If being a stay-at-home mom to raise your own children is such a demeaning, unfulfilling, and unimportant job, then why is our government so eager to take it over for us? I will tell you why.
Because the sooner they can get their hands on your children’s minds and hearts, the sooner they can shape their thinking and mess with their faith. Everyone knows (whether they admit it or not) that the mother has the most important job in the world: bringing up the children God has given her. The hireling does not care for the sheep the way the shepherd does. The shepherd lays down his life for the sheep just like a mother will lay down her life for her children all day long. The hireling does not and cannot love the sheep the way the shepherd does (John 10:11-13).
Apparently K-12 is just not enough time for the government to indoctrinate the kids, so the push is to get a hold of them sooner. It sounds so thoughtful: let us take care of the little ones while you go find something productive to do. Something with a paycheck. But it turns out the children are the ones who actually pay the heavy cost of government-run day care.
Twenty years ago, or so, at a very exciting town meeting that was full of liberal activists, an angry lesbian shouted at a group of us Christians, “Ten years and your children are ours!” I remember thinking at the time, “Not our kids.” But the tragedy is that so many kids have been won over. It is a strategy that has worked all too well. The “free” education of the government school system has been the means they have used so effectively, even with Christian kids. But if they can get them enrolled as babies or toddlers, so much the better.
Mothers, you are irreplaceable. There is no substitute on earth for what you can give your children. Teach them. Pray with and for them. Feed them. Love them. Read to them. Discipline them. Wash them. Wipe their noses. Change their diapers. Fold their clothes. Make them cookies. Decorate their birthday cakes. Stuff their Christmas stockings. Tell them stories. And when they are old enough for a formal education, make certain that it is “in the Lord” and not a secular education. Whether it is by means of homeschooling, or private Christian education, your children must receive a thoroughly Christian education, start to finish. This should be a non-negotiable. And once you are started, don’t stop until you are finished. Don’t get your children reading and writing and then hand them off to the state to “educate.” They will. Sadly, many Christian parents take the pains to home school until high school, and then right at the moment when their kids are ready to learn how to apply a Christian worldview to all of life, their parents send them to the government school to finish the job.
This little booklet pictured above is one my husband wrote for Athanasius Press. It is only $5.00 at Canon Press, but I will happily give away ten copies. If you would like one, leave a comment, and I’ll send it off to the first ten of you.
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Thanks for the encouragement! Just the words I needed to hear. Homeschooling can be a daunting task and overwhelming at times. Thanks for the reminder of the whys and what fors. Much appreciated!
I’d love to have a copy of this for my husband and I to talk and pray through!
This booklet would be helpful as my husband and I think and pray about how and where to educate our oldest, who will be in kindergarten next year.
i’d love a copy as well! thank you for this post. very thought provoking.
Such a timely message. Needed to reminded of that right now. Would love to be a recipient of this book!
Nancy, Thank you for all of your encouraging posts! I’d love to have a copy of this book đ
I would love it!
Great reminder, Nancy. Thank you! I would love a copy of this as well.
Truth!!
I’d love to read this. Thank you.
Will you send internationally? Several members of my family work in Christian schooling here in Australia, and it would be so interesting to read your husband’s perspective on the American context.
I’d love a copy! I always look forward to reading your posts.
We are homeschooling until middle school at least. As a christian who attended private Christian school, with a Christian husband homeschooled and then public schooled, I would love to read Pr. Wilson’s latest. Much to ponder in coming years.
I would like one, please. He is a great author.
It has taken me a while to come around to this view of things, but I’m re-reading The Case for Classical Christian Education and I think I’m finally there. I’m wondering if this is a condensed version of some of that material?
Kate,
No this is not about classical Christian ed, but rather addresses the need for a Christian education in the first place.
I would love to read this booklet. We are homeschooling, but I have some friends I’d love to share with.
Thanks Nancy for this encouraging post. I am a pastor’s wife, mother, and homeschooler of two young boys with another one on the way. In our small church we are also blessed with two other homeschooling families so I sent this post to encourage those homeschool moms as well. I have read many of your books and briefly talked to you at the DesiringGod Conference a year ago. I am always uplifted and blessed by your writing and it was so nice to also meet you in person and to hear Doug speak. You are as encouraging and genuine in person as you are in your writing. Please keep the good resources coming! I would also appreciate a copy of this pamphlet, if you don’t mind sending it to Canada. Thanks.
Twenty years ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, when our daughter was 5. Through much prayer and research, I walked away from chemo and radiation and was healed through prayer and natural medicine. One of the most important factors in doing this was being able to be a Mom and have my daughter with me. We changed diet and raked leaves, juiced and walked to the library, had a natural food co op at our home and spent hours snuggling reading books. Every phase of my treatment, my daughter was with me. It was a hard fight, but my daughter was with me every day. I have been clear for 20 years, and thank God every day. The decisions we make as a Mom, are life changing and life giving! Thank you for your heart!
Thanks for this Nancy. This year, in particular, I have caught myself staring almost longingly at the school bus as it passed our house at 7am and then again at 4pm and found myself thinking- wouldn’t it be so wonderful to have ALL THAT TIME to pursue the things I long to pursue someday like writing or starting a photography business. Even just to get ordinary things done AHEAD of schedule instead of right before the buzzer.
Then, I found the documentary IndoctriNation and bought it with all our other homeschool resources- as a way to remind me why I am doing what I am doing. I figure, every time I get that longing look as the school bus drives down the road- I have some arsenal to blow me back to reality.
I am fully committed to the endeavor and realize its’ importance so please don’t consider me for the giveaway. Give it to one of those individuals who are unsure, teetering or unexposed to the truth. But thank you for this encouragement…I will gladly take that! đ
Amen! I’m homeschooling and would be so encouraged to read this!
love this post, and i totally agree!
I love your point-so agree! I had the priviledge of homeschooling our 4 children for the past four years, and sadly, this year my husband felt we should honor our oldest daughter’s desire to attend public school. This post renewed my determination to not quit my prayers that God would work in my husband’s heart to allow us to bring her back home for the rest of her schooling.
Yes! You say things so well. We are in our 13th year of home education. I am now looking at my senior and wondering about college. The challenges of sending her “off” are too hard to think on, and yet the challenges of putting her in a local environment make me cringe. If you were to address THAT issue in a future post or two, it would be so helpful.
Please don’t consider me in the giveaway. I agree to send those books to those who are teetering or afraid. High school is THE time to dive deep into the Word with your children! đ
Blessings!
~april
This so timely for us. We’ve just moved to England for my husband to do a PhD in Divinity. School here beings full-time for kiddos at four – and our little one is four. We brought our home school stuff with us but were amazed at the immediate pressure we felt to get our daughter into the system as fast as possible. It’s so counter-cultural here and we’ve had plenty of good conversations about exactly what you discuss above! Would love a chance to read this book (if you ship internationally!). If not, we will still probably order this book! : )
This sounds wonderful. My oldest is 3 so we are really starting to think about plans for education.
Love this! Best. read. ever!
Absolutely. Agree. My parents stepped out on a limb to homeschool me and my siblings in ’84, when it was barely legal in our state. Three decades, and three college degrees PLUS 12 years of homeschooling later….I am excited to have the privilege to educate and love my children, myself, at home.
Not ONE. DAY. Goes by that at least one thing prompts me to think, wow, I am really glad I didn’t miss knowing/experiencing this thing because my parents sent me off to school. Not only so I have no regrets, but as I get older the MORE thankful I am for Christ-centered education.
Oh so wonderful. Thank you for this.
Not my kids either! Thank you!
Happy to pay for this, to encourage you all to keep writing. The more moms hear this, the more we will be fortified to do what is right and beautiful and good!
Thank you SO much for this. It blesses my heart! We have four little ones: Girls ages 3, 20 months, and boy/girl twins who are eight weeks (apparently we’re on the Rachel plan). đ We are not homeschooling yet (there aren’t any private schools in our area we could afford or that are doctrinally sound), but are planning to for this very reason. This was beautifully written…and after a very hard day at home with my munchkins, it’s a wonderful reminder of what we’re doing and why. Blessings!!
I am so happy this is available — am looking forward to reading it! Thank you!
OUCH! Yes, I would like one, hit home…
Beautifully written. I’d love a copy!
This is our 1st yr homeschooling our 9th, 5th, 5th & 3rd grader. I would love the information. Thank you for the encouragement!
Oh, I forgot to say that I’d really love a copy!! đ
Thank you for the encouragement!
I’m actually searching for a way to speak with a dear friend of mine. She and her husband are missionaries in the Middle East, where their two year old has been enrolled in a full time preschool, so that they will have time to learn the language. I want to tell her that leaving her two year old in the care of the ungodly 35 hours a week is not worth it! I just don’t know how to say it, and I appreciate every boost of courage that I can get. The time with our children is so short, we must invest it wisely.
I’d love a copy of the book as well.
Thank you all for the great response. I think I’m going to have to call it quits now on the free booklets, but I’m happy so many of you responded. Your booklets are either in the mail or soon will be. Blessings on your labors!
Thank you Nancy. I love reading your bold wisdom.
kristen J, welcome to the UK! where are you based? you’re right, totally counter-cultural to home ed here. well, no, actually there are lots of people doing it, but it’s actually more that it’s totally countercultural for Christians. that’s very wearisome. Thanks Nancy for this post. i have wavered a lot recently. very hard when some of your best friends happily send their kids to school and so hard not to develop a siege mentality.
actually, i write unfairly. none of us send our kids to school happily. i just meant that their kids seem to be thriving happily in school and still learning Christ. i find it hard not to give up at that point!
This brought all good kinds of tears to my tired eyes. Thank you!
I appreciate and agree with some of what you write here-such as the point you make that no one has as vested an interest in my child as their parents do (although I realize there are always exceptions). And obviously you have a very strong homeschooling bias as do most, if not all of those who have commented. This is of course your right-it is your blog and for all of us in this country, we have the freedom to make our own choices about schooling our own children. For that I am thankful.
I do wish however, that for the sake of those for whom homeschooling is either not an option or who are just in the beginning stages of considering it, the pros and cons would have been presented. Because the truth is, whether homeschooling, private schooling, or public schooling, there are strengths and weaknesses. I have seen success and failure in each of these camps. But also important to me personally, this post raises several questions.
You state towards the end that “many Christian parents take the pains to home school until high school, and then right at the moment when their kids are ready to learn how to apply a Christian worldview to all of life, their parents send them to the government school to finish the job.”
One of my questions is this: How does one learn to apply a Christian worldview to all of life when one encounters so little of that life? The unbelieving world will eventually be a part of anyoneâs life on earth and that is where a Christian worldview will be tested to the max. Why are Christians so afraid of the world? Why do we not thoroughly learn what we believe from the Bible and learn to engage the world instead of hide from it? Why can’t that begin when our children are elementary age and encounter elementary issues-like the one my daughter brought home in first grade when she encountered classmates whose parents taught them there is a Santa Claus and she told them their parents were lying. Never did I anticipate that little scenario. So right off the bat, we got to learn how to engage in the world. Being a light in the world, and living in the world, while not of the world, is commanded in the New Testament for believers. Jesus, in John 17, could have taken his disciples out of the evil world but instead encouraged them in the tools He was leaving them to overcome it-simply because God chose man as an instrument to spread the gospel in the world. If I bring my child up with an adversarial view of the world, as so toxic they must grow up protected from it (and mind you, I agree that the world is evil in a myriad of ways and would love to live in a bubble), how will they then leave home and suddenly know how to switch the flip and love and serve that world as a light so as to help them see and acknowledge their need for a Saviour? Is not my goal to raise children who not only know God personally but know Him so well that they have a Godly worldview and therefore a relentless concern for those who do not know him? But concern is useless if there is no encounter. And being comfortable encountering nonbelievers is not natural for most believers. Yet Paul says in I Cor 9:22 that he became all things to all men so as to win some to God. He moved out of his comfort zone most likely. If we spend 18 years raising lambs and then throw them to the wolves without any survival skills, can we really expect them to know what to do?
I am not an employee in a public school, but my children did go to them. I’m not even a fan of the education they received as a whole. But we believed God sovereignly placed us where we were. We stayed involved, took them out of classes when we did not want them exposed to worldly views we did not think they were ready for i.e. sex ed in middle school and always told them that we wanted them to interact with all kinds of people but would be closely watching to see if they were the influencer or the influencee. They knew that if we sensed they were becoming the influencee that we would step in and something would need to change.
I do agree with Proverbs 4:24 that we need to guard our hearts-at any age-for from it flows the wellspring of life. I donât need to see and experience every evil out there to relate to people of the world. God has given me enough common sense to figure out where to draw the line. But God has placed me in the world. The evil world. At this time and place. The world that has been evil since that first sin in the garden. For a purpose bigger than protecting myself from it.
In my opinion every family is so different that there is simply not one schooling answer that fits all. But this article seemed to paint the picture that there is, that it is a no-brainer that the right thing to do is to home-school, and if my child adopts anti-Biblical views and I publicly schooled them, therein lies the blame. My eldest daughter got her undergraduate degree at one of “those liberal Ivy League Universitiesâ and actually immersed more conservative than ever. There she encountered liberals who, as she said, didn’t really know what they believed. They just tolerated everyone’s beliefs (though not really) but frequently were like many Christians-they could not engage in a conversation with someone of opposing spiritual views. I think it helped that my husband especially, had spent her growing up years at home preparing her in her encounters with the world. All along her educational pathway, from the Santa Claus issue through post grad school, we continued dialoguing regularly as a family on all sorts of issues and filtering them through God’s Word. Because it was our habit to so with our girls since they were small, it was the natural thing to do so as they aged, and it continues still with them and their spouses.
And just for the record, I am not anti-homeschooling. Not at all. Many of my very good friends have or are homeschooling their children. I give them high praise. It is a daunting task but I see the joy in them as they share their experiences, even when they are exhausted. Honestly, if I were to start over with my children, we may very well choose to home school them. Thank you!
Note: that should say “emerged” not immersed in one of the sentences in my reply