I sit here today while it's pouring rain outside, and I have to confess to being in a rather contemplative mood. Days like this in England tend to turn everything grey anyway. Maybe the whole atmostphere is more conducive to meaningful cogitation, or maybe not. I really don't know. Over the past few days my thoughts have been centring on Christian home education in the United Kingdom--where is it going? what kind of testimony are we displaying? what do we hope to accomplish for our children and for our God?

I look at the USA that is probably 15-20 years ahead of us in the whole homeschooling exercise, and I now see that home educated children are, on average, years ahead of their peers. I see that the major universities are now aggressively recruiting home educated children because of their academic abilities, their character, and their habits of self-discipline overall. I see a generation of young leaders that are beginning to influence their respective fields and their world with a living testimony to the power of the message of the gospel of Christ. I see a Christian homeschool community that is rapidly growing because people are seeing the "proof in the pudding" when parents take responsibility for their childrens' education, life-purpose, and eternal destiny. Undoubtedly there are things still to be improved, and I know that everything isn't roses and daffodils, but overall the system seems to be working.  

Here in the UK there aren't so many Christian home educators. There aren't big networks and supportive homeschool communities on every corner. We seem to be fragmented, and many feel isolated and often discouraged. Many people that are home educating are doing it for what I call "negative" reasons rather than "positive" reasons. The biggest reason that people in England home educate is because their child has been bullied at school in some way. There are other similar reasons that indicate that parents haven't necessarily wanted to homeschool their child; they just don't want them in school any longer. This means there is no real sense of eternal value in their motivation.

I have to wonder, is it time for Christian home educators in the UK to start to give a positive lead? Is it time for us to get serious about the future of our children and how they can affect their family, their church, their neighbourhood, their world? Have we caught the vision that we can be preparing them to be lights of God's truth in this world that is increasingly looking more and more like the "techno-consumed dark ages"? Are we really considering our role as home educating parents as a call from God not only for our children but also for all those they will influence in their lifetime?

The positive impact of Christian home education is being seen in other places, so now I have to ask the question: Why not here in the UK? Why not among the Christian home educating community? Why not us? Why not now?