By Kim Wolf
Deut. 6: 6 & 7 – “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
Ah, yes. The “homeschool verse.” Nearly every homeschooler has heard, quoted or written this verse. Walk into most homeschool homes and you are likely to find it somewhere – on a cross stitch or a plaque on the wall to a bookmark in a well-worn Bible.
But why is this verse so special to homeschool families? Because it reminds parents that God has specifically given us the responsibility of impressing His teachings and His commands upon the hearts of our children – HIS children. Not a stranger in the building down the street, not even their Sunday School teacher or our pastors.
There’s something special, something lovely and spiritual about the bond between parents and their children. God has instilled this relationship of love between us because He expects parents and children to spend huge chunks of the day with each other. This was the way it was from the beginning. What better way to spend the day than with those that you love? Who better to learn from than someone who loves you like no other and wants the very best for you?
As the numbers of homeschoolers grow it is more and more apparent that parents are coming to this realization as well. Jesus said, “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” (Luke 6:40) Mike Farris, of HSLDA, put it this way, “Your children will become the disciples of the person with whom they spend the majority of their time and from whom they receive instruction. If they spend the majority of their time with their peers, they will become disciples of their peers. We call it peer pressure. Should we be surprised when a substantial number of children from solid, believing, Christian homes reject their parents’ faith and embrace the life styles and philosophy of the people by whom they have been discipled?”
I see this happening so often. The justification I hear for Christians sending their children off to a public school is that they want their children to be witnesses for Christ. Fine. So do I. But I can find no place in Scripture when God tells someone to send their children out to evangelize. That task is left to mature Christians.
Yes, I know about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. But they were captives in a foreign land. They had no choice. BUT – by God’s grace they had come from a godly home and obviously had been “homeschooled” in the Scriptures before their captivity. They were forced by that foreign government to learn the ways of that culture, but their childhood training gave them the godly foundation to stand upon as young men. Because of their faithfulness to God, God was faithful to them and caused the hearts of many to be turned to Himself – including the king!
Oh, that our children will stand strong for the Lord when they are making their own way in our fallen world because we were faithful to His call. Deut. 6: 6 & 7 – “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
Ah, yes. The “homeschool verse.” Nearly every homeschooler has heard, quoted or written this verse. Walk into most homeschool homes and you are likely to find it somewhere – on a cross stitch or a plaque on the wall to a bookmark in a well-worn Bible.
But why is this verse so special to homeschool families? Because it reminds parents that God has specifically given us the responsibility of impressing His teachings and His commands upon the hearts of our children – HIS children. Not a stranger in the building down the street, not even their Sunday School teacher or our pastors.
There’s something special, something lovely and spiritual about the bond between parents and their children. God has instilled this relationship of love between us because He expects parents and children to spend huge chunks of the day with each other. This was the way it was from the beginning. What better way to spend the day than with those that you love? Who better to learn from than someone who loves you like no other and wants the very best for you?
As the numbers of homeschoolers grow it is more and more apparent that parents are coming to this realization as well. Jesus said, “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” (Luke 6:40) Mike Farris, of HSLDA, put it this way, “Your children will become the disciples of the person with whom they spend the majority of their time and from whom they receive instruction. If they spend the majority of their time with their peers, they will become disciples of their peers. We call it peer pressure. Should we be surprised when a substantial number of children from solid, believing, Christian homes reject their parents’ faith and embrace the life styles and philosophy of the people by whom they have been discipled?”