The Purpose of Home Schooling

What is the end or purpose of home schooling?

Years ago we had a guest speak to our graduating class. He was a home school father and pastor. He began his talk by contrasting two people. Then he posed a question to the graduates.

Here’s a paraphrase of the two people he contrasted:

• On a weekly basis, he sees a man who comes to an outreach ministry for support and help.  The visit always begins a little awkwardly– the man smells and looks like he just arrived from a campsite.  That’s pretty close to the truth; hours before he was dozing in a sleeping bag.   He and his wife are homeless.  He suffers the aftereffects of drug addiction both physically and mentally.   In fact, he may still be abusing, still caught in the cycle of starting and stopping and starting and stopping.  They talk awhile and afterwards pray together.  His need for God is great, and he knows it.
• In contrast is a girl around seventeen or eighteen.  She comes from a stable and loving family that enjoys a comfortable standard of living.  Her parents have invested deeply into her life.  She’s benefited by being home schooled and attending a private Christian school the last two years.  She is a good student, respectful, and well-liked.   She’ll be attending college next year.

After a few moments, our speaker posed the following question to the graduates:  “Who do you identify with?”

The range of expressions on the graduates’ faces seemed to suggest they thought his question was too weird to respond to or that he was just joking.

He wasn’t joking.

Our speaker gave them a few moments to ponder the question and shocked them with the suggestion that they should identify with “Kevin”, the homeless man.

Was our speaker crazy? Had he forgotten who he was speaking to?  These graduates’ parents had sacrificed to give them the best education they knew how.  They had invested their time (teaching them formally and informally), their money (books, curriculum, etc.), had taught them right from wrong, and had read the Bible to them regularly.

But that was his point.

No one wants Kevin’s life.  No one wants to grow up in a dysfunctional family or be around dysfunctional family members.  Addiction brings pain to the addict and those closest to him or her.  But having the upbringing of the girl our speaker described may actually be a source of spiritual danger if we forget the end or purpose of home schooling.

The end of home schooling in his mind was helping our children and emerging adults participate in an on-going relationship with Jesus Christ long after graduation. So, when our speaker appealed to our graduates to identify with Kevin, he was saying that humility, brought about by brokenness, leads to receiving mercy and grace, both essential to our growth as Christians.

You might be thinking, of course, we “know” that.  Our kids came to Christ in Sunday school, or Awana, or we led them to the Lord ourselves.  But, the problem is that it’s so easy to leave our gospel focus and make our emphasis character development, establishing a Biblical Worldview, or even studying what we love.  Jesus gets bumped, and the above things, as good and helpful as they may be, become ultimate things and take center stage in our home-schooling efforts.

The switch is often subtle and gradual. Try not to let that happen!

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

Students who register for high school classes by August 22nd, 2018 can claim a $15 credit to Exodus Books. Click here to learn more!