http://www.voddiebaucham.org/vbm/Blog/Entries/2009/8/26_The_Yellow_Prison_Bus_and_the_Future_of_American_Healthcare.html
Conservatives are up-in-arms over the Democratic healthcare scheme. From town hall meetings, to talk radio, to the internet, the voice of the people is being heard. However, I am not at all convinced that the voice of the people will ultimately make a difference in the long run. My pessimism has less to do with the sinister motives of those seeking to take over the healthcare system. On the contrary, my pessimism stems from the hypocrisy of those shouting down their representatives and claiming to be “fed up”.
While I’m sure these folks mean well, I wonder about the sincerity of their opposition in light of the fact that the overwhelming majority of them (between eighty and eighty-five percent) have already accepted everything they claim to abhor about the healthcare plan. Some have already exposed this irony as it relates to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security (full disclosure: I’ve opted out of Social Security and am proud to say that I am not anticipating one thin dime from the American government in my old age). However, I’m not talking about these long existing socialist programs, I’m talking about the #1 socialist welfare program in America, the public school system!
There are striking similarities between government-run education and the government-run healthcare bill currently under consideration in Congress. And it is precisely these similarities that will eventually cause the American people to lay down and take whatever the government gives them, and eventually be willing to fight and die for them. Remember, there was public outrage over government education (and Social Security) as well when it was first proposed (see the quotes here). However, nearly one hundred and fifty years later the overwhelming majority of Americans gladly put their children on the yellow prison bus every day (yes, they are the same type of busses used to transport prisoners).
JUST SAY NO TO SOCIALISM
One of the mantras we hear repeatedly these days is, “we don’t want socialism.” While that sounds good (and conservative, and constitutional, and patriotic, etc.), it rings hollow when you consider the overwhelming majority of the people leading the charge have their children in what amounts to socialized education. What’s the difference? If you’re really against government-run, socialized programs, yank your kid off the yellow prison bus and just say no.
READ THE TENTH AMENDMENT
Another catchphrase I’ve heard a lot lately is, “this is a violation of the Tenth Amendment.” Again, this is wonderful rhetoric. I love the Constitution of the United States; especially the Tenth Amendment which protects the rights of States and individuals from overreaches by the Federal Government. The amendment reads: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Ironically, one of the “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States” is education! That’s right, the Federal Government has absolutely no Constitutional right to involve itself in education. The Department of Education is as unconstitutional as government-run healthcare. However, few of the people shouting at these town hall meetings (or reporting on it on conservative talk radio and the internet) would stand up and call for the immediate abolishment of the D.O.E. (or any of the other federal departments that exist in clear violation of the tenth amendment).
I HAVE A RIGHT TO PICK MY OWN DOCTOR
Perhaps the most ironic aspect of the current uproar is the fact that people who put their children on the yellow prison bus and send them to the school designated by the State (at an age chosen by the State, on a date determined by the State, for a term mandated by the State) have the audacity to point their fingers and say, “I don’t want the government picking my doctor!” This is absolute folly. If we were serious about the moral and constitutional authority of this claim there would not be a single congressman or senator in Washington who opposed school choice as none of them would be able to win an election. However, Americans are glad to elect officials who continue to rob them of their freedom in this most basic, fundamental aspect of their lives; the education of their children.
DON’T TRUST THE PEOPLE WHO RUN THE POST OFFICE
How many times have we heard someone retort, “do you want the people who run the Post Office to run your healthcare?” The answer of course is a resounding no! Whether you call it “the public option,” or something else, conservatives do not want the government to run their healthcare (see here). However, how is it that we trust those same people to run our child’s education? How is this any different? And this is not just a liberal democrat thing; George Bush was the one who gave us “No Child Left Behind.” This was a monument to socialistic, government-run, unconstitutional mis-education. This was a massive overreach by the Federal Government that met little or no opposition (see one rare example here). Where were the town hall protests? Where were the flag-waving, gun-toting protestors? Where was the political right? Instead, all we heard was, “accountability is a good thing.” Never mind the Constitution.
NOT WITH MY TAX DOLLARS
Then there are the people who “don’t want their money to pay for abortions or sex change operations.” This one has president Obama on the defensive. Conservative Christians are especially animated over this aspect of the bill. Suddenly, the silent Christian majority is offended at the prospect of the federal government taking their money and using it for immoral purposes. This coming from people who send their children to government schools with Gay/Straight Alliance clubs, semi-pornographic sex-ed classes, and Gramscian, neo-Marxist, neo-Darwinian curriculum. How can we complain about our tax dollars going to fund abortions and sex change operations if we gladly offer up our children to taxpayer-funded dens of iniquity one hundred and eighty days a year? This is the height of hypocrisy.
THE PAST IS PROLOGUE
We will have taxpayer funded healthcare. The Democrats have offered the full monty, now the Republicans will “dial it back” a bit and claim victory (i.e., we can come up with something just for for those people who don’t have healthcare, make sure illegal immigrants don’t have access, and save Billions, if not Trillions of dollars). The result will be a slightly less socialistic system (for now) that the American people will accept gladly after seeing the beast in it’s full fury. And eventually, the furor will die down and the town hall meetings a generation from now will treat socialistic government healthcare the same way we treat socialistic programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and government education today.
If you want to know what type of government-run healthcare system Americans will be willing to settle for in the next generation, just walk outside tomorrow morning and watch the yellow prison busses take the next generation of Americans to the taxpayer-funded, government-run, indoctrination center to which they are assigned and ask yourself this question: Are they learning anything today that will give them an aversion to a government takeover of healthcare? Then ask yourself another question: If their parents do teach them to oppose socialism, read and follow the Constitution, cherish freedom of choice, shun government intervention and hold government accountable for ethical use of their tax dollars, how long will it be before they’re standing at the corner waiting on the yellow prison bus and think to themselves, “Hey, if mom and dad really believe these things... why am I standing here?”
VB
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Top Five REasons Not to Send Your Kids Back to Govt. School
From Voddie Baucham at http://www.voddiebaucham.org/vbm/Blog/Entries/2009/6/25_Top_Five_REasons_Not_to_Send_Your_Kids_Back_to_Govt._School.html
Thanks, Rachel!
Anyone who has kept up with my blog knows that I am no fan of government education. I have made it a point to carry The Continuing Collapse on a regular basis, and I try to make biblical, philosophical and theological arguments in favor of Christian education as often as possible. However, I recognize the obstacles those of us on my side of the street face. As many as eighty-five to ninety percent of professing Christians send their children to the government for their education. That is simply an astonishing figure considering the fact that the Christian community fought mandatory government education tooth-and-nail for it’s first fifty years of existence. Since then we have gone from fighting against government schools to fighting for them and implying that those who fight against them are fundamentalists, anti-intellectuals, and racists.
In the meantime, our schools grow progressively worse. Well, as we begin this summer, I want to appeal to those of you with children in government schools. Please don’t send them back! I beg you to consider what you are doing. As Dave Black has written:
No academic skepticism, no secularist authors, no blatant materialism can so undermine the spiritual life of the country like the completely secularized training of the child under the authority of the state... Bible-based education is mandatory for Christian parents. If we think we can keep our children in a secular school system and escape the dumbed-down, amoral, and immoral results of secular humanism in schools, we are sorely mistaken (emphasis added, see: http://daveblackonline.com/our.htm).
With that, here are the top five reasons not to send your kids back to government school next year:
5. YOU DON’T HAVE TO
This may sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people ask home educators the “authority” questions (i.e., to whom do your report? who approves your curriculum?). These questions are the byproduct of statism. The Gramscian, neo-Marxist influence is so prevalent in our culture that we don’t even recognize it anymore. We actually believe that children are wards of the state when in fact they are not. As a result, some people have a hard time believing that they have the right to educate their children in a manner of their choosing. Well, I’m here to tell you that you are free. Your children are yours. They do not belong to Caesar. You don’t have to take them back to the local government indoctrination center next semester. And in some states (thank God for Texas), you don’t even have to tell them you’re not coming back!
4. AMERICA’S SCHOOLS ARE AMONG THE WORST IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD
One of the issues that many Christians seem willing to ignore is the fact that sending children to American schools represents extremely poor stewardship. American students continually rank at the bottom in math, science and reading compared to other industrialized nations (see here). That’s right, our educational system is among the world’s worst! Of course everyone says, “Our schools are different.” News flash... that’s a lie!
One of our elders taught honors math at one of the “best schools” in one of the “best school districts” in Texas (you know, one of those schools people lie and cheat to get their children into so that they can get a better education). His advanced geometry class was filled with a bunch of imbeciles who could barely do basic arithmetic. As a result, most of them failed their first major test. You know what happened next. That’s right, the principal called him into the office and told him to make things right. One of the things he was told to employ was a grading technique called “Square root times ten.” Thus, a student who made a 49 on a test ended up with a 70 in the grade book (for those of you who went to government schools like me, that’s the square root of 49 times ten).
This is what’s happening at our “best” schools. Don’t believe me? ask a college admissions worker how many students coming from our “best” schools with grade point averages hovering near 4.0 need remediation when they get to college. It’s an absolute joke. The overwhelming majority of children in our schools have a B average or above (mostly for self esteem reasons), which serves to give them and their parents a false sense of achievement. It also results in people who ‘feel really good’ about their schools.
Please don’t buy the lie. Your child’s school is probably terrible. If you really care about the stewardship of you child’s mind, don’t send them back to the worst schools in the industrialized world next year.
3. AMERICA’S SCHOOLS ARE MORALLY REPUGNANT
The headlines speak for themselves. Student-teacher sex scandals, student-student sex, immodesty, foul language, drugs, alcohol, radical homosexual agendas, teachers taking students for abortions, “sexting” leading to suicide, sexually transmitted diseases, brutal beatings, and school shootings (see here). These are just some of the headlines that have become the norm. And that does not include things like cheating, disrespect for authority, impropriety towards the opposite sex, and other moral behaviors children learn regularly and repeatedly in school. Van Til said it better than I ever could:
“Non-Christian education puts the child in a vacuum…. The result is that child dies. Christian education alone really nurtures personality because it alone gives the child air and food…. Modern educational philosophy gruesomely insults our God and our Christ. How, then, do you expect to build anything positively Christian or theistic upon a foundation which is the negation of Christianity and theism?…. No teaching of any sort is possible except in Christian schools.”
Moreover, the system itself is funded by virtual theft. Homeowners are forced under threat of the loss of their property to pay for the education of other people’s children. How is that appropriate? The government tells everyone that they have to send their children to school, then tells homeowners that they are going to be the ones to foot the bill whether they like it or not. Not only is this a form of welfare, it is also a form of theft.
For those of you ready to read me the riot act and yell and scream about paying for roads and bridges, hold on a minute. Why is it that we get all up-in-arms about our tax dollars being used to fund abortions (while our opponents make the roads and bridges argument), but we don’t see this one? Our schools are morally repugnant. They are also neo-Marxist, secular humanist indoctrination centers. Why should I as a Christian be forced to pay for children to have every vestige of Christianity beaten out of them? Americans are not forced to pay for Mormon schools, or Muslim schools; why should we be forced to pay for neo-Marxist schools (remember, all education is religious in nature)? And why should any Christian contribute to such a system by sending their children to such schools at the expense of others? And before you yell, “I’m just using the tax dollars I spent,” ask yourself if you’re willing to take advantage of all that abortion funding going to Planned Parenthood, or those tax dollars going toward fetal stem cell research.
2. GOVERNMENT EDUCATION IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN
“I am as sure as I am of Christ’s reign that a comprehensive and centralized system of national education, separated from religion, as is now commonly proposed, will prove the most appalling enginery for the propagation of anti-Christian and atheistic unbelief, and of anti-social nihilistic ethics, individual, social and political, which this sin-rent world has ever seen.”
-A.A. Hodge
Jesus made it quite clear when he said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30 ESV) I am amazed at how many Christians refuse to acknowledge this fact as it relates to the government school system. Our education is either based on biblical truth, or some other truth. There is no such thing as neutrality in this regard. All education is religious in nature. Since it is illegal for students in our government schools to be taught from a Christian perspective, then it follows that they must be taught from a non (or anti) Christian perspective.
As Hodge pointed out, the result of non-Christian education is anti-Christian education. Government schools must be anti-Christian. They can be nothing else. Therefore, to send a child to a government school is to have them trained in an anti-Christian environment for 14,000 instructional hours. To get that much instruction from church a child would have to attend two hours a week for one hundred and forty years!
1. THE BIBLE COMMANDS CHRIST-CENTERED EDUCATION
“This whole process of education is to be religious, and not only religious, but Christian…. And as Christianity is the only true religion, and God in Christ the only true God, the only possible means of profitable education is the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
-Charles Hodge
I recognize that educational antinomianism is the norm in the modern American church. According to the common refrain, “It doesn’t matter what educational choice you make... you just have to pray about it and do what the Lord leads your family to do.” However, I must confess I find this this concept disturbing on a number of fronts. First, this kind of thinking denies the sufficiency of Scripture. The Bible speaks either directly, or principially to every aspect of life. There are no grey areas. Sure, there are things that are difficult to discern, but education is not one of them. Though you won’t find the word ‘education’ in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, there are a number of passages that speak directly to the issue of training ourselves and our children intellectually, spiritually, philosophically and morally (See Deut. 6:6,7; Prov. 1:7; Eph. 6:4, etc). We also have numerous warnings against allowing others to influence us intellectually, spiritually, philosophically, and morally (Psalm 1; Rom. 12:1,2; 2 Cor. 6:14ff; Col. 2:8, etc.).
Second, this line of reasoning smacks of mysticism. Instead of making an argument with an open Bible we dismiss all opposition with the flippant, trite, overused, and theologically problem-laden phrase, “we prayed about it and this is what the Lord told us to do.” The lord ‘has spoken’. (Heb. 1:1-2) We are not awaiting new revelation. Instead of doing what the Lord ‘told us’, Christians are commanded to do what the Lord ‘has told us’ in his Word. The London Baptist Confession speaks to this matter rather poignantly:
The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving Knowledge, faith and obedience; Although the light of Nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable [sic.]; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and His will, which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that His will unto his Church; and afterward for the better preserving, and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment, and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and of the World, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of Gods revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.
The Cambridge Declaration states:
We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured. We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian's conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience [i.e., “the Lord told me”] can ever be a vehicle of revelation.
There’s enough here for an entire series of posts (so many posts... so little time), but for now let me simply say that the “the Lord told me” line of argumentation has serious theological problems. We must make our educational decisions with an open Bible. “The Lord told me” is no substitute for “the Bible says...” Please don’t make a decision about your child’s education without consulting (and obeying) the Scriptures.
This week the SBC hornet’s nest is being stirred up again over the education issue. The last time this happened I was beyond embarrassed as I listened to my esteemed colleagues make illogical, unscriptural, cowardly arguments for “not giving up on ‘our’ schools.” How I long for voices like Hodge, Van Til, and Machen (who called government education a “soul-killing system”) to be heard among my brethren. However, with over eighty-five percent of our children in the government schools and more government school teachers and administrators than any other “denomination”, it is highly unlikely that our side will prevail on this issue any time soon. One wonders what the schools will have to do to our children before we are willing to acknowledge the folly of our choices. In the meantime, I will continue to watch, fight, and pray, and try to convince as many of you as I can to liberate your children from Caesar’s indoctrination camps.
I have quoted John Wesley on this issue in previous posts. However, his words are far too pertinent for me to ignore on this issue:
“Let it be remembered, that I do not speak to the wild, giddy, thoughtless world, but to those that fear God. I ask, then, for what end do you send you children to school? “Why, that they may be fit to live in the world.” In which world do you mean, — this or the next? Perhaps you thought of this world only; and had forgot that there is a world to come; yea, and one that will last for ever! Pray take this into your account, and send them to such masters as will keep it always before their eyes. Otherwise, to send them to school (permit me to speak plainly) is little better than sending them to the devil. At all events, then, send your boys, if you have any concern for their souls, not to any of the large public schools, (for they are nurseries of all manner of wickedness,) but private school, kept by some pious man, who endeavours to instruct a small number of children in religion and learning together.”
I can’t help but wonder if people called Wesley divisive or extremist for making the aforementioned comments. Perhaps not. Perhaps they simply said, “That may be right for you, but it’s not what the Lord told us to do.”
VB
Thanks, Rachel!
Anyone who has kept up with my blog knows that I am no fan of government education. I have made it a point to carry The Continuing Collapse on a regular basis, and I try to make biblical, philosophical and theological arguments in favor of Christian education as often as possible. However, I recognize the obstacles those of us on my side of the street face. As many as eighty-five to ninety percent of professing Christians send their children to the government for their education. That is simply an astonishing figure considering the fact that the Christian community fought mandatory government education tooth-and-nail for it’s first fifty years of existence. Since then we have gone from fighting against government schools to fighting for them and implying that those who fight against them are fundamentalists, anti-intellectuals, and racists.
In the meantime, our schools grow progressively worse. Well, as we begin this summer, I want to appeal to those of you with children in government schools. Please don’t send them back! I beg you to consider what you are doing. As Dave Black has written:
No academic skepticism, no secularist authors, no blatant materialism can so undermine the spiritual life of the country like the completely secularized training of the child under the authority of the state... Bible-based education is mandatory for Christian parents. If we think we can keep our children in a secular school system and escape the dumbed-down, amoral, and immoral results of secular humanism in schools, we are sorely mistaken (emphasis added, see: http://daveblackonline.com/our.htm).
With that, here are the top five reasons not to send your kids back to government school next year:
5. YOU DON’T HAVE TO
This may sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people ask home educators the “authority” questions (i.e., to whom do your report? who approves your curriculum?). These questions are the byproduct of statism. The Gramscian, neo-Marxist influence is so prevalent in our culture that we don’t even recognize it anymore. We actually believe that children are wards of the state when in fact they are not. As a result, some people have a hard time believing that they have the right to educate their children in a manner of their choosing. Well, I’m here to tell you that you are free. Your children are yours. They do not belong to Caesar. You don’t have to take them back to the local government indoctrination center next semester. And in some states (thank God for Texas), you don’t even have to tell them you’re not coming back!
4. AMERICA’S SCHOOLS ARE AMONG THE WORST IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD
One of the issues that many Christians seem willing to ignore is the fact that sending children to American schools represents extremely poor stewardship. American students continually rank at the bottom in math, science and reading compared to other industrialized nations (see here). That’s right, our educational system is among the world’s worst! Of course everyone says, “Our schools are different.” News flash... that’s a lie!
One of our elders taught honors math at one of the “best schools” in one of the “best school districts” in Texas (you know, one of those schools people lie and cheat to get their children into so that they can get a better education). His advanced geometry class was filled with a bunch of imbeciles who could barely do basic arithmetic. As a result, most of them failed their first major test. You know what happened next. That’s right, the principal called him into the office and told him to make things right. One of the things he was told to employ was a grading technique called “Square root times ten.” Thus, a student who made a 49 on a test ended up with a 70 in the grade book (for those of you who went to government schools like me, that’s the square root of 49 times ten).
This is what’s happening at our “best” schools. Don’t believe me? ask a college admissions worker how many students coming from our “best” schools with grade point averages hovering near 4.0 need remediation when they get to college. It’s an absolute joke. The overwhelming majority of children in our schools have a B average or above (mostly for self esteem reasons), which serves to give them and their parents a false sense of achievement. It also results in people who ‘feel really good’ about their schools.
Please don’t buy the lie. Your child’s school is probably terrible. If you really care about the stewardship of you child’s mind, don’t send them back to the worst schools in the industrialized world next year.
3. AMERICA’S SCHOOLS ARE MORALLY REPUGNANT
The headlines speak for themselves. Student-teacher sex scandals, student-student sex, immodesty, foul language, drugs, alcohol, radical homosexual agendas, teachers taking students for abortions, “sexting” leading to suicide, sexually transmitted diseases, brutal beatings, and school shootings (see here). These are just some of the headlines that have become the norm. And that does not include things like cheating, disrespect for authority, impropriety towards the opposite sex, and other moral behaviors children learn regularly and repeatedly in school. Van Til said it better than I ever could:
“Non-Christian education puts the child in a vacuum…. The result is that child dies. Christian education alone really nurtures personality because it alone gives the child air and food…. Modern educational philosophy gruesomely insults our God and our Christ. How, then, do you expect to build anything positively Christian or theistic upon a foundation which is the negation of Christianity and theism?…. No teaching of any sort is possible except in Christian schools.”
Moreover, the system itself is funded by virtual theft. Homeowners are forced under threat of the loss of their property to pay for the education of other people’s children. How is that appropriate? The government tells everyone that they have to send their children to school, then tells homeowners that they are going to be the ones to foot the bill whether they like it or not. Not only is this a form of welfare, it is also a form of theft.
For those of you ready to read me the riot act and yell and scream about paying for roads and bridges, hold on a minute. Why is it that we get all up-in-arms about our tax dollars being used to fund abortions (while our opponents make the roads and bridges argument), but we don’t see this one? Our schools are morally repugnant. They are also neo-Marxist, secular humanist indoctrination centers. Why should I as a Christian be forced to pay for children to have every vestige of Christianity beaten out of them? Americans are not forced to pay for Mormon schools, or Muslim schools; why should we be forced to pay for neo-Marxist schools (remember, all education is religious in nature)? And why should any Christian contribute to such a system by sending their children to such schools at the expense of others? And before you yell, “I’m just using the tax dollars I spent,” ask yourself if you’re willing to take advantage of all that abortion funding going to Planned Parenthood, or those tax dollars going toward fetal stem cell research.
2. GOVERNMENT EDUCATION IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN
“I am as sure as I am of Christ’s reign that a comprehensive and centralized system of national education, separated from religion, as is now commonly proposed, will prove the most appalling enginery for the propagation of anti-Christian and atheistic unbelief, and of anti-social nihilistic ethics, individual, social and political, which this sin-rent world has ever seen.”
-A.A. Hodge
Jesus made it quite clear when he said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30 ESV) I am amazed at how many Christians refuse to acknowledge this fact as it relates to the government school system. Our education is either based on biblical truth, or some other truth. There is no such thing as neutrality in this regard. All education is religious in nature. Since it is illegal for students in our government schools to be taught from a Christian perspective, then it follows that they must be taught from a non (or anti) Christian perspective.
As Hodge pointed out, the result of non-Christian education is anti-Christian education. Government schools must be anti-Christian. They can be nothing else. Therefore, to send a child to a government school is to have them trained in an anti-Christian environment for 14,000 instructional hours. To get that much instruction from church a child would have to attend two hours a week for one hundred and forty years!
1. THE BIBLE COMMANDS CHRIST-CENTERED EDUCATION
“This whole process of education is to be religious, and not only religious, but Christian…. And as Christianity is the only true religion, and God in Christ the only true God, the only possible means of profitable education is the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
-Charles Hodge
I recognize that educational antinomianism is the norm in the modern American church. According to the common refrain, “It doesn’t matter what educational choice you make... you just have to pray about it and do what the Lord leads your family to do.” However, I must confess I find this this concept disturbing on a number of fronts. First, this kind of thinking denies the sufficiency of Scripture. The Bible speaks either directly, or principially to every aspect of life. There are no grey areas. Sure, there are things that are difficult to discern, but education is not one of them. Though you won’t find the word ‘education’ in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, there are a number of passages that speak directly to the issue of training ourselves and our children intellectually, spiritually, philosophically and morally (See Deut. 6:6,7; Prov. 1:7; Eph. 6:4, etc). We also have numerous warnings against allowing others to influence us intellectually, spiritually, philosophically, and morally (Psalm 1; Rom. 12:1,2; 2 Cor. 6:14ff; Col. 2:8, etc.).
Second, this line of reasoning smacks of mysticism. Instead of making an argument with an open Bible we dismiss all opposition with the flippant, trite, overused, and theologically problem-laden phrase, “we prayed about it and this is what the Lord told us to do.” The lord ‘has spoken’. (Heb. 1:1-2) We are not awaiting new revelation. Instead of doing what the Lord ‘told us’, Christians are commanded to do what the Lord ‘has told us’ in his Word. The London Baptist Confession speaks to this matter rather poignantly:
The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving Knowledge, faith and obedience; Although the light of Nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable [sic.]; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and His will, which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that His will unto his Church; and afterward for the better preserving, and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment, and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and of the World, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of Gods revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.
The Cambridge Declaration states:
We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured. We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian's conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience [i.e., “the Lord told me”] can ever be a vehicle of revelation.
There’s enough here for an entire series of posts (so many posts... so little time), but for now let me simply say that the “the Lord told me” line of argumentation has serious theological problems. We must make our educational decisions with an open Bible. “The Lord told me” is no substitute for “the Bible says...” Please don’t make a decision about your child’s education without consulting (and obeying) the Scriptures.
This week the SBC hornet’s nest is being stirred up again over the education issue. The last time this happened I was beyond embarrassed as I listened to my esteemed colleagues make illogical, unscriptural, cowardly arguments for “not giving up on ‘our’ schools.” How I long for voices like Hodge, Van Til, and Machen (who called government education a “soul-killing system”) to be heard among my brethren. However, with over eighty-five percent of our children in the government schools and more government school teachers and administrators than any other “denomination”, it is highly unlikely that our side will prevail on this issue any time soon. One wonders what the schools will have to do to our children before we are willing to acknowledge the folly of our choices. In the meantime, I will continue to watch, fight, and pray, and try to convince as many of you as I can to liberate your children from Caesar’s indoctrination camps.
I have quoted John Wesley on this issue in previous posts. However, his words are far too pertinent for me to ignore on this issue:
“Let it be remembered, that I do not speak to the wild, giddy, thoughtless world, but to those that fear God. I ask, then, for what end do you send you children to school? “Why, that they may be fit to live in the world.” In which world do you mean, — this or the next? Perhaps you thought of this world only; and had forgot that there is a world to come; yea, and one that will last for ever! Pray take this into your account, and send them to such masters as will keep it always before their eyes. Otherwise, to send them to school (permit me to speak plainly) is little better than sending them to the devil. At all events, then, send your boys, if you have any concern for their souls, not to any of the large public schools, (for they are nurseries of all manner of wickedness,) but private school, kept by some pious man, who endeavours to instruct a small number of children in religion and learning together.”
I can’t help but wonder if people called Wesley divisive or extremist for making the aforementioned comments. Perhaps not. Perhaps they simply said, “That may be right for you, but it’s not what the Lord told us to do.”
VB
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Earth Science in the Kitchen
Welcome to a science project. Micki is studying the earth and this cake shows the layers of the earth.
The center was hard almond bark because the inner core is solid.
Next level is the Outer Core. It's melted metals.
Next level is the Mantle which is melted rock.
The last level is the crust where we live.
We came up with a little sing-song to help remember:
Inner Core, Outer Core, Mantle, Crust, this are the levels of the earth I trust,
Inner Core, Outer Core, Mantle, Crust, you live here with the rest of us!
Not only was it a fun review, but it made a dessert for the Classical Conversations Back-to-School Picnic!
Great Journaling Resource
I knew we were going to journal with Micki since we were following a Classical education and I found this great resource.I found this at Wal-Mart. I think I remember that it was about $4.
As you can see, it's really awesome because each page a a space to write and illustrate. Right now, Micki just dictates and then illustrates. Eventually,
she'll do all the writing for herself. The journal is for K-2nd grade and I would agree with that. I just think it's really cool and wanted it to share.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
5 Ways to Organize Your High School Student
I thought these were great ideas not only for high school, but to start working on now.
From theoldschoolhousemagazine.com
It's never too early to begin gathering information about homeschooling through high school. Regardless of our children's future dreams and aspirations--whether they want to graduate and begin missionary work, own their own businesses, learn a trade, or attend college, for many homeschooling parents, homeschooling through high school seems daunting. However, with the impressive selection of high school curricula and resources on the market, the explosion of online classes, and the increasing overall support, homeschooling high school is not as tough as you think!
One mom shares her tips for organizing a high school student. Even if high school is still a few years off for your family, you'll want to keep this list as a reference.
_____________________________________________
5 Ways to Organize Your High School Student
by Susan Spann
1. Planner up! Make or give your student his or her own day planner, preferably one with hourly divisions. Let the student mark independent study time, and periodically transfer that record to your own master planner. Not only will your student learn to track and organize time, but an individual planner also fosters independence and responsibility.
2. Clock in, clock out-always have a clock about; Older students should have a clock or timepiece available in every room they use for school or study. Teach them to pay attention to the times they start and stop studying, as well as how much work they achieve in each session. Don't put inappropriate pressure or emphasis on speed; the timing technique is designed to help your student learn his or her standard pace and estimate the time required to complete a given task. Knowing this makes it easier to schedule time--a major component of an organized day!
3. Set Aside "My Space". Middle and high schoolers have more books, papers, and projects than elementary students, along with a growing need for personal space. Give your student a special place, separate from and inaccessible to younger siblings, to store books and other course work. A personal desk with cubbies or shelves works best, but creative solutions work too! Consider one shelf on a bookcase, a drawer in a filing cabinet, or even a milk crate turned sideways. Let your student organize and maintain the space in his or her own way. Encourage neatness, but leave room for your student to develop an individual method of organization.
4. Color Coordinate. Let your teen pick a color for each subject and mark or label related materials with matching colors. For example, if the English book has a blue cover, use a blue spiral notebook for essays and blue divider tabs to mark English assignments in three-ring binders (or a blue binder, if you have one for English alone). Removable colored stickers can also mark books, bindings, and folders.
5. Teach academic organization. Don't assume your teens automatically know how to organize! You taught them to clean their rooms--help them learn to clean their academic houses. Talk about using separate notebooks (or separate sections) for different subjects, and talk about keeping each subject's notes, flashcards, books, and tests together. Mixing everything up leads to confusion and costs precious minutes that could be spent in study--or recreation.
Bonus Tip: If your student has trouble figuring out how to highlight or underline important information in textbooks, consider the use of multiple colors to help with organization. For example, underline new words or definitions in red, critical facts in yellow, and important people or places in blue. Not only will this help your student focus on the kind of information he or she underlines, but finding the right passage is a snap the second time around! If you don't or can't permit writing on the pages, colored Post-it Notes serve the same purpose without creating permanent marks.
Susan Spann, Senior Contibuting WriterSusan Spann is a partner in the law firm Llewellyn Spann, where she specializes in copyright, trademark, and corporate law. Formerly a professor at Trinity Law School in Santa Ana, California, she currently teaches business law at William Jessup University. She blogs on legal issues from a Christian worldview at www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/SusanSpann.
From theoldschoolhousemagazine.com
It's never too early to begin gathering information about homeschooling through high school. Regardless of our children's future dreams and aspirations--whether they want to graduate and begin missionary work, own their own businesses, learn a trade, or attend college, for many homeschooling parents, homeschooling through high school seems daunting. However, with the impressive selection of high school curricula and resources on the market, the explosion of online classes, and the increasing overall support, homeschooling high school is not as tough as you think!
One mom shares her tips for organizing a high school student. Even if high school is still a few years off for your family, you'll want to keep this list as a reference.
_____________________________________________
5 Ways to Organize Your High School Student
by Susan Spann
1. Planner up! Make or give your student his or her own day planner, preferably one with hourly divisions. Let the student mark independent study time, and periodically transfer that record to your own master planner. Not only will your student learn to track and organize time, but an individual planner also fosters independence and responsibility.
2. Clock in, clock out-always have a clock about; Older students should have a clock or timepiece available in every room they use for school or study. Teach them to pay attention to the times they start and stop studying, as well as how much work they achieve in each session. Don't put inappropriate pressure or emphasis on speed; the timing technique is designed to help your student learn his or her standard pace and estimate the time required to complete a given task. Knowing this makes it easier to schedule time--a major component of an organized day!
3. Set Aside "My Space". Middle and high schoolers have more books, papers, and projects than elementary students, along with a growing need for personal space. Give your student a special place, separate from and inaccessible to younger siblings, to store books and other course work. A personal desk with cubbies or shelves works best, but creative solutions work too! Consider one shelf on a bookcase, a drawer in a filing cabinet, or even a milk crate turned sideways. Let your student organize and maintain the space in his or her own way. Encourage neatness, but leave room for your student to develop an individual method of organization.
4. Color Coordinate. Let your teen pick a color for each subject and mark or label related materials with matching colors. For example, if the English book has a blue cover, use a blue spiral notebook for essays and blue divider tabs to mark English assignments in three-ring binders (or a blue binder, if you have one for English alone). Removable colored stickers can also mark books, bindings, and folders.
5. Teach academic organization. Don't assume your teens automatically know how to organize! You taught them to clean their rooms--help them learn to clean their academic houses. Talk about using separate notebooks (or separate sections) for different subjects, and talk about keeping each subject's notes, flashcards, books, and tests together. Mixing everything up leads to confusion and costs precious minutes that could be spent in study--or recreation.
Bonus Tip: If your student has trouble figuring out how to highlight or underline important information in textbooks, consider the use of multiple colors to help with organization. For example, underline new words or definitions in red, critical facts in yellow, and important people or places in blue. Not only will this help your student focus on the kind of information he or she underlines, but finding the right passage is a snap the second time around! If you don't or can't permit writing on the pages, colored Post-it Notes serve the same purpose without creating permanent marks.
Susan Spann, Senior Contibuting WriterSusan Spann is a partner in the law firm Llewellyn Spann, where she specializes in copyright, trademark, and corporate law. Formerly a professor at Trinity Law School in Santa Ana, California, she currently teaches business law at William Jessup University. She blogs on legal issues from a Christian worldview at www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/SusanSpann.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
My start at blogging about homeschool
With all the wonderful homeschool blogsites available, I choose instead to do mine on Blogger. Since I have other blogs on this site, I just assumed that it would be easier. Also, I feel "unworthy" to really blog about homeschool since I'm not an expert schooling 7 children at once while developing my own curriculum and working on my own website and speaking at homeschool conventions.
So, I blog here. I plan to share some of my good ideas and finds, some awesome articles I occasionally come across, and Micki stories, of course.
Micki is currently 4 1/2...well, more like 4 3/4. She will be doing 1st grade work this year. Having a 4 3/4 year old doing 1st grade work has it's challenges since she's socially & emotionally at one level and academically at another. Thankfully, in the state of Missouri, you are not required to keep track of hours until the child is 7, so this will free me up to accomplish things in bite-size pieces for her and still get a 1st grade quality education.
We are going to teach Micki using the Classical model of education. The Well-Trained Mind is our inspiration and basic guideline, but if you know me, you know that I'm more than willing to adapt, edit, enrich, etc. to anything I teach.
Micki currently has or will have this extra-curricular activities: Classical Conversations, piano, ballet, and gymnastics. Classical Conversations and piano are the only two activities that I'm going to need to work around, but I think it will work.
So, I blog here. I plan to share some of my good ideas and finds, some awesome articles I occasionally come across, and Micki stories, of course.
Micki is currently 4 1/2...well, more like 4 3/4. She will be doing 1st grade work this year. Having a 4 3/4 year old doing 1st grade work has it's challenges since she's socially & emotionally at one level and academically at another. Thankfully, in the state of Missouri, you are not required to keep track of hours until the child is 7, so this will free me up to accomplish things in bite-size pieces for her and still get a 1st grade quality education.
We are going to teach Micki using the Classical model of education. The Well-Trained Mind is our inspiration and basic guideline, but if you know me, you know that I'm more than willing to adapt, edit, enrich, etc. to anything I teach.
Micki currently has or will have this extra-curricular activities: Classical Conversations, piano, ballet, and gymnastics. Classical Conversations and piano are the only two activities that I'm going to need to work around, but I think it will work.
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