I have been venturing out of the "seminary bubble" we've enjoyed for the past two years - a place where most families homeschool and compared to others I "only " have 4 kids!  I have had several conversations in the past month with moms from different walks of life who were intrigued that I homeschooled.  I found that the same question keeps coming up - "So your kids listen to you and do what you say?"  At first, I wasn't sure how to answer that question because, if I am honest, my kids don't always listen to me and they aren't always happy to do their schoolwork(gasp!).  But it is the expectation that they would listen to me and there are consequences when they don't.

Warning - I think I'm about to get on a soapbox.  How far have our standards come?  First off, I am not one of those people who believe that everyone should be homeschooling.  Each family needs to prayerfully decide what suits each individual family and child.  But more people definitely could be and maybe even should be.  But regardless of what your schooling choice is, God's Word is clear!  Children are to obey their parents in the Lord for this is RIGHT!(Eph 6:1).  It is the first commandment with a promise - that it will go well with the child and they may enjoy long life on the earth.  The main excuse for many of these women for not schooling at home is that their children will not listen to them.  Unfortunately, if that's truly the case (and for some of them it really is as I witnessed) they have much bigger worries than their child's academics!  Jesus even set the example for this.  Being fully God, He chose to submit Himself under His parent's authority as a child(what a breeze that must have been for Mary & Joseph - and a source of contempt for His siblings!).  Children need to learn to obey because it is dangerous(physcially, emotionally and spiritually) if they don't.  I have been convicted in my own heart to press on, to not get lazy in this area (while always being seasoned with love and grace, of course).  We recently watched a series of DVD's by Ted Tripp and Paul David Tripp called The Case for Kids that helped us to once again look at the Biblical princples of scripture and apply them to our lives.  I highly recommend them.

What a sad state of affairs - both for the children who will eventually have a difficult time submitting to the authority of the Lord and His Word, but also for the parents whose relationships with their children will never be what God has intended.  I pray for these families that I have met - that they would see that the answers for the strife in their household is in God's Word. And I pray for my own family, that we would expect first time obedience, that we would not grow weary in training our children, and that it would go well with them so that they may enjoy long life on the earth. 

Blessings!

-J