Slow Schooling Chapter Four
Defining what slow schooling IS
The One Thing That Matters
Friday, January 25, 2008
I know it is not within my power to choose for my children the path they will take when they are of age. And yet, they are currently entrusted to me. Will I give more thought to their clothing and physical health than to their spiritual well being? Will I be satisfied they ate their vegetables even if their Bible was not cracked open this day?
If we now know what slow schooling is NOT, then what IS it? Slow schooling IS about putting priorities in proper ordering, and purposes to put feet to the intangible and ever eluding desires of our soul. For Christians, the wretching cry of our hearts is for our children to come to repentance and salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, and everything else either streams from that very thought or else leads right back to it. Where we lose our footing is in trying to consider, “...and this is how this is accomplished....”
Salvation is from God alone, but that fact does not excuse us from the responsibilities--no, the unparalleled joy--in not only teaching our children the gospel, but in living it out in tangible ways in everyday life. Naturally, we fail at times in our endeavors, but the trajectory of our years and the witness others see ought to be an obvious growth in holiness and in a humble trust for God in the circumstances He has either lovingly chastened us with or allowed to sanctify us.
Thus, schooling at home, and slow schooling specifically, endeavors to seek first the kingdom of God. There are many practical outworkings we can point to, of which none ought to be done with a spirit of legalism or steeped in a pseudo-holy moralism. Instead, because we cherish Jesus Christ as precious to our souls, we long for others to know Him, also. This fervent desire is compounded by maternal or paternal love for the children in our care.
Prayerlessness is unthinkable for our children. Prayer daily for each child, for their salvation, for their growth, for any concerns or struggles there may be, can only be carried by the humble parent who understands that in all things, God is sovereign. God’s sovereignty is not an excuse not to pick up the armor we have been fitted for. Children seeing a parent in prayer, as well as hearing open prayers, learn not only the seriousness of living under a righteous God, but get to know His compassionate and lovingkindness as well when prayers are “coincidentally” answered.
Reading, and learning, the Holy Bible is also a key part of the slow schooling day. There was a time when our culture was quite literate in the scriptures, saint and sinner alike, and today we still use many proverbs and words borrowed from there in our everyday speech. Bible literacy among Christians today is appalling. There is a vast difference between revering the Bible and reading it, and Albert Mohler rightly quips, “We will not believe more than we know, and we will not live higher than our beliefs.” (1) Understanding this Book, and recognizing and seeing that it is ALL about Jesus, from Genesis to Revelation, is unequivocally what is most needed for any child to grow in wisdom and godliness. Furthermore, it relates the history of the world that has never been refuted by either science or archeological evidence. Not knowing the Bible is a great hinderance to life.
Slow schooling encourages the child to walk in the footprints of their parents. This is, of course, a stumbling block to many who think they are not well equipped to wear the boots their sons will want to later put on (we’ll address being qualified to teach in chapter 6). In any list you could possibly jot for the good of your children: to be happy, to love God, to serve others, to bring out their unique qualities...you must be the forerunner. Do you desire your child to love learning? Then, you must love learning as well. Do you desire your child to learn to run an orderly home? Then, you must endeavor to do likewise. The adverse, of course, is also true. If you desire your children to treat others with lovingkindness or to eshew gossip, then you must display those qualities as well. Cotton Mather once said, “Except you do yourselves walk in the way of the Lord, you will be very careless about bringing your children to such a walk.” Hypocrites do not raise the kinds of children they demand they become by their words.
Slow schooling not only allows for ministry and service to others, it is heart of the home. In the ebb and flow of the day, we learn to love one another by reading to a sibling, or allowing for the interruption of either a 4 year old wanting to “help” prepare a meal or a neighbor that stops by. For our family, it means we answer our telephone when it rings and open the door when there’s a knock.
Because character drives habit and practice, it is something we concern ourselves with in our slow school. You may be able to force a child to complete a year of US history, but if he isn’t humble enough to see himself in the broader context of what God is doing through nations, he not only won’t care about your history lessons, he will miss the obvious lessons that will continue throughout his lifetime as he sees (or, doesn’t see) how a nation rises and falls according to their responses to God and to His people. (2) And, of course, what happens in his own country will in due course affect him and his life greatly. So discipline is kindly meted out as needed, and repentance and restoration is expected. Forgiveness, concern for others, and a sound work ethic has its beginnings in the humble home.
Slow schooling is, by deliberation, slow. “(In Genesis) Adam took what looked like a shortcut to receive knowledge, and he gave up the relationship he had with God. Satan has never forgotten that man tends to sacrifice relationship with knowledge.” (3) Unfortunately, we are still sons of Adam and daughters of Eve (4) and today we are still sacrificing opportunities to cultivate relationships with our children for the alluring promises of moving up in the world by way of grade point averages and completed academic courses. We’ll address how “complete” those courses really are in chapter 5.
In making decisions regarding the education of our children, endeavoring to equip them with a biblical worldview ought to be front and center, secondary to all else. When the vast numbers of professing Christians believe things that are either simply not true or at worse, blasphemous, we ought to be sober minded in considering our ways in everything we have some semblance of choice or control in. (5) What may sound like common sense or feel reasonable in the current day of educating our children--whether away in another setting or even at home--we must remain vigilant to an eternal perspective.
Apr. 30, 2007
4:03 PM
Education of a Sheeple
I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong. But when I am an old woman, I am going to have fond memories of my daughter baking banana bread, my son building elaborate Lego creations, my two young daughters “reading” piles of books on their beds, and the baby chasing after balls that tease across the floor. Education is not the totality of life; it is a tool that is honed and polished as we walk along the way with our children, discipling them and teaching them what is truly important. All we like sheep have gone astray, but it is so good to find the narrow gate by which the Shepherd calls. And that doesn’t take a PhD.
1. Sept 1 2016 http://www.albertmohler.com/2016/01/20/the-scandal- of-biblical-illiteracy-its-our-problem-4/
I am deeply indebted to Ruth C. Haycock and her series of books Encyclopedia of Bible Truths for helping me to make the crucial connections between each academic discipline and God’s Word.
Home Education and the Clash of Two Worldviews, Tom Eldredge
terms used by C.S. Lewis in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Sept 1 2016 http://standupforthetruth.com/2016/02/what-do-many-professing-christians-really-believe/
If you’re looking for a simpler, more purposeful life outside of the rule of technology, perhaps you can glean from my experimentations in seeking a more present life. Learn more about the book (and how to get it) by clicking on its image.
