Why Homeschool?

My brother Shad recently included an interview with Joe Musser in Shad's newsletter, S Layne Review. He posted it on his blog. It was so good, I just had to share it with you!

Joe Musser is an elder at Columbia First Church of God. He is the father of eight children, all of whom are or will be home schooled. Here is the interview which answers common questions about homeschooling:

Shad Eash: Mr. Musser, thank you for agreeing to be interviewed.

Joe Musser: It’s a pleasure.

SE: Why did you and your wife choose home schooling over the government public schools or even Christian Schools?

JM: Both of us believe that the Bible requires parents to not only teach their children about God and His Word, but also to train them to be disciplined and give them the tools they need to learn to read and write, to study, understand, and persuade others about ways God works in His Creation. We also believe that God intends this instruction to occur within the family. Take a look at Deuteronomy 6:7, “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” That’s pretty life-encompassing. You have to squint really hard at that text to find wiggle room for sending your children off to spend a majority of their waking hours outside the family. If you couple that text with Psalm 1:2, “but his delight is in the law of the LORD and in His law he meditates day and night,” you have the method we believe God designed to lay a foundation for our children to follow Him throughout their lives.

SE: Why do you think home schooling is the Biblical Standard for Education?

JM: Throughout the Old Testament, the Israelites were instructed to teach God’s laws as well as His work in their history to their children and grandchildren. Examples include the instructions given for parents to annually recount their flight from Egypt in Exodus 12:26, the instructions in Deuteronomy 4, 6 and 11 to teach God’s law throughout the daily home routine, and the recounting of God’s deeds for Israel in Psalm 78.

There is also evidence of the trouble which comes from the advice of peers, such as Rehoboam’s decision to oppress his people, agreeing with his young friends against the advice of his father’s advisors in 1 Kings 12. Proverbs 1-8 repeatedly warns young men against reckless, immoral influences and repeatedly commands them to heed their fathers’ and mothers’ teaching.

Home education is clearly supported by the principles throughout the Bible as a whole. The Bible describes God’s design for the family, the church and the government, but the Bible does NOT make mention of education outside the home. In fact, the people of God in the Old and New Testaments are encouraged not to be polluted by the godless world’s influence (Exodus 34:16; Joshua 23:12-13; 1 Kings 11:2; Ezra 9:2; 2 Corinthians 6:14; James 1:27). I cannot think of any better way to allow the world to influence our families or our churches than by giving up our children to the world’s educational system for their formative years.

SE: Can only two-parent families home school?

JM: Any family can home school. That is not to gloss over the challenges a single parent faces. Single parents have difficult challenges, but none that the Lord has not fore-known, and none that He cannot provide for. This becomes an issue of faith--if you believe home schooling to be God’s will, you can trust that he will enable you to do it. He will provide not only the finances, but help you manage your time and plan your course of study as well.

I believe the church should make it a priority to enable single parents to home school. The church cannot afford to give up any child to the government schools. Statistics show that upwards of 70% of children who attend such schools do not remain part of the church when they are older.

Single parents are not the only ones to wonder if home schooling is for them. Many couples ask, “Don’t we both have to go to work all day to make ends meet?” Again, it’s a faith issue. Does God command you both to go out and earn a living? Does God command you to teach and train your children? I think of the words Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and scribes concerning Corban in Mark 7:9-13: “Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. . . and many such like things do ye.”

SE: But doesn’t sending the children off to school prepare them for the real world?

JM: Absolutely not! Today’s schools are even less effective at this task than ever. Studies show that basic skills learned in a school system are not greater than those that can be learned in the home. Your home, the church and the families and activities you approve for your children are healthier places to learn to get along with other people than in a school classroom.

In addition, I believe that as more Christians reject the traditional school model, more Christians will also begin questioning the assumptions of the Industrial Revolution. The more we seek to make the home our center of education, the more we may find this vision is at odds with the expectations of an industrialized society. This logically results in a desire to make the home a center of industry as well, since the father who works from home is more available to disciple his family. The state school system and our industrialized society support each other, but at the expense of the family. The school system may prepare our children to fit into this world, but we want to prepare them to challenge it and if it is in the will of God, to reform it.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

SE: Aren’t there some good teachers in the public schools and Christian schools and wouldn’t it be beneficial for the child to learn from them?

JM: There are some excellent teachers in both schools--Christians who love the children they teach. I have a deep respect for Christians willing to work within the school system for the children’s sake and willing also to be persecuted for their faith. This does not mean that it would be best for me to send my children to such a school.

There are many teachers in each school. Even if you vetted (to subject to high examination) every teacher and student your child would meet (which would be impossible), it is still your responsibility, not your neighbor’s, to teach and train your children.

There are three common elements that you’ll find in the backgrounds of the most successful people. The first is supportive parents–no surprise there. The other elements are very limited interaction with peers and very limited exposure to television. This is exactly the opposite of the upbringing most modern American children are receiving. We simply do not believe that it’s God’s design for children to spend most of their waking hours with large groups of their peers.

[What makes a school “Christian” anyway? Is the institution trusting Christ for salvation, or have all its participants been saved by grace? No matter how much Bible you add to a flawed system, you’re going to reap the consequences of those flaws.]

SE: What if there is something you want your child to learn that you don’t know yourself? Would it be alright in that instance for a child to be sent to a class or have a tutor?

JM: Of course, no parent is going to be well-versed in every discipline. But at a young age, your children simply need to know the basics that every parent can teach them. From the beginning stage of training them to sit still, listen carefully and follow instructions to the elementary or grammar stage of learning how to read and write and do their math, I think any parent can teach their children.

Often an older child who has mastered the basics is self-motivated to read texts and research in order to study beyond what his parents could teach. Still, there may be times an older student may need a tutor or to join a class. When this happens, the parent should continue to ask good questions and review what is being taught. Even having hired a tutor, the education remains the parent’s responsibility, primarily the father’s as the God-ordained head of the family.

Often the source of self-doubt in homeschoolers is caused by a role reversal where the mother is carrying the burden that was meant for the father’s shoulders. Most home school mothers we know feel that they are the ones who are responsible for the success or failure of their children’s education. This is a serious departure from God’s design for a wife to be a helper to support her husband’s vision and leadership. Therefore, many of them feel they are failing as they attempt a task for which they were not designed. The father must decide his family’s educational philosophy, approve curriculum, schedules, and progress, be ready to teach, and handle the accountability to authorities. He and his wife can decide which of them is best suited for any given element of the educational process, but the buck stops with the man. Many families’ home schooling is not reaching its potential because the fathers are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to take on their responsibility. Here, too, it is an issue of trust. If God gave us this responsibility, he will enable us to carry it out when the time comes.

SE: I understand there has been some researching done on the learning “volume” for boys and girls. Would you care to fill us in on that?

JM: Andrew Pudewa first presented this information to me at a teacher training seminar. The research was done by Leonard Sax, MD, who wrote of his findings in the book Why Gender Matters. In this book, Sax promotes separate classrooms for boys and girls. Before his study, only four school systems in the US were so segregated. Now, I understand there are approximately 400 such school systems.

Almost all boys do not hear as well as girls. At birth, as babies’ hearing is tested, the girls can hear sounds 3 times softer than boys. By the age that the studies can map brainwaves, the girls are hearing sounds 10 times softer. So a teacher who speaks in tones favorable to the girls in her class will find the boys have not heard her. And if she alters her tone to be effective with the boys, some of the girls may be stressed and emotional because of the perceived shouting. Other differences between the genders include vision (boys’ and girls’ eyes are actually created differently), response to stress, the room temperature at which they learn best, and the effect of pain. Even in a home school setting, such studies can help us to understand some of the differences in the way God wired each gender so that we teach more effectively.

SE: What would you say to someone considering home schooling?

JM: As a parent, there is no better opportunity for you to instill godly values and truth into your children than to choose to home school. Each child God blesses you with is made in His image and specifically gifted for the work He eventually plans for that child to do. God has given you the responsibility of helping to prepare them for this work. No school system is going to accomplish this task. By home schooling, you are cooperating with God’s design for discipling, teaching, and training that is perfectly suited to your child.

This will be an opportunity to increase in faith. The Bible teaches it is God’s plan for you to teach your children. And when you pray for God’s will to be done, you know He will answer “yes.” So pray believing that every difficulty you face has been foreseen by your Father in Heaven, and that He will provide the direction, resources, and ability you’ll need. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”

The hardest criticism you may face may come from your own family or a friend you dearly love, but you do not answer to them for the education of your child. The logistical challenges may also seem daunting, but you are not alone in your efforts. The home school movement is growing, and you may find some experienced friends to help you. There are many excellent resources available. I have found that God often sends us direction in the form of counsel or reading recommendations from another believer at precisely the time it is needed.

SE: Thank you Mr. Musser for your time.

JM: And thank you for inviting me to speak out about such a vital subject.