Home Schools moving to
Separation of Church and State?
More and more we, at
Bridgeway Homeschool Academy are hearing
homeschooling parents state that they no longer want Biblical teaching
in their curriculum. Citing such reasons as, “They get enough at
church,” or “We don’t want them to be turned off by it,” or “It gets in
the way of the academics,” homeschooling parents are turning their backs
on Christian education.
Why are we concerned?
Although we can now provide non-biblical home
school curriculum to all ages, we are very concerned that the choice to
take the Bible out of the Christian home school will be a huge mistake!
Your home does not need to be subject to
separation of church and state!
Spend some time with your child’s peers—those who
are educated in a public school system with a secular curriculum. Ask
them some of the basics—when was the earth created? When were the
dinosaurs roaming the earth? What were some of the miracles of Jesus?
Is the Bible true?
I guarantee you will be very surprised at what you
hear!! Recently, I started working with my daughter’s fifth grade
Sunday School class—most of whom have been in my church since birth.
Through this class, my eyes have been significantly opened to the
reality of how little these kids are getting from the church! Despite
Sunday School, Wednesday night classes, children’s choir, and a ton of
children’s programs, these kids are not nearly as grounded as what I
would have expected.
And I attend a very strong evangelical church—one
that has a real heart for the children!
Do not let your child be one of these!
If you are one of the parents who are considering
taking the Bible out of your homeschooling program, I urge you to
reconsider! Do not let your child be one of the many who just don’t
know the basics of why we believe what we believe!
Our Bible-based curriculum is not just a
presentation of Biblical truths. It is application! How does what you
are learning relate to your Christian walk? How does the Law of
Thermodynamics support a created universe? Why are honesty, integrity,
and kindness so important? How does the digestion process of a sheep
tie in with our needs as Christians?
All of these and so much more can be found in
our Biblical curriculum. And you are not sacrificing academics!
A recent New York
Times article evaluates the fear among evangelicals that we are losing
our teenagers. In fact, according to their forecasts, “only 4 percent
of teenagers will be ‘Bible-believing Christians’ as adults!” Although
there is much debate about the statistics, evangelical leaders agree
that there is a huge risk of losing our teenagers.
We are the first
generation of parents coming out of the widespread Christian education
and homeschooling movements of the 70’s and 80’s. We have been grounded
in the word and it did not come strictly from our churches. Our
training was built into our education at home and at school. Let’s not
be the end of the trend. We need to carry that same Biblical teaching
on to our children!
Don’t leave it to the Sunday School and the
Youth Group.
We are responsible
to train up our child in the way he should go and the promise that
follows is that “when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs
22:6) The Bible does not say to let the church train up a child—it says
we are to train up a child. The church supports us and can even lead us
in this endeavor, but we cannot ignore our own responsibility!
For those of you
who are still a little unsure about whether you want a
Christian home
school curriculum, let me make another recommendation. Consider
providing at least one Bible-based course each year. Using a content
course such as Science or Social Studies combines the academic training
with Biblical truth and Christian character building.
You will never
regret providing a Biblical world and life view to your children. But
there are many who do regret failing to do so—please don’t be one of
them!
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Jessica Parnell is a former high
school teacher and the Director of
Bridgeway Homeschool Academy. She has a passion for
homeschooling and a desire to provide the best homeschooling options to
parents and students all across the globe.
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