A Few Things to Consider

Home Schooling is a great way to bring children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  But it won't necessarily produce all the results we wish to see.

To start with, home Schooling is not a guarantee that our children will grow up to be Christian.  They are just as likely to be reprobates whether they are home schooled or educated in the public school.   Every Primitive Baptist understands this based on the doctrine of Election and Predestination.  (If you are unfamiliar with this doctrine please read "Unconditional Election" in Doctrine and Practice.)

Too many Christians assume that a home based education will be the catalyst which brings their children to Christ.  We must remember, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit, John 3:8.  No matter what, it is the Holy Spirit which brings forth the new birth.

Home Schooling is not a guarantee that your children will be perfect nor is it a guarantee that you won't have trouble or that they won't rebel.  But home schooling is a means to help prevent rebellion and the negative attitudes that may develop from prolonged exposure to ungodly influences in the public school system.  The scripture says that "a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame," Proverbs 29:15.  This happens all to often when children are left to fend for themselves against the tide of worldly peers at school. 

Home Schooling allows the parents to have much more control over the both the influences in their children's lives and the teaching they receive during their education.  It provides an opportunity to give much more guidance and direction to the path their children will take.  However, it is possible for parents to be too protective.  Just as the Lord allows our faith to be tried to see whether we stand or fall, so also must opportunities be given to our children to see how they handle themselves in the world.  The fact is, one day our children will no longer be under our supervision and they will have to stand on their own against the ways of the world. 

Overprotective parenting, especially with teenage boys, may not allow our children to develop their own self-control mechanisms because their control is entirely dependent upon yours.  This is not to suggest that we should throw caution to the wind and let our children do all that they please for that would be a grave mistake.  However, it is not always a bad thing for children to be allowed to fall.  If handled in a good way, they will remember that the scrapes, cuts and bruises from a fall are painful and they will learn on their own to avoid those negative behaviors which lead to such pain.

There is another pitfall associated with Christian educated children.  A child who grows up in a very disciplined environment usually has little sympathy for those who don't.  Consequently, Christian educated children have a tendency to become arrogant about their knowledge and proud of their self-righteousness.  When you have had few opportunities to sin in life, its very easy for our self-righteous natures to look down on those who are sinning.  Unfortunately, this view of one's self is often reinforced (albeit unconsciously) by the parents.  A proper understanding and teaching of TOTAL DEPRAVITY is of utmost importance in the home of every family.  Just because we or our children may be better behaved than others, apart from Christ we are no better than the worst reprobate.  All our righteousness is but filthy rags before God, Isaiah 64:6.  Even when we have been saved by Jesus Christ, all we can say is, "by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me, 1 Corinthians 15:10.

Elder James Taylor