World view

Some of you out there who might read our post a few weeks ago regarding homeschooling our kids might be surprised, or even horrified, that we don't mention any of the pros/cons of homeschooling as regards our Christian faith and our theocentric (dare I say Jesus-Centric?) world view.  Indeed, I suppose that faith is often a or even the reason to - or not to - homeschool.  As Christians, we process everything - what we eat, do, wear, spend money and time on, read, learn, watch on TV, listen to on the radio etc - through the lens of faith, and whether or not said item in consideration "fits"....  Certainly the public school does not share this point of view, and certainly, homeschooling allows us to teach our perspective and from that world view at every turn.  But again, we have been blessed with schools that do not antagonize us.  We do not suffer from teachers ridiculing our kids, or us, for what we believe.  Granted, much of what they learn at school is saturated with thinking and a world view with which we are not in agreement.  Some folks would say that allowing our kids to attend school abdicates our parental responsibility to "nurture our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord."  Suffice it to say that (obviously) we do not share that point of view.  Here goes my attempt to share our "philosophy" if it can be called that.

We are very actively teaching our kids about God, the Bible, Jesus, and our world view.  We are engaged with them and what they are learning.  Everything, whether learned in a book they borrow from the library, to what they are learning in Sunday school, to what their AWANA books say, to what they learn in the classroom is worthy of discussion and gives us an opportunity to engage with them and instruct them from our world view, with what the Bible says, and how it fits with God's purpose for us, according to the Bible.  Frankly, and honestly, we make no claim to succeeding - only that we try to do it.  We talk with them daily about what they do at school, what they are thinking, about their relationships, their concerns, and their lives in general.   This we do, daily.  We're probably better at this than we are at reading our Bibles.  It's a saturation thing.  We love to be together, and we discuss current events and newspaper headlines as much as we discuss Romans or Daniel or Genesis.  And we tie all of it together.  Newtown, CT?  Sin, self-control, trust, patience, law vs. grace, what is and isn't legal, God and his character, especially his sovereignty and love, mental illness, what makes us secure vs. not secure ... it all came up in some form, and then some.  Ice jams close the road? Patience, traffic patterns, and the politics of new roads (and what we value and what God thinks of that, per se).  That verse you're memorizing for Awana? (pick any one at random)  What is it saying? Tell me about the grammar (verb, subject...).  What does it say about God, you, Jesus?  Depending on the verse, do you see this (around you...), how does it relate to (what you've already learned, seen, that thing we studied last week in science or literature or whatever)?  I guess my point is we talk.  We walk.  We talk some more.  We know our kids.  Education is happening at home all the time.  And it will no matter where or how we choose to school our kids.   And their instruction in their (our) faith happens right alongside and is part of, entwined in, intertwined with, and inseparable from their education.  Why learn grammar?  Cause without it the Bible is incomprehensible.  That is a really high quality adjective.  Why learn to write?  Because if you can't write, how will you express what you think, about anything, most particularly, about what you do/don't believe, to anyone, anywhere, for any reason?  Why learn math?  Because the God of the universe made it work that way  - incredibly detailed and logical, and wow, isn't he amazing?  (He created math, that is amazingly amazing in and of itself, and blows my circuits).  Our poor kids get this day in day out about everything.  I mean everything.   From music to science to housecleaning.  So don't worry, we didn't forget about world view.  We don't actually think about it separately or compartmentalize it in any way because we live it, 24/7/365, wherever we are, whatever we do, and we know it, and so I think do our kids.