Home education - a testimony

My wife Carol and I would like to share with you some of our experience as a home-educating family. No lifestyle is of real worth unless it puts God's word into practice (Matthew 7.21-27). We would ask readers to evaluate what we say by Scripture.

We were married in 1970 in our early 20s and, on returning from our honeymoon, we listened to some tapes from a recent conference dealing with marriage and family issues.

The speaker's theme was: 'Make sure that you base your marriage and family not on tradition (Christian peer pressure), not on pragmatism (what seems to work), but on Scripture'. This was a thrill to us because, as young Christians who had recently been baptised, we had been taught that those who trust God's Word will be blessed.

Before our marriage, we had spent some time looking into the Bible to find what instructions God has for husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, etc. To our joy, we were discovering that we had a wise heavenly Father who had left no area of life without principles to guide us (2 Timothy 3.16,17). On one of the tapes the speaker had drawn attention to Ephesians 6.4: 'Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord'(RSV). As we considered this, we noted God's clear requirement that the upbringing (i.e. education) of our children was to be 'of the Lord'.

Thinking seriously

This started us thinking seriously about our responsibility if the Lord should give us children. After a few years we had reached the conclusion that we should try to mould our children's education by God's word in every aspect - in breadth of content, discipline and in the standards and example set.

We had grown up in the British education system and had assumed that it was neutral. But when we actually examined both the academic and hidden curricula of our own schooling in the 1950s and 60s, they fell far short of education pleasing to God. If Romans 1.18-32 was true, the education provided by the average school in the UK provoked God's wrath, not his pleasure. The education my wife and I had received 'did not like to retain God in its knowledge' (see Romans 1.28). The God of the Bible was excluded or sidelined, and his word treated as largely irrelevant to school life and study, even at the infants stage.

The indoctrination received from our schooling did not stop the Lord saving us, in his mercy. But we did not want to subject our children to an education even more God-rejecting than ours had been. One passage which helped me early on was John 10, which describes the love of the Good Shepherd. The chapter vividly shows that the Good Shepherd will never give his sheep into the care of wolves. I wanted to follow his example with the 'lambs' that he had assigned to my care and protection.

Education at home

Did the Lord Jesus want me to give my little children into the care of enemies of God for six hours a day, five days a week?

Non-Christians are by definition enemies of God [Romans 5.10] and Romans 1 shows that the rejection of God's common grace leads to its progressive removal from society and therefore its education.)

And to subject them to a humanistic curriculum which was odious to God in its failure to glorify him?

I couldn't bring myself to do it. Especially in the light of passages like Matthew 18. 5-9. The only way I could face these verses was to resolve never to willingly subject my children to error and to give them an education as Christ-centred as I could make it.

We tried, by God's help, to start fulfilling this obligation as soon as each child was born. When 'statutory school age' was reached, we simply continued the on-going educational process 'otherwise than at school' (the 1944 Education Act allowed for this).

We tried to take seriously Jesus's words: 'Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them' (Mark 10.14 NIV). We encouraged each child to 'come' to Christ by stirring up an interest in the real world that God had created and in the teaching of God's Word (according to age and aptitude).

Conversely, we didn't want to 'hinder' the little child by confusing his mind with fantasy and ideas not in line with God's Word. An infant's mind is trusting and undiscerning. We wanted to fill it with the Truth to help the child grow up with a mind able, by God's grace, to discern truth from error and choose what pleases God.

In trying to please God ourselves, we often included the children in family decisions, explaining the biblical reasons for family policies and activities. As the children grew older, we were able to teach discernment of what they were observing in the world or reading about in their studies. They did not grow up ignorant of other viewpoints, but they were taught about them in the light of God's Word.

Materials

One of the first Bible books to become familiar to each child was Genesis. Through this, the children were taught the universality of sin. Sin affected daily family life: corporal discipline formed part of their training (as in Proverbs).

An essential aspect was the family's active involvement in a local evangelical church. This had many benefits. Through church fellowship and family contacts, the children learned to relate to people from a variety of ages, nationalities and backgrounds.

For the children's studies we used readily available British textbooks, etc. and some American Christian material. There was much help and provision along the way, for which we thank God. At age 16, they attended local colleges to study for A-levels. Of our six children, two have not yet completed their studies; one is doing A-levels and the other at university. The other four have successfully followed careers of their own choosing after gaining degrees where necessary.

Jesus said that to be saved from hell is more important than gaining the whole world. This is our greatest desire for each child. We can summarise our prayers to the Lord in one sentence: 'Please have mercy on the children and make each one your servant.' We have found much encouragement in Scripture to expect a positive answer to our request. Although the children are 'of like passions' and as sinful as their parents, over the years there has been much to praise God for. Each is a baptised Christian, active in his or her local evangelical church.

Would we have done things differently if we had a second chance? Yes, some things. There have been mistakes and sins, as in other areas of life. As we look back, however, we are very grateful for many blessings and God's patience and gentleness over the years.

We hope this brief account is of some encouragement to other parents. A few years ago Carol wrote a more detailed account in a booklet entitled, '20 Years of Home Teaching'. We would be happy to send a copy of this to anyone interested.*

Steve Sherwood
* Steve and Carol Sherwood, 123 Claremont Road, Forest Gate, London E7 0PY.

© Evangelicals Now - October 1999
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