If you have read this blog for any amount of time, you have undoubtedly heard and seen enough of the legacy of our public school system. Over the past year, I have been perplexed, astounded, horrified and utterly dumbfounded at the audacity of a failing system to continue in its way... with all the pride of a naked peacock. Reminds me of The Emperor's New Clothes.

I know, I know. I just do not understand. I have heard over and over the sob stories of a lack of teachers. They don't get paid enough.  Then there is the lack of funding for the schools themselves. Then there is the fact that parents are unwilling. And, of course, the students are to blame, because, after being trained in the public school system for so many years, they lack the decency it takes to treat another human being with kindness, respect or even just walking away from a fight. Those poor administrators. Those poor teachers. Those poor parents. Those poor children. What many homeschooling critics forget is that most homeschool parents were raised in a public school setting. We know what goes on there. Or we did. Now it is so much worse, I would be embarrassed to go to the schools myself, let alone send children I am trying to raise to be respectable adults there.

From children who lack the integrity to buck a system that admonishes them to lie to their parents  to parents who orchestrate idiocy and bullying to teachers who allow immorality and sexually abuse students... How far is far enough? How long will you send your children to this pit of moral decay? Until there is a stripper in your 16 year-old child's face in his or her classroom? What if they had been 10 year-olds? Why wait until the damage has already been done? Not to mention the question of the cleanliness of schools these days. Why not heed all of the stories and bring your children home?

So, what is the greatest danger to your child being schooled and trained in such a place - or in any setting outside of your home? Hands down, it is that you will lose their hearts. Period. Will you still be friends? Yes, more than likely. Will they stop coming home and get into drugs and get pregnant out of wedlock? Possibly. I am not talking about all of that. I am talking about keeping their hearts. Their hearts. The single thing God wants. The single thing that will keep them under your wings and your influence and not their teachers' and their peers'.

Deuteronomy 11:13
And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

Joshua 22:5
But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Is it any wonder that every single Commandment is absent in the public school system? Can you see what that says? God wants our hearts. He will not have their hearts if we parents to whom He gave these children do not have their hearts. Is it any wonder the things that happen in a system that is riddled with sin and devoid of God's Commandments? How on earth are children to even know right from wrong? Right and wrong are relevant, aren't they?

We have twenty-five year-old teachers running away with sixth graders - a thirteen year-old... she has his heart; his parents do not. Her heart no longer belongs to her parents either, obviously. This is not new. None of this is new. School murders are not new. Immorality is not new. A new definition of immorality is not new.  Legislating morality is not new. The atheist agenda is not new.

2 Chronicles 7 

14If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  15Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.

19But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;  20Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them;

Parents are being removed from the picture by slick legislators, and the children and families are paying the price. You are paying the price. America is paying the price. The NEA has the audacity to present their opinions as almighty in regulating homeschoolers. I think it is time to clean their own house before walking down the street picking out whose cobwebs are cleaner.

Not all public-schooled children will struggle with being a criminal or blatantly sinful adult, but all will struggle with a heart that has 12 years of humanism and sin drilled into it.  What can we expect? As adults we are still struggling and growing; how much more of a struggle is it for our children? We can stop this curse of a system on our children. Take over what your child is learning. Teach him what is precious. Teach him the Word. Teach him how to stand up for what you want him to believe by feeding him that, instead of the humanist feast he gets daily. Re-capture his heart. Do not share it with a broken system.

Tia wrote about an article by Steven Yates where he explains the origins of the public school system, and he states, "One of the key missions of government schools in modern times has been to disrupt the values children inherit from their parents. This has been admitted openly." If you have not looked into the origins of the public school system, I would encourage you to do so.  If you are a Believer in and Follower of the One True God, I suggest you weigh the scales and see to what end the public schools are destining your children. Even public school teachers know the answer to that.

Deuteronomy 28

 1And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:  2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

 15But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: 16Cursed shalt thou be....

Now, all that said, homeschooled families do not have the corner-market on a perfect life either. If you are a homeschool mom who is having a hard time keeping your child's heart... evaluate what you are teaching. Evaluate what you are doing. What is your child doing? Who is he/she spending their time with? Are you at home homeschooling or are you kinda' more like at-a-friend's-house-schooling or at-a-meeting-schooling or maybe at-a-church-function-schooling? There is nothing wrong with schooling that way - as long as it is not taking precedence over the condition of your child's heart. Personally, from experience, I find it hard to have a sweet temperament and my mind on my children in all of those situations. That, in turn, makes it hard to keep their hearts for God.

So, all in all, the information here at Home Where They Belong is an encouragement to keep homeschooling. It is an encouragement to never give that up. It is a big red flag for those of you who always thought you would homeschool up to high school and then send them to public school when 'they are older and can handle it'. Why would you want to give the most precious time and the time for the fruit of your labors to shine through to an undeserving bunch who do not know the true value of your child? (don't do it!)

Another thing I have found in this www.com world we live in is that we are not only not alone, but can be very closely knit to a cyber-friend from five states away or even a world away. Kim said in Competent to Instruct, "As homeschool parents, not only has God called us to educate our children in the godly environment of our homes; He has called us together as a homeschool community." Yes, that means in your hometown, but also here at HWTB and on our personal blogs.

Parents, keep your child's heart. Keep it for him or her, keep it for your family, keep it for God, keep it for their future. Keep them Home Where They Belong.

Blessings!

Jacque
Seeking Rest in the Ancient Paths Homeschool
and Seeking Rest on the Homestead, too!