Homeschooling has its benefits for Christian families but it’s not for everyone

Over the last few decades school life has changed along with wider culture. Whilst education used to be far more aligned with Christian teaching there is now more distance between the two. This has prompted some to home educate their children.

Home education can be a good option for believers who are called to be in the world, but not of the world. Children can be taught a curriculum that aligns with Christian values and be protected from the worldly influence of non-Christian peers.

As a parent who has always loved the concept of home education, with a 13-year-old daughter who has always attended school I can see two sides to the argument of whether or nor to home educate.

A personal story

When my daughter was two, I noticed that she had begun to read the numbers of train platforms when we were travelling. I was fascinated by how she’d picked up this knowledge without me consciously teaching her.

A conversation with a friend who had older children opened up the world of home education to me. I devoured books by authors like John Taylor Gatto and John Holt who proposed alternative models to schooling that really worked and could even be more successful than conventional schooling.

when it comes to home education, we can weigh up the pros and cons, but ultimately it comes down to prayer and seeking God’s will for our children’s live

These books debunked myths about ‘anti-social’ homeschooled kids, and the idea that you needed to be a professional teacher to school your kids at home. In fact, when children aren’t taught in a formal way they can actually learn at a more rapid rate, removing the need for long hours spent in the classroom.

In the end my daughter went to a mainstream school. We were living in Switzerland at the time in an area of the country where homeschooling was illegal. The homeschooling community was small even in other areas and so that seemed like the best option. Over time for various reasons, school has always seemed like the best option. I wasn’t a Christian until four years ago, but even before I believed I had the sense that home education just wasn’t ‘meant to be’ for my daughter, even though I’ve always loved the idea.

So, when it comes to home education, we can weigh up the pros and cons, but ultimately it comes down to prayer and seeking God’s will for our children’s lives.

I’ve seen some Christian parents making comments about how home education is a must for all Christians given the current state of schooling. However, this is legalistic. God doesn’t always call us to have comfortable lives surrounded by other Christians, protected from any trials. While we are called to train up a child in the way they should go,’ there are different ways to do this.

The opportunities of school education

Sometimes we can be affected by a spirit of fear when our children are in school.

It can feel like a constant stream of anti-God or at least anti-church content is being fed into our children’s minds but one positive spin on this situation is that it can be a great conversation starter for discussions at home from a Christian perspective. Bible teacher Mike Winger has reflected on how these kinds of conversations can actually ‘inoculate’ children against arguments against their beliefs.

Winger has observed how young adults who have grown up in a ‘Christian bubble’ may have their faith shaken when they do go out in the world, when they do not have good arguments for common criticisms against Christianity. When children are in school, we can see what they are learning and find good arguments to counteract any material that goes against the Christian faith. This can be a powerful way to prepare children for later on when they’ll go out into a world where Christians are the minority.

Of course, there’s no need to have children in school in order to discuss these kinds of topics, just a conscious intention to prepare them for a world with many temptations to lead them away from the faith. If you do home educate, one of the advantages is that you can dedicate much more time to explore apologetics and evidence for the Christian faith.

Sarah’s story

I spoke to one mother, Sarah, who has home educated in the past, and then decided to put her children in schools.

She explained the reason for her decisions. ‘’I wanted to home educate my children as I worked in the education sector for a short time and saw how it let certain students down with special needs or anything outside of the box in terms of how children learn.’’

When it came to the shift to put her children into school she reflects, ‘’I understand what the bible says about bad company corrupts good morals but it’s also about trusting, as 1 John 4.4 says, ‘greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.’ It’s openly addressing things that your children bring home and teaching them to live in the world but not being part of its corruption by example.’’

Read more:

“School is a waste of time!” What Christian parents can say in response

Gifts not grades: Recognising every young person’s God-given talents

Parents are the key to bridging the gap between church and school

While Sarah had some trepidation about sending her children to school, she ultimately learnt to trust in God’s plan for their lives. ‘’It’s remembering our children are God’s before they were ever ours and trusting that he will lead us in straight paths if we surrender fear to Him. God spoke to me through others who were more mature in their faith. One lady for example held my hands and in such love said “you can’t stop the plans God has got your children.”

Prayer for Sarah was a central part of her decision making. ‘’Prayer is integral and waiting on God to move. I was under such pressure as a single parent trying to juggle everything when I was home educating. God would never allow me to be crushed under that weight.’’

What does the law say?

One thing to bear in mind if you homeschool is the legalities. In the UK parents have had the freedom to home educate their children in the way they choose without monitoring, or the need to follow the national curriculum. However, The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently in parliamentary review, would change all that.

Home educators and civil rights advocates have been warning against this bill which would mean that parents would require government consent to withdraw their children from school in certain cases. School Attendance Orders could even mean that children with a good home education could still be forced to attend school. One of the concerns is that the bill would require parents to conform to a rigid structure that would not allow child-led or faith-based learning to be possible. For more information parents can contact UK home education organisations, Education Otherwise or the Home Education Advisory Service.

Whatever decision you make, the wonderful thing about following Jesus, is that you are not alone, and that when we seek God’s will in a situation, he will make our paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Listen to the Woman Alive Podcast on this topic here: https://www.premier.plus/the-woman-alive-podcast/podcasts/episodes/is-home-schooling-a-blessing-or-a-curse