Home-school or Public-school. Just say those words to a group of moms and you can be sure there will be plenty of discussion and debate.
As a mom you make lots of choices for your kids. And where they will go to school is one of the biggest. There are lots of points that make sense on both sides of the issue.
But there’s a point that I’d like to make that you may not have considered or maybe never even heard before.
First let me just say that education is super important. Kids don’t come pre-programed. That’s why God created the roles and responsibilities of parents. We all naturally want our kids to learn and grow and be wise adults that do good things. So how they are educated and where really does make a difference.
Heres are some thoughts I’d like to toss to as you consider your children education.
What’s The Goal?
It’s true that education is important. But what is the main goal of education? Learning and growing in knowledge? Seems like the right answer. But if our goal is to raise wise children then that answer is incorrect.
Truth: Knowledge does not equal Wisdom. There is a difference and that difference is important.
Knowledge: the accumulation of information, the expanding of the ability to learn, think and process that information.
Wisdom: the application of that information. The “how to use the knowledge” and the “why behind the knowledge” and “is the knowledge wise to use at all.”
These are super important definitions to understand. Because without understanding the difference between knowledge and wisdom children, your children, are at risk of never getting any wisdom.
Therefore, you can homeschool them thinking they are gaining knowledge but they never become wise. Or You could put them in the public school system and assume they are getting wisdom and be totally wrong because they are receiving the worlds wisdom about the knowledge they are learning. And that doesn’t always equal God’s wisdom.
Point: Either place can produce children with knowledge and no wisdom. Yikes! So how to get wisdom? We don’t have far to find the answer. God tells us.
The Bible is full of information about wisdom. I’ll list some scriptures for you to study at the end of this post. But I think Proverbs 4: 5-9 is the clearest. As I was studying the scriptures on this I started laughing at the repetition of His words. He’s really clear on this.
Proverbs 4:5-9
Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn
away from the words of my mouth. Wisdom is the principal thing;
Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.
Bottom line: Wisdom comes from understanding, grasping, comprehending and knowing how to apply what God says concerning how we should live and what brings success.
Concluding that ALL SCHOOLING OPTIONS are lacking if they do not incorporate and finish the teaching about a piece of knowledge or topic with what God says about it.
Nothing is complete until we take it to what I call “The God Finish.” Answering questions like: What does God say about it? How does it match His character or attributes? etc.
It is only then that true wisdom can be found.
Where is this wisdom obtained?
When God tells us to get wisdom He isn’t saying take more courses. Wisdom unlike knowledge isn’t obtained by tuition fees, standardized tests or a seminary degree. But rather it’s the daily gathering of what God says about the knowledge you are learning that brings wisdom.
God was very clear in His plan that the teaching of wisdom was to come from His word through the role of the parents. He even told us how to do it.
Deuteronomy 6:7 is one place that gives us insight into how to teach wisdom to our kids.
“Repeat them again and again to your children.
Talk about them when you are at home and when
you are on the road, when you are going to bed
and when you are getting up.”
Matt 7:24 talks about how to build a home that teaches wisdom.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of
mine and puts them into practice is like
a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
That means day in and day out within family in the home wisdom is dispensed. Whenever you are together taking moments to complete their learning no matter where they obtained it, by showing them God’s truth and wisdom in things.
It’s your job.
It seems that God never intended that parents be content with their children only receiving knowledge. Whether it is done in the home or down the street in a public building.
Here’s a humorous thought and My BIG POINT>
God intended for every child to be homeschooled. And as parents we have the high honor and responsibility to be the ones who are the teachers of His wisdom. Yes, it is in the home that knowledge wherever it was gotten from, is completed or discarded through the light of God’s word.
So whether you homeschool knowledge into your children or you send them to the public school in your neighborhood, I hope you will complete their education by homeschooling them in the things of God, His virtues and His Son. For it is when they have that they will truly have wisdom.
Hugs,
Mona
P.S. Here are the scriptures for you to read on wisdom. My favorite is Proverbs 14:1. Here’s more: Proverbs 19:8, Romans 12:2, Proverbs 4:8, Proverbs 3:13, Proverbs 8:32-36, Proverbs 9:10, Colossians 1:9, Proverbs 16:16, Deut 4:5-6, Matt 7:24, Proverbs 11:2
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