Homeschooling Pays

We read in the news recently that a local denominational school is about to close. To stay open, they would have to charge about 5% more school fees plus a registration fee per child. We quickly did the math, and calculated that in a family with three children, the costs for sending all three children to a private school would amount to something around $1,200 every month, not counting uniforms, books, stationary, and other expenses school life brings about.

Do you realize that that's about the amount of money many people bring home monthly ? So think:

If mother stayed home instead of going to work, home schooled the children and had additional time to clean the house herself (instead of employing someone to do so), to bake and cook and make pasta from scratch, to grow vegetables in the garden and do any number of other small things that contribute to the economical well being of the family, the family would indeed not have less money, but more in the end.

We promote home schooling because there is no other way to teach your children the way of the Lord. Nobody else is responsible for educating your children but you, their mother and father. You should not be willing to hand your children over to other people and to their peers to educate them.

And if you calculate honestly and consider if all the expenses you have are really necessary, and whether you really think it's wise to take up a long-term mortgage when the rates have risen to their highest levels in 10 months, you will realize that you do not have a financial excuse anymore to send your children off to school because you both, mother and father, need to go to work.


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Simple Living in Practice, Lesson #15

Yesterday it was only mentioned as an example, as a side note, so to speak, but I want to come back to it today: I mentioned teaching your children what the bible says, and nothing else.

One aspect of God-sufficiency, of simple living according to His will, is to refrain from adding to His word or taking anything away from it. Children are to be taught the word of God, so that, when they grow up, they may not depart from it (Pro 22:6), and since you are home schooling your child so that you, and not his or her peers at school are your children's role model and orientation, you are also fully responsible for what you child learns. Be careful to handle this responsibility well, and don't let a church of some type or another take it out of your hands either.

And there is one more thing to remember: Children are children, and even if they are most teachable when they are very young, they are only to be held responsible for their actions according to God's law when they have reached the age of 12. It is important to teach them well until then, so that they know God's Law and what it means for their everyday life, and it is important to teach them after they have reached the age of 12, so that they can learn how to live a responsible life. But it is utterly wrong to instill in children of the age of 5, 7 or 9 the idea that they have sinned, and that they need to repent and return to God. If you do that, all you are doing is putting your child in an emotional frenzy. There is no need for all that. Sin comes with the knowledge of the Law, and as long as your child is not to be held accountable, don't pretend that he or she is.

In the same way, don't make your young child go out an be a missionary to non-brethren. You should know how difficult it is to be in the world and yet withstand all the snares and traps put up there, and you expect your child to be in the middle of it and happily withstand it all? We are called to come out of her (Rev 18:4), and to have nothing to so her sins, so it is certainly much closer to God's will to protect your child from worldly influences, and when they are old enough to understand the snare, to teach them what the world is like, instead of putting them out there expecting them to do what most adults have troubles with, and what is against God's command.

Why do I feel the need to stress all this?

We watched "Jesus Camp" the other night. The documentary is propaganda against people who try to teach their children God's way, yes indeed. But you don't really need to look too closely to spot the glaring inconsistencies among the people portrayed, and begin with the adults please. When it comes to the children, look at their age, and look at what they believe, those that are asked, and look at how far away from God's word it all is... They have many things right, but they have more things wrong, it seems.

Women shouldn't teach? Modest dress? Head coverings? Children under the age of 12 are not subject to the law?

And instead: Churches that are not charismatic are dead churches? This generation of children is a key generation to the end times?? We should train the young children because the enemy does so too??

Besides, Ted Haggard is a good role model for a young boy who obviously is trained to be a preacher, even if unofficially??? Oh well.

Beware, people, beware, and cling to God's Word.


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Simple Living in Practice, Lesson #14

Let me develop a thought or two about simple living by God's design in reference to the news we posted in the previous post. Many fish of the Great Lakes died last year, and obviously this year a similar scenario is on it's way. People worry about "infected water" and trying to prevent the virus that befalls the fish from spreading, and their main concern is obviously the sports-fishing industry. To provide them with strong and healthy fish populations is the goal of all the measures taken and restrictions made.

See, you can do the right thing for the wrong reason, and you will be held accountable for your reasons too, and not just for what you did. It is certainly a good thing to try and keep the fish alive, but if you do it for economic reasons, and not as part of the stewardship God appointed to men in Gen 1:28, you are nothing but one of those false prophets Jesus talks about in Matthew 7:15-23, for even if what you do looks good, you are still not doing it in His name, and therefore work iniquity, lawlessness. Just like you can think all you want about how to turn your Sunday into more of a Lord's day, unless you read the bible and do what God tells you to do on the Sabbath (including the specifics of the day itself as the last, not the first day of the week), whatever you do will be for naught. You don't buy bread rolls on Sunday mornings anymore because you don't want to further Sunday work, and Sunday work has been an issue in your church for a while now? Sounds good, but God says, not only should you do no work, but also should you neither buy nor sell on His holy day, and you should rest, and study, not to mention that the Sabbath is not a Sunday... No matter how many religious books and magazine articles you read on the matter, unless you rely solely and completely on God's word as practical guidance, the chances that Jesus will not know you on the Last Day are fairly high.

Why do I say all this ? What does it have to do with simple living ?

The simple lesson from these examples is this: Make sure that you do not come up with your own design when it comes to your simple life, make sure that your manual for life is not men's tradition, not even church tradition, but God's will and Law-Word alone. Teach your children what God says when you home school them, and not something oh so very emotional, but unbiblical. They may believe now with all their heart that churches that aren't charismatic are dead churches by virtue of the fact that their members don't jump during services, but one day your children will be old enough to realize that they made a fool of themselves by proclaiming such nonsense... Beware.


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Simple Living in Practice, Lesson #11

TV again - yes, I know that a while ago, I already addressed TV, but experiences with people who claim to be following a simple living guideline and also classify themselves as born again Christians indicate that another word about TV is needed.

The idea presented by these people was that, although generally speaking, TV is "bad", there are some shows that are just great, like documentaries about animals, cooking shows, and the like, and that, the more channels you have to choose from, the easier it is to find the good shows ! Oh well. I find it highly inconsistent, really.

How much money do you pay monthly for 200 TV channels ? And is it really really worth it, if you are only looking for very specific shows ? Are you not deluding yourself into thinking that you are only using your TV for the good things ?

Well, let me say this: Television is a market, an industry, and it is the one medium that brings the evil right into your living room, or your children's bedroom. It comes in all shapes and sizes, as commercials, news, movies, documentaries, and it catches your attention almost against your will. It teaches you and your children more and more subtly than you are aware of, and it steals time you are supposed to devote to much more important matters - your family, your husband, God.

Can you not go to a library and borrow a book about animals, or a cookbook, and if you like a recipe especially, copy it into your own cooking booklet or folder, or, if you found a really really great book, decide to buy it after all ?

Why in the world would you want TV to educate you and your children ? Why in the world would you want to waste your money on a corrupt industry that doesn't do anyone any good other than generate money for those that run it ? Do you not have better things to spend your money and your time on ?

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