Carolinians for Home Education Conference. I’m not yet sure which one(s) were selected or when they will be scheduled. Here are the descriptions:

Who’s the Boss?: Biblical Authority in MARRIAGE

God has established lines of authority in the home, including within marriage. Following God’s design for marriage is important for home education and effective ministry. But understanding biblical leadership and submission is not easy . . .  and even harder to live out. The Lordship of Christ in the home, as well as common misconceptions and misapplications of biblical authority, will be explored in this session.

Who’s the Boss?: Biblical Authority in PARENTING

Children are ever changing, complicated, individually unique little beings. How can we successfully love and teach them? How do parents establish control in the home and at the same time teach children to establish their own faith and motivation? Parents are given authority and responsibility from God to both discipline and disciple their children. In this session, the balance and timing of these two responsibilities will be explored.

Real Life Education

I have been rethinking how to approach our children’s education. This rethinking is occurring in a much broader consideration of my philosophy of education. One of the main questions that must be answered is this: How do we learn?

I have come to some conclusions based on my own experience with education. I was in school for about thirty years straight! I have also taught a variety of children, high school students, college students, and adults for almost twenty years now. My conclusion is that people learn and retain information and skills best when they are directly related to real life situations. Unfortunately, most education in our nation (both secular and religious) is attempted in a classroom/textbook setting. There is certainly a place for classrooms and textbooks. But this is only sometimes necessary and is only a fraction of the learning process.

Here is one small example. When Bethany learns math, she is required to do exercise after exercise of particular types of problems in order to learn how to solve them. I suppose there is some value in this. But when I give her the  job of keeping track of the finances related to caring for our chickens, our egg consumption, and our egg sales, she has a totally different motivation to do math. When she is allowed to prepare a dish for the family, she is doing math as well. In these situations math isn’t just for practice, it is a means to an end that has real results.

I am going to seek more and more to integrate education with real life. I hope this will minimize “school” time, increase motivation, learning, and retention, and increase real contributions to our family life.

“Public Education Is Going Down”

I am working with a young man who turned 18 in December. You know what he got for his birthday? A B.A. degree from an accredited college.

His parents paid for tuition: under $15,000. The college awarded him his degree for work performed. He did the whole thing at home.

Is this a better way to go to college? You bet it is.

Are more parents going to figure this out? I hope to persuade them.

Is boola-boola at a distant campus worth $100,000 or more, plus five years instead of four? Not to wise parents and students.

Is earning a college degree at 18 better than earning a high school diploma? That family thought so.

What do you think?

This is the beginning of Gary North’s prophetic article “Public Education Is Going Down.” Fascinating.