I suppose that if dogs were like people they would eventually give up on us...but they never do. A dog’s love is almost impossible to destroy, because it’s not a love you earn -- it’s simply a love you are given. In other words, dogs love unconditionally. Unconditional love, unending patience, faithfulness to the very end. Do you suppose, just perhaps, that God made dogs to show us a little something about Himself? Do you think maybe "man’s best friend" is really pointing us to the One who is truly our very Best Friend? You could learn a lot about God from a dog.
At first reading this is quite cute, something we might even read to our children as a modern parable. But as home educators, I think we need to be a lot more discerning as to what we tell our children about our Heavenly Father.
Dogs communicate rather poorly to us humans compared to how God communicates to us. Dogs give barks, licks, looks and movements that we interpret as affection....but we really have no idea what is going on in that animal’s head, if anything. God has communicated directly through His prophets in the Scriptures, the Bible, so we have it in words of a human language, in black & white. And latterly God communicated with us through His Son Jesus Christ. There is no guess work involved in what God thinks of us or what He requires of us: it’s all recorded very clearly in the Bible.
But more than that, God saw that we humans still have trouble understanding Him because our spiritual acuity is so poor, and we do so many things we know are wrong and fail to do so much of what we know is right, that our consciences are pretty muddied up, also preventing us from understanding what He has communicated. (In theological terms, we are spiritually dead because of our sins.) So His Son Jesus Christ died in our place, bearing the death penalty our wrong-doing deserves, and also rising up from the dead and ascending into heaven to give us the promise of victory over the grave and an everlasting life in heaven after the grave.
But not only that, He also sends His own Holy Spirit to dwell within those who believe He has done these things for them and who trust in Him for the guidance they need in all areas of this life and that to come, rather than who trust in "chance", "fate" or their own cleverness. This Holy Spirit makes us spiritually alive and able to understand spiritual realities, something we are unable to do otherwise.
But not only that, His Holy Spirit also changes our way of thinking and of perceiving the world. He also changes our wants, desires, priorities. In fact, we begin to desire to follow all He has commanded in the Scripture (not to mention the fact that we can now properly understand it as well).
But wait, there’s more! His totally undeserved love toward us is so overwhelming, not like the dog’s seemingly accept-us-as-we-are love. His love shows His commitment to us: by ensuring we have His love letters (the Bible) written in words we can easily read; by His Son Jesus condescending to come live among us and then dying for us; by His Holy Spirit coming to dwell within us; by Him changing us from the inside out; and by giving us the assurance that we can approach the throne of the Almighty God of the Universe in prayer, not to receive a lightning bolt of anger and revenge, such as we deserve, but to receive mercy and grace and help in time of need.
In addition to all that, God has appointed us Christians to love one another as brothers and sisters, submitting to one another. He has appointed husbands to love their wives as Christ loves His church and gave Himself for her. He has appointed wives to respect and submit to their husbands. While we are not always exemplary in these areas, we work toward these as an ideal.....and I’m here to tell you, that having lived 23 years as a self-centred hedonist who really enjoyed and sought the attention I could get from those who apparently expected (and certainly got) nothing in return, I would not trade the worst day I have had since then as a Christian (27 years now) for all the pleasure and good times in the whole of those previous Christless 23 years.
A dog’s love is just the way we self-centred folk like it: all our way. But God shows His love for us in that while we are yet living lives that basically ignore Him, or that even are obviously in total rebellion toward Him....even so, His Son Jesus Christ died for us. But not so that we can remain as we are. No! That’s a dog’s love. God expects, He demands that we change, that we conform to the image of His Son. It is in Him, Jesus Christ, that we have redemption, the forgiveness we so desperately need for all our wrongs and shortcomings.
A dog’s love is similar to what theologians call God’s "common grace", the fact that God sends the needed rain on the evil and on the good and makes the sun shine on the just and on the unjust, and that He is long suffering toward evildoers. But a dog’s love offers us nothing remotely similar to what God’s love guarantees to those who trust in His Son Jesus Christ. Do your children know the difference?
From Keystone Magazine
May 2001 , Vol. VII No. 3
P O Box 9064
Palmerston North
Phone: (06) 357-4399
Fax: (06) 357-4389
email: craig@hef.org.nz
My oldest son Zach, 16, is on Correspondence School at the adult rates (far cheaper than the rate for students ... unless they have been expelled!!! !) Anyway, he is doing 6th Form Chemistry. To work out the pH concentration of some liquid, they taught in the official text which calculator buttons to push. Zach has a different style calculator than the one they have at the Correspondence School apparently, for the recom-mended sequence of buttons did not produce the desired answer. So Zach fiddled around and finally discovered a sequence of buttons to push for HIS calculator to get the same answer they had. As if this wasn't bad enough, to do the calculation in the reverse direction the text showed a more complex sequence of buttons to push with a few options along the way depending on the type of calculator you have!!! I was fairly frustrated by now, for nowhere did it explain the actual mathematical process that was taking place or the relationship among the variables. It involved logarithms, so it would have been a little complex, but at least a sketch to increase understanding would have been nice.
Once again, Zach's calculator would not perform as the text said it should. He rang his tutor at the CS. The tutor told him to buy a calculator that had the correct button on it!! I just about went ballistic! So I got down some old book on Logarithms, and before too long, drawing on vague memory of this stuff from 30 years ago, I figured out an equation that very simply explained the relationship between the three variables involved.... and then found that the sequence of button pushing, to get the answer they wanted was far simpler than what they had illustrated! And now both Zach and I understand the whole concept whereas before neither of us did.
Moral of the story: teaching your child yourself, learning with them if you have to, is more effective than paying big dollars for fancy text books and far-away tutors and expecting the children to learn it themselves.
From Keystone Magazine
January 1999 , Vol. V No.I
P O Box 9064
Palmerston North
Phone: (06) 357-4399
Fax: (06) 357-4389
email: craig@hef.org.nz
There is something about today's society which seems to force us all to be ever-more busy, ever-more running around and yet accomplishing a lot less. I can't quite figure it out, but everybody I know is feeling the effects.
As a full-time student at Massey doing a BA in Education, I am becoming MORE thoroughly convinced (if that is possible) that home schooling is the way to go. The philosophical foundations of ALL the social sciences are totally humanistic which by definition means they are radically anti-Christian. And Christian presuppositions don't get a look-in, they don't get acknowledgement, they don't get a mention. I mentioned this to my Philosophy of Education lecturer and he agreed! At the same time, he is one of the worst, since he quite happily quotes Scripture to suit his purposes. They all see religious views as just another view people hold...and everyone has a right to hold whatever view they like. None are any better than any other....except theirs, of course. It is amazing how they hold onto that obvious contradiction.
But the school system is falling apart at the seams . The qualifications system is in even worse shape, and all our current teenagers and the ones coming up are guinea pigs. The Framework certificates and unit standards have no meaning here or overseas, and it is anybody's guess whether they ever will. The Universities are fighting this framework business as vigorously as they can.
In addition, the garbage that goes on in schools, the "socialisation" process is totally unacceptable to Christians. Now, there are some schools better than others, and some (like Boy's High here in Palm Nth), still ignore the framework, offer the old School Cert. and all the rest and don't stand for any discipline problems. A strong Christian teen can probably withstand the pressures of such a place if they really want whatever certificates are offered. But most courses in Polytechs and Universities really don't require any such thing. A chat to the admissions officer is usually all that is required to be accepted as a provisional student for the first year. I just discovered that a 16-year-old can get the Correspondence School lessons at the same cheap rates as an adult while still collecting the supervisory allowance. So there is the opportunity to get the state qualifications while still at home.
From Keystone Magazine
July 1997 , Vol. III No.4
P O Box 9064
Palmerston North
Phone: (06) 357-4399
Fax: (06) 357-4389
email: craig@hef.org.nz
There is a very successful businessman in Palmerston North from whose life I reckon we can get two good illustrations.
When Steve Lange turned 15, the headmaster at his school in Cambridge wished him well and showed him the gate. Now, 23 years later, that reluctant school boy owns a chain of nine highly successful retail tyre shops, Tony’s Tyre Service, all located in the lower North Island, turning over more than $12 million annually. "The school system and I didn’t see eye to eye," Steve says.
Steve obviously learned the basics, but he certainly used his own flair and personal ideas to get his business going. His business experience was apparently gained by being in business, not studying business theory in a classroom. Once again we see that the real world of the community, the family and the marketplace is where real education takes place.
Steve then instituted something into his business that has really caused it to attract a loyal clientele. It is a thing called service. "When it comes to a customer there is no limit, no dollar limit whatsoever, on what any one of my people can do to satisfy a customer’s complaint. It’s written into their contract that they’ll never get reprimanded for satisfying a customer’s complaint." He cites the case of an employee who accidentally transposed a number during the etching of the car’s registration number on the vehicle’s windows. The $10 job cost the company $1850 plus gst to remedy, as all the car’s windows had to be replaced. The employee is still with the company as second-in-charge of a depot.
Here is a real challenge. Do we tell ourselves that there is no limit on what we will do to advance the Godly education of our children? Now the beauty here is that the best investment we can make is one of TIME rather than money. Pouring our LIVES into our children is going to be far more profitable to them than to pour money and resources into their laps and hope that somehow knowledge will get into their heads. Perhaps it will. But the WISDOM we really want our children to have will only come, by God’s grace, as we impart to them in word and deed and example the wisdom God has built into us up to this point. Give your children time. Not only quality time, but quantity time as well .......lots of it.....no limits.
From Keystone Magazine
July 1997 , Vol. III No.4
P O Box 9064
Palmerston North
Phone: (06) 357-4399
Fax: (06) 357-4389
email: craig@hef.org.nz
Ian & Wendy Wilson and their only son Samuel, 9, (Names have been changed to protect privacy) home school in the Auckland area. Ian is a tradesman and Wendy is a trained teacher. She saw what could be done with children when you had time for individual attention in a country school where she had only 12 children and taught those same 12 for four years. Then she taught in a city school class room with 35 children. She saw the bright children stunted in their potential. She saw the average and slower children wilt for lack of individual attention because you can only do so much and sometimes even less when there is a disruptive child or two in the class. It was at this point that Wendy decided she would never want to put her own child into such a system.
So when she began home schooling Samuel, they were the only ones doing so in their part of town. Then Freddie, two years younger than Samuel, was brought around. Could Wendy help him out? He had been at school a whole year and he still could not even form the letters of the alphabet, and now his behaviour was deteriorating. OK, she agreed, but for only four mornings a week.
Later on another parent came along, whose marriage had broken up. She brought Conner who was exceptionally bright, and the same age as Freddie. During his second year at school Conner seemed only to be going backwards, and his behaviour was getting really bad. Wendy directed them elsewhere. But they came back, with tears in their eyes, please teach my son! Righty-o, we'll give it a try.
It was on a Sunday night, three weeks before the Christmas holidays when their guard was down, when another set of parents, the husband being a workmate of Ian's, rang up about their 13-year-old daughter! She was becoming unruly and rebellious. And she wasn't learning anything. Both parents worked full time. Surely a girl of this age would not want to be in the same class as three tearaway boys half her age? Nevertheless, Kathy joined the Wilson home school for the three weeks to the end of the year.
Fortunately Samuel was able to work fairly independently. Freddie required independent attention. Conner went from being incompetent in most subjects to being a full year ahead in maths after only 6 months. The challenge was to keep enough work in front of him, he chewed through it at such a pace. Kathy had developed the habit of just stumbling along when she didn't understand anything and would never ask for help. It turned out that she was well behind Samuel. Conner soon passed her. She was probably only behind Freddie in reading except that he was more aware of when he needed help. After eight years in school, she was six years behind! She had epilepsy which meant she wasn't with it some times, but would tune in later on. Even so, after two weeks in the Wilson's home school she herself declared she had learned more in those eight days than during a whole year at school. Her parents couldn't believe the 180 degree turn-around in her attitude since she was now even cooking meals at home for when her parents returned from work. And she liked the home school situation, even though she was being taught, for the most part, the same things as the boys. At this stage the parents asked if Kathy could join the Wilson home school again next year. "OK, we'll see what we can do."
It was only meant to be four mornings a week. Wendy made it clear that the children's education was ultimately the parents' responsibility, not hers. She also explained her philosophy that education is life and that she was only helping out in the formal academic area. However, Wendy was taking Samuel to Music sessions and to the library on Mondays, Art on Tuesdays and Gymnastics on Thursdays, so the others came along as well. Wendy and Samuel really tried to keep Wednesday afternoons and Fridays just for themselves.
The competition, especially from Conner, was pushing the others along. They would all sit for the same reading/ discussion sessions in Bible, history, science or whatever and then turn around to their desks for individual work. But Conner turned out to be a hyperactive smart alec. He would taunt and tease the others because they weren't as smart as he. Now if Samuel cut up, Wendy could deal with him fairly smartly and effectively, being her own son. However, with other peoples' children you have to take a different tack, especially when these other people do not share the same faith or value system as was the case here. Wendy finally mentioned it to Conner's mum. . .in fact, she put the ball into her court . It appeared that Samuel had been complaining that if he behaved like Conner did, he'd get the strap. Conner's mum subsequently announced, without explanation, that she had come for Conner's books. She thanked Wendy for all she had done and then left. They haven't been back.
Wendy does charge a daily rate, but it is less than the rate she has to pay the housekeeper to come in to do the chores she cannot get around to herself. Being a trained teacher has not been an advantage as far as she can tell. She does not want to change her home into a school, although they did have to build the desks, get a white board and make sure they started at the same time each morning. She of course doesn't have the same amount of time to give exclusively to Samuel. He liked it when she did, especially because he could get his Mum to read to him, rather than him reading. He could get her to help him compose sentences rather than him working them out on his own. He has been forced to become more independent in his studies, which up to a point has been good for him.
Discipline is a bit of a problem, since all the children come from such different backgrounds, none of which match the Wilson's. But they reckon they are sowing the seeds of faith in their visitors since their attitude toward "religion" is not the negative one it used to be.
All in all Wendy says there are definite positives and definite negatives to home schooling other peoples' children. The issue which looms largest in her mind is to do the best she can for all the children. Anyone else thinking about teaching other peoples' children at home should weigh up the pros and cons as they see them for their own situation.
Says Wendy, "Believing that discretion is the better part of valour, I don't say 'Yes' initially, but, 'We'll give it a try for a few weeks.' The fact that Samuel is an only child made us more open to the idea, and there have been definite advantages for him. However, the more children I take on needing a great deal of individual attention, the less effectively I do what I originally set out to do--educate my own child. At what stage does he become disadvantaged? It would be very comfortable to be brought well adjusted, capable children from good Christian homes, but that's not how it is. So it becomes a question of how much service we can be of to others while still fulfilling our primary aim and responsibility.
"If we feel there is room for one or two more, should we only consider taking children from families who share our world view, or do we give others the opportunity to hear the gospel and fit in? We ourselves feel there is a place for the latter provided that such children are prepared to conform. Who can tell what God may do for our visitors? Our prayer as we begin our studies each day is that God would bless each of us in our learning so that we would live lives that honour and glorify Him. "
From Keystone Magazine
May 1995 , Vol. 1 No. 2
P O Box 9064
Palmerston North
Phone: (06) 357-4399
Fax: (06) 357-4389
email: craig@hef.org.nz
The term "home schooling" will virtually always conjure up an image of children at the kitchen table or at desks awkwardly arranged around the living room with Mum-turned-teacher standing in front lecturing from a book or trying to illustrate something on a jury-rigged white board-on-easel arrangement. In other words, a home school is just conventional schooling taking place in the home. This is how we started out nine years ago. At their desks with assignments before them and me prowling behind them, my children's attention span would hover around the 12 minute mark. One day it was more like a 4 to 5 minute attention span, and I got so frustrated with it all, that I just flopped on the sofa, told the kids to come sit on my knee and I'd read some history to them. An hour and a half later I was running out of breath and suffering a parched tongue when it dawned on me that the once fidgety brats were quiet and attentive angels. When I would stop reading they would call for more. I wondered....
For several months we were driving up and down the country with our business, dragging the entire family along every time. At 3am barrelling down the Desert Road, the children couldn't sleep, so asked for a story. I began to tell about the drive I had done through another desert years ago in Afghanistan and from there talked about the Russian invasion and from there into an outline of Communist political history all perfectly designed to cause 9 and 10 year olds to drop off pretty quickly. But after a good hour of that, when I paused for breath, they chorused as one for me not to stop just as it was getting interesting , but to tell them more.
Many little events like these caused me to come to the conclusion that "home schooling" is the wrong word. We should be talking about "home education" since we are educating our children in everything we do, 24 hours a day, not just schooling them for a set period five days a week.
The old saying that much more is "caught" than is actually "taught" is so true as your children are able to observe you for so many hours and in so many situations.
But there is something special about a parent speaking with his or her children. They've known that voice since before they were born. It is a voice so intimately connected with comfort and security and all things good, they just naturally love to hear it. This is a special bond that we parents as educators should exploit to the max: Read the children's text books with them.. ..go over their assignments with them a little more than you need to....do the work with them whenever you can so that you are doing it together rather than you making them do it on their own....make the learning situation less formal by lying on the sofa or sitting outside or being a bit unorthodox. One whole year our main teaching method was for all of us to sit around the table and I would read and explain the subject matter to three different age groups (7, 10 & 11) with a fourth listening in while they drew and painted and played with toys. The subject we spent longest on was atomic structure and basic chemistry. To this day we all remember that period as the most enjoyable.. . .and they can all still remember the difference between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion.
Having said that, my four have also always enjoyed having their own desk and private space and set times and set assigmnents. ... as long as they clearly understood what was expected and could see that they could manage it. There is a certain amount of basic skills that must be imparted, and the practice that goes with it needs set times: things like learning to read, handwriting and composition skills and basic maths computations. But for the rest you can capitalise on those "teachable moments" when they ask a question about something out of the blue, or you are so excited about a subject they are quite happy to listen to you go on and on way over time, or you are watching the cat have her kittens, or there is a particularly brilliant sunset, or one of them asks you to show how the ironing is done. One of the great advantages of home education is being flexible to exploit--or even to engineer--those "teachable moments".
From Keystone Magazine
March 1995 , Vol. 1 No. 1
P O Box 9064
Palmerston North
Phone: (06) 357-4399
Fax: (06) 357-4389
email: craig@hef.org.nz
Craig and Barbara Smith and their 8 home educated children and 3 Grandchildren: Genevieve (born 1980) and Pete (married 2008 with Natalie 2008 and...); Zachariah (1981) and Megan (married 2005 with Cheyenh 2007 and Dusti 2009); Alanson (1984); Charmagne (1987); Jeremiah (born Mitchell 1992 and now adopted); Jedediah (born 1997 and now adopted); Kaitlyn (born 2000 and now adopted); Grace (born 2005 guardianship).
We use a Biblical/Hebrew/Classical approach to our home education.
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