“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
A homeschool mom recently shared with me an interesting conversation she had with a confused friend about Proverbs 22:6. Her friend’s distorted reasoning can be summed up as follows: since we, as sinful parents cannot save our sinful kids, why should we try to follow the guideline/command given in Proverbs 22:6?
First off, anyone who believes they can save their child's soul needs to re-read the Bible, especially Ephesians 2:1-10. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Now that we cleared that up, let's quickly look at what Proverbs 22:6 is really teaching parents. First, notice that the Bible says that we should "train up a child" not train up an adult. Why a child? Our gracious Lord is teaching us to train children because these are their most impressionable learning years. Do you think it is any coincidence that the public schools and their like-mined socialists are working on getting our children younger and younger?
If you are among many who think that public schools are neutral and that there is no underlying agenda, please read the following quotes by just a few liberal educationalists and secular-humanists/socialists who understand the importance of capturing little minds.
"We do not need any more preaching about right or wrong. The old ‘thou shall nots’ simply are not relevant. Values clarification is a method for teachers to change the values of children without getting caught." -- Dr. Sidney Simon, Lecturer, Secularist & Educator
"Having found the present generation composed of materials almost unmalleable, I am about transferring my efforts to the next. Men are cast-iron; but children are wax. Strength expended upon the latter may be effectual, which would make no impression upon the former." –Horace Mann founder of public schools
"Every child in America entering school at the age of five is mentally ill because he comes to school with certain allegiances to our founding fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It is up to you as teachers to make all of these sick children well -- by creating the international child of the future." -- Dr. Chester M. Pierce, Professor of Education at Harvard (1972)
" I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers that correctly perceive their role as proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being … The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and new. These teachers must embody the same selfless dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing the classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach, regardless of the educational level—preschool day care or large state universities." John Dunphy (The Humanist magazine, Jan/Feb 1983)
"He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future." —Adolf Hitler
"Give me your 4-year-olds, and in a generation I will build a socialist state." —Vladimir Lenin
"Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism, and every American school is a school of humanism. What can a theistic Sunday school's meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children do to stem the tide of the five-day program of humanistic teaching?" - Charles F. Potter, Signer of the Humanist Manifesto
"There is no God and there is no soul. Hence, there are no needs for the props of traditional religion. With dogma and creed excluded, then immutable truth is also dead and buried. There is no room for fixed, natural law or moral absolutes." --John Dewey, co-author, signer of the Humanist Manifesto and founder of today's public schools
The public school model and its curriculum is working on the kids young so they can indoctrinate them to think like secular-humanists/socialists. Period.
By the way they (the Liberals) are having a tremendous amount of success. Makes you wonder why the Church (Shepherds and sheep alike) do not make this a topic of utmost importance, huh?
So going back to Proverbs 22:6, why should we train up our children in the way they should go if we cannot save them? How about because we love our Lord and want to obey Him? Let us obey our Lord and let God be God. "If ye love me, keep my commandments" John 14:15.
Listen to the wisdom of Matthew Henry, a former homeschooling father of nine kids who was homeschooled himself and was considered by the likes of Spurgeon and Whitefield to be a superb and gifted Bible commentator: "Train up children in that age of vanity, to keep them from the sins and snares of it, in that learning age, to prepare them for what they are designed for. Catechise [instruct] them; initiate them; keep them under discipline. Train them as soldiers, who are taught to handle their arms, keep rank, and observe the word of command. Train them up, not in the way they would go (the bias of their corrupt hearts would draw them aside), but in the way they should go, the way in which, if you love them, you would have them go."
God clearly tells us to train up our children in the way they should go. If we don't or only make a half-hearted attempt to train them up, their sinful nature will take them on completely different path in life. We need to start when they are young because if we don't, we will make our labor all the more difficult. Again, quoting Matthew Henry, "The branch is easily bent when it is tender."
Let me put it as simply as possible. Children would naturally follow their corrupt hearts if parents did not train them up as they should. This makes them easy prey in the hands of the public school gurus. Therein lies the reason we should follow Proverbs 22:6. Either we train them, or someone else will.
—David d'Escoto is a teaching elder, the co-author of "The Little Book of Big Reasons to Homeschool" and its companion Bible study, he also co-hosted the former radio program "Homeschooling for Life." He and his wife, Kim, have homeschooled their five children for over 10 years. Visit their website to sign-up for their free webinars and newsletters at http://dexios.info.
Gena,
I don't have time to read a lot of blogs, but scrolling down through the home page of homeschoolblogger today I came across this article from David d'Escoto that you posted and appreciate it. I have greatly benefitted from David and Kim's work.
The point I often make is that, yes, parents cannot save their children--only God can save, but as parents we have a responsibility to "train" our children so that their hearts will be prepared to accept God's grace by faith rather than to reject Him. And you, David, and I all know that it is so much easier to do when you do not have to fight the error and ungodliness into which they are immersed in the public schools.
Thanks to you and David for the good reminder. I do miss being volunteer coordinator for TOS, but I still enjoy the magazine!
Wayne S. Walker
Home Where They Belong ~ Yet Another New Gay Curriculum for California Public Schools
Posted 12:58 AM, Jun. 10, 2009
California is always coming up with a new way to teach the homosexual agenda, the latest being a curriculum for K-5 grades. Starting with a book about gay penguins (if they make them cute and cuddly then who can be against them?), up to sexual orientation.
If the curriculum is adopted by the school board they say that parents will not have the right to remove their children for the day. I say hogwash. You always hold that right. On any given day you can walk into the school and remove your child. You don't need anyone's permission. The only permission you would truly be asking for is a leniency on grades. Flunking a child for a whole year because they didn't attend the gay studies day isn't terribly likely and in the event that it is, is that really a school you want your child to attend? I'd hardly be upset because my child got a lower grade because he wasn't there to hear about the plight and trials of antrhopomorphed, flightless birds.
What will more likely happen is the parents won't even be notified what day the curriculum will be presented, so that parents won't plan ahead to keep their children out of school.
The schools keep reporting that these studies are only about stopping bullying. If that was truly the case then why not a book and curriculum about bullying itself and not about gay penguins? Why is there never a book and curriculum in the classroom dedicated to not bullying the special needs child, or the children who grow up on farms instead of the city? (Oh yes, us country children have had our fair share of being bullied for being "country bumpkins.")
The curriculum isn't about being kind and showing respect for a human life that God has created, its about trying to convince others that a homosexual lifestyle isn't sinful and therefore perfectly acceptable. As a parent, you are the one who will stand before God and be held accountable for what you allowed your child to be taught. You won't get to pawn it off on the teachers. Your children are your responsibility, bring them home where they belong and teach them true respect, kindness, and love.
Home Where They Belong ~ Teacher Sued for Anti-Creationist Remarks
Posted 12:58 AM, May. 13, 2009
A teacher in California who was sued for the anti-Creationism remarks he made in his classroom lost the case when the Judge sided with the former student that at least one of the remarks had, indeed, violated the student's First Amendment rights.
The teacher's daughter says that he is only trying to get the students to think. Think about what? It would appear he only wants them to think how dumb he thinks Creationism is. If he truly wanted all of the students to think he would rail against Creationism one day and then the next day rail against Evolutionism. As a student you would be thinking that you had it all worked out in your head, either for or against what was said, and then once confronted with the opposing view you could compare your arguments.
A teacher is there to teach, and in order to do that you have get a student to think for himself. Not spoon feed or pile drive the answers into him.
I wonder what the test this teacher gave on the subject was like?
Home Where They Belong ~ It's that Most Ridiculous Time of the Year: Prom Season
Posted 12:28 AM, May. 6, 2009
If you've been a regular reader of HWTB you know that I am not in favor of proms. You can read my last post about prom here, which shares my experience with the prom (3 time, time-waster) and it links you to the best article out there on why the prom is so ridiculous.
Deborah Wuehler forwarded me an email today about a guy who is wanting to help high schoolers understand finances, and he has an interesting way of doing it. Pay money to send your student to his seminar where he will talk about how to manage money, and after the seminar he will donate some of the money to the prom committee. Very enterprising of him, and I like that he wants to teach students what the schools are not. Yet he seems to think that proms are one of the most important things to happen to a high schooler.
I have never been asked on a job application if I attended the prom. It isn't a pre-requisite for going to college or the military. It wasn't even a requirement to graduate. Conclusion: it is not that important in a high school career. (Career is even a bad word choice. Aside from the faculty, who wants to make high school a career? Yet, that's the way Mr. Bielagus worded it.)
In other prom news--safe, organized, after prom parties are no longer the big hit they used to be. Which doesn't surprise me one bit. Several years ago my local paper printed a letter from someone who had just moved into town. That person was rather upset with the community for not having any clubs for teens to go to so that they wouldn't get into trouble. I replied to the letter--it was printed in the paper as well--to let the newcomer know that our community had tried clubs for teens. Three of them in five years as a matter of fact. All of them failed. Why? Teens don't want to go where they can't drink and all the other "fun things" that they want to do.
Teens already have a safe place to have fun, it's called home. If your teens don't want to be there, then you need to be looking a little deeper into your teens' lives.
I'm with you about proms. I think the money saved on the elaborate event could be better spent. Thanks for posting about this.
May. 5, 2009 - Homeschool Proms
Posted by Shelly Mabe
Our high school prom was a joke, however, as I'm sure you know, not all proms are that way. I did have the opportunity to go to a prom and form an opinion so I hoped to pass this option on to my children also. Though a prom is not a "need" but it is something that is talked about among friends from time to time throughout adult life as you know from having to blog about the issue.
We hold an annual 6 hour, Michigan Homeschool Prom Cruise on the Detroit Princess. We had one just this past Friday. It is a beautiful evening full of fun and laughter with the teen homeschooling kids and even some parents. Ages 14 and older can attend. If you want to see video of what a fun homeschooling prom can be like I urge you to watch the videos on the bottom of our Prom website on Facebook.
http://tinyurl.com/bf73um
All of that fun was had with CLEAN music even. :o) I'm hoping obviously that you may change your opinion of them a little bit, maybe... Just a thought. :o)
Shelly Mabe
Founder: Macomb Christian Homeschoolers In Michigan
Home Where They Belong ~ Teacher Still Teaching After Fecal Incident
Posted 1:21 AM, Apr. 29, 2009
Last week the news covered a story about a boy who was sent home with human feces in his backpack. A note was with the bag, containing evidence that the boy had, had an accident at school.
The boy does have some special needs, but apparently the teacher feels humiliation and degradation will cure him of his problems. The school district decided to move the child and keep the teacher, who has not apologized for her actions, as yet. They're waiting for everything to blow over. Sadly, it probably will.
Parents in Massachusetts will be delighted to learn that the public schools have decided to start issuing weight report cards for the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th grades. If your child is too fat or too thin, the state will let you know and even tell you where you can go to get help.
How kind of them. Why exactly is this a paretal problem? The USDA is the one that says it's okay to fill all of our foods with corn syrup. Perhaps they will start up programs to help send grocery shopping aids with the parents while they browse the center aisles of the stores. They can bonk you on the head if you start to reach for canned chili and give you a raisin if you reach for the dried beans. Just one raisin mind you, they wouldn't want to over indulge us. While I don't care for all the corn syrup in my foods, is that really the problem?
Actually, does anyone see an interesting correlation between the rise of childhood obesity and compulsary education? We weren't made to sit around all day staring at textbooks and to only be given an hour of exercise like prisoners. Even playtime for kindergarteners is being curbed in order to have more time to teach them to the tests. I'm curious what the obesity rate in those kindergarteners will be?
Our children aren't cattle to be poked and measured by government officials. Parent's do realize when their child has a weight problem and they don't need a state measuring tape to tell them so. I've talked to countless parents who are doing their best to get their children more active and eating a healthier diet. Some just can't afford the time it takes to cook from scratch.
Would you let the state measure your child? Why not bring them home where they can play and truy learn instead of being forced to sit all day long and regurgitate facts?
Parents in Massachusetts will be delighted to learn that the public schools have decided to start issuing weight report cards for the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th grades. If your child is too fat or too thin, the state will let you know and even tell you where you can go to get help.
How kind of them. Why exactly is this a paretal problem? The USDA is the one that says it's okay to fill all of our foods with corn syrup. Perhaps they will start up programs to help send grocery shopping aids with the parents while they browse the center aisles of the stores. They can bonk you on the head if you start to reach for canned chili and give you a raisin if you reach for the dried beans. Just one raisin mind you, they wouldn't want to over indulge us. While I don't care for all the corn syrup in my foods, is that really the problem?
Actually, does anyone see an interesting correlation between the rise of childhood obesity and compulsary education? We weren't made to sit around all day staring at textbooks and to only be given an hour of exercise like prisoners. Even playtime for kindergarteners is being curbed in order to have more time to teach them to the tests. I'm curious what the obesity rate in those kindergarteners will be?
Our children aren't cattle to be poked and measured by government officials. Parent's do realize when their child has a weight problem and they don't need a state measuring tape to tell them so. I've talked to countless parents who are doing their best to get their children more active and eating a healthier diet. Some just can't afford the time it takes to cook from scratch.
Would you let the state measure your child? Why not bring them home where they can play and truy learn instead of being forced to sit all day long and regurgitate facts?
Home Where They Belong ~ Enjoy God's Beauty through Nature Study
Posted 12:46 AM, Apr. 15, 2009
Paul and Ringo would like for all children to be practicing transcendental meditation in the public schools because it would help bring about world peace. So far about 12 schools have bought into the religious practice.
It's amazing how Christians can't have an open prayer in schools, but meditation is perfectly fine and even "healthy" for students to take part in.
Home Where They Belong ~ Cage Fights in Texas School
Posted 1:33 AM, Apr. 8, 2009
A high school in Texas not only held cage fights to settle differences, the principal is alleged to have set up some of these fights for his own entertainment.
Interestingly, the principal is no longer working at the school due to an investigation of a grade changing scandal and he was once a police officer who was put on administrative leave because he lied about being kidnapped so he could get out of work. Sounds like just the kind of guy these students needed as their role model.
I wonder how many parents knew that these fights were taking place? Is your child's school safe? How do you know? How do you know that the principal, teacher, or counselor is someone your child can look up to and be safe with? Are you blindly entrusting your child to someone just because a panel of people you never met hired them? The above principal had no business in this school. He lost all credibility when he lied as a sworn police officer. He couldn't be trusted to protect a city and yet someone trusted him to "protect" the children in this school.
Home Where They Belong ~ Kindergarteners No Longer Get to Play?
Posted 12:12 AM, Apr. 1, 2009
I don't know how long this report will stay at the top of the Alliance for Childhood website, but if you get there and don't see Crisis in the Kindergarten: A New Report on the Disappearnce of Play, then you can do a search for it in their search engine. Once there you can download a PDF of their report.
Kindergarten isn't what it used to be. In the past children learned Mother Goose rhymes, learned to recognize their numbers and letters, and how to write their names. Now they are being given long lessons, and lots of tests. This takes so much of their time that the schools have had to cut down or cut out play. Apparently they feel you can't learn much from just playing.
Read the report. If you have a child that you've been thinking of sending to kindergarten, think again. Keep them home where they belong. You can homeschool.
I homeschooled 2 children Now 22 and 18 and was blessed with a late baby now nearly 4 years old.
After hearing what goes on in schools these days It would certainly not even cross my mind to send my precious little gift to an institution for positive education.
Charlotte Iserbyt was the Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, during the first Reagan Administration. She was trained to find resistors--those against sex, drug, and homosexual education (to name a few), in the public schools, and she was trained to con them into buying into the agendas. Charlotte has a video on YouTube where she talks about her book The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America.
At one point in the video Charlotte says, " . . . the new world order--disorder, excuse me." You are so right Charlotte; disorder and chaos it is.
One of the scary points that Charlotte mentions is that teachers can be trained to turn a a child from a Christian home into an atheist in one hour.
You have got to watch the video to hear more of what Charlotte has to tell the parents of America.
Homeschool families usually have only one income and when that income drops or ceases all together, the world would tell them that they need to put their children in the free public school and get a job. The families are saying that is the last thing they intend to do. They will give up cable, internet, eating out, convenience food, and other items first. After that, they'll find ways to cut back still yet, and moms will get a job or dads will get a second job, dividing up the teaching responsibilities as needed. They are families who are willing to make every sacrifice to keep homeschooling.
Why? When an "excellent" education can be had at the public school for free? Homeschooling works and these families have seen the fruit of it. What they aren't willing to sacrifice is their child's education, their child's heart, their family.
Home Where They Belong ~ See You At the Pole Posters Can't Mention God
Posted 1:06 AM, Mar. 4, 2009
This is rather ironic, but student made posters for a See You at the Pole event can't mention God. I suppose the students will have to pray to the pole itself.
Home Where They Belong ~ Teacher's Side Job Gets Her Arrested During School Hours
Posted 11:29 PM, Feb. 17, 2009
I knew teacher's felt they weren't paid all that well, but this is the first incident, I've heard of, where a teacher left her class in the middle of the day so she could go sell her body for extra money.
She set up the liason during school hours, took sick time for the rest of the day, and off she went to meet her customer--or so she thought. Turned out is was a police officer who found her ad on Craig's List.
What really got my attention was that the news article reads as if the school principle and guidance counselor spoke to the students about the arrest and THEN sent a letter home to the parents telling them what had happened. At that point, what did the children need to know? At least a substitute teacher had been provided for them, so they were none the wiser. The school should have contacted the parents FIRST and let them talk to their own children about the matter. Once again, the schools step in and decide what they will do and then tell parents what has been done. I woudn't be one bit happy if my child came home with the story before the school had even contacted me. There's no telling what the guidance counselor had to say or what questions about sex were posed. Parents probably have more "cleaning up" to do then if they would have just been given the opportunity to tell their own children in a way they saw fit.
I do agree that the situation was awful. And I do not consider sex outside of marriage appropriate, even in desperation, that's where faith in the Creator comes in, I am Muslim. But I think where I disagree is on hiding the situation from the kids. I went to public school high school. Rummers are terrible things that are hardly controllable. It seems to me the best thing is to give just the necessary facts to the kids before the day is over so the outrageous rummers are nipped in the bud. My son is only 4 so who knows I might have a different opinion when he is 16 but by the time you get to high school you know some people buy sex and some people are desperate enough to provide. Usually kids know its connected with drugs when it happens here. And thankfully kids are taught from a young age that illegal drugs are harmful. They may not head the warnings but they know.
What do you think?
I understand your thinking, but I'd have to say that in this instance, at least from the news article, the 4th graders did not know what their teacher had been up to. She left the school under the prentension that she was sick. The teacher wasn't arrested at the school, she was arrested at a motel parking lot. What rumors would the 4th graders have had at that point?
I agree that children certainly do know something about sex by the 4th grade, and they know about drugs. However, as the teacher wasn't arrested right in front of their little eyes, the school should have contacted the parents first. As a parent, I wouldn't want to be told by my child FIRST, that his teacher was arrested for prostitution while skipping out on my child. I'd want that information from the school and the opportunity to decide what and how my child needed to be told.
My point here is that the schools feel they are the only real authority, they will deal with the children and by the way Mom and Dad, here's a note just letting you know.
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Jun. 17, 2009 - thanks for the reminder
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Mar. 20, 2009 - Homeschooling or Kindergarten
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