“Ouch! That stung!” Immediately, the child withdrew the 9 volt alkaline battery from the tip of her tongue. The shocking buzz was brief but sharp. Both kids collapsed in giggles and wonder at the power of this tiny electric storage cell.

But the real power of this story is not the inherent charge of the battery. Battery power is dwarfed by the enormous potential power of persuasion exercised when one human wants to influence another. One child, seeking to influence, coaxes or dares the other child to touch the terminal of the battery with a wet tongue. Innocent of the looming hazard, the other child is persuaded to comply. One child influences while the other child is influenced. One leads, and the other follows.

Leaders call people to act a certain way or adopt a new belief. The proposed change can be cultural, moral, economic, political, intellectual, spiritual, or behavioral. Unlike the battery, however, human influence is never neutral. The annals of human history reveal horrendous stories of evil men like Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson, and Osama Bin Laden who influenced willing disciples for wicked purposes. Fear, prejudice, hostility, hatred, and egotism are the frequent tools of the corrupt leader.

Thankfully, history also discloses the multigenerational impact of righteous men and women like the Apostle Paul, Florence Nightengale, and Nelson Mandela. What causes the good leader to choose love, forgiveness, sacrifice, and service as tools of influence?

• Are good men and women genetically predisposed to goodness?

• Does private education make a difference?

• Is a pleasant, affluent lifestyle the key to positively influencing others?

• Will well-meaning parents necessarily raise good kids?

• Does indoctrinating a child in religion predict a future of good decisions?

No. Exceptions can always be presented to refute these generally-accepted platitudes. Although genetics, education, circumstances, parents, and religion do contribute to the shaping of an adult, none of these suggested factors completely explain why a man or woman leads with love, forgiveness, sacrifice, and service. What makes the difference?

belief in the One who raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead

The answer seems so profoundly simple, but that’s not surprising since “the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:17) A tender-hearted response to the call of Jesus miraculously changes a person from the inside out. It is not that a good person has faith in Jesus. None of us are good before that life-changing encounter. When the living God adopts a new child into His forever family, He freely gives of His Spirit, and it is the constant presence and counsel of His Spirit that moves the man or woman to act as Jesus would: in a life of sacrificial love, forgiveness, and service. Gratitude fuels the words and deeds of the leader who follows Jesus.

But God in His infinite love does not force Himself on any of us. He gently woos and patiently waits for a response. Likewise, parents cannot force salvation upon a child. If your heart’s desire is to raise godly leaders who will impact our culture like the Apostle Paul, Florence Nightengale, or Nelson Mandela, you can follow their example. Lead your children in a spirit of love and forgiveness. Show them the delights of sacrifice. Serve others in your family and community. Children learn by imitating, so show them what a life of righteous influence looks like, and when Jesus calls them, He’ll give new purpose and meaning to the influential habits that they are already forming.

Tags: education, forgiveness, influence, leader, persuasion, sacrificial love, service

Dear Classical Scholar,
What is a Christian home education?                  -Just Wondering

Dear ‘Just Wondering‘,

In contemporary Western culture, education is defined as the objective transfer of knowledge from an expert to a novice. Using various tools, techniques, and skills, the trained classroom teacher delivers “neutral” content, and the student is expected to master these facts. Public schools, private Christian schools, and even some Sunday Schools typically follow this educational paradigm which assumes that knowledge is simply a vast ocean of objective data which needs to be acquired by the student like the commercial fisherman catches a net full of fish. Consider three commonly accepted “neutral” fact families:

• multiplication tables
• punctuation rules
• chemical elements

Students are taught unrelated facts by cool, clinical technicians as if they had no interrelated deeper meaning or greater purpose than to be regurgitated on a test at the end of the semester. However, Christians know that knowledge is not neutral, and all data can be interpreted in light of God’s nature. Suddenly, multiplication tables have profound meaning as the careful observer sees the concept at work in the multiplication of plant and animal cells. Punctuation rules become significant for clear and effective communication and exposition of truth. The Periodic Table takes on new meaning as the student discovers the differing atomic weights and chemical properties of the elements. In short, observations about our world become opportunities to express decidedly passionate responses as we stand in awe of the greatness and infinite goodness of the Living God!

So what is a Christian home education? If you break down the term to its simplest interpretation, Christian home education would be “learning about Christ at home.” In fact, Proverbs 1:7 says that:

“the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

According to this verse, we cannot even begin to acquire knowledge without first fearing , or respecting, the LORD from whom all truth originates. Instruction in truth comes from a relationship with the LORD.

Jesus didn’t send his disciples off to a trained technician who would teach them unrelated data from textbooks in a classroom with their peers. His educational system was rooted in a lifestyle of 24/7 community. He lived with his students. Where ever they were together was home. He taught and they imitated. Learning was not just about repetition of unrelated facts but about behavior and action. He didn’t artificially separate knowledge into categories or stand-alone subjects. Torah was His primary text. Loving God and loving neighbor was something they did…not just something they thought or read about. Interestingly, knowledge as Jesus gave it was certainly not objective - He was not in the least interested in transferring neutral data about life. His teaching was profoundly subjective, life-changing knowledge that created outrageous loyalty and love for God and men.

So what’s the first thing YOU need to do in order to give your kids a Christian education? You need to get to know Jesus personally. Spend time with Him, and let Him instruct you in His character, His passions, and His purposes. The better you know Him…the better disciple you will be; your relationship and knowledge of Him will directly impact the education of your children. You want to raise little image-bearers who reflect His glory everywhere they go and through everything they do. At the end of the home schooling journey, the Lord will not judge you on how much book knowledge you were able to impart to the kids. He’s concerned about how much your kids learned about Him through the home education they received.

Make time in your day to spend quiet time being discipled by your Lord; your own personal “Christian education” is crucial to the successful home education of your children. Don’t be a fool and despise His instruction. He wants to spend time with you today!

Just give me Jesus,

Diane

 

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If these posts are valuable to you, tell a friend about this blog. We all need encouragement in this home schooling endeavor, and you can actively show your love by sending the link to this post about Christian education.

Tags: Christian, classical scholar, disciples, education, home education, home schooling, Jesus, knowledge, teacher, the Lord

When I pulled the kids out of public school in order to teach them at home, I decided (with David’s blessing) to postpone the traditional grade accumulation process until they began to tackle high school content. The primary purpose of report cards is to notify the absent parent of the student’s progress, and I was no longer detached from their education; so, I decided to avoid the extra work until it was absolutely necessary. I was fully in tune with their progress in every area of learning, so there was no need for busy work. Every homeschooling mom will agree with me that we have plenty of work to keep us busy day and night!

 

Fortunately, my state department of education does not require grade reporting; however, if your state requires report cards, you’ll have to comply. Check with the HSLDA or click on the map to discover the legal reporting requirements for your state.

Most employers, colleges, and universities require an official transcript outlining the high school curriculum and grades, so I began to keep track of grades once each child began high school courses. I recommend starting some high school level work during the 7th or 8th year of homeschooling if you think your teen is ready. For instance, in our home, the kids started high school Debate and Latin before the 9th year, so I started accumulating official grades during the middle school years. In the example below, you’ll notice that there is no grade for Algebra 1 because Connor hasn’t started this yet.

 

How you decide to gather grade info is really your personal choice. You can pay for software like Edu-Track, or you can shares forms with other parents on email loops like the Yahoo Group, Homeschool Form Share. My personal favorite tool for accumulating grades is a Microsoft Excel form called Grade Tracker that you can download for free. Here’s a screenshot of my customized summary for Connor:

There are two great reasons to use Grade Tracker: it’s free, and the excel spreadsheet automatically calculates the cumulative GPA! If you’d like to go behind the scenes, I’ve prepared a quick video tutorial to explain how I use Grade Tracker.

Our philosophy of learning has always been “master the material, or do it again” which means that we strive for excellence. Sometimes rework cannot be avoided, and sometimes we just don’t “get it,” but generally, we don’t move on to new material until we have mastered the old material. Fortunately we have the luxury as homeschoolers to set our own pace, and we can stop and work on a particular weak area of knowledge until we master it. We’ve had to do this several times with math which is a good reason to start the kids early on high school level work if you can.

Some courses like Literature or Art History are fairly subjective in nature; David and I generally grade these courses through Socratic Dialogue, narration, or written essays. Objective courses like Latin 1, Laboratory Biology, and Introductory Logic include written examinations which can be graded more precisely.

I try to keep up with the grind of recording high school grades on a weekly basis although I have to admit this task is one of my least favorite chores of homeschooling! Usually by Friday afternoon, I am ready to start entering information about the course content and the related grade into the spreadsheet. Over the years, I have kept all of the kids’ work; at the end of the year, I pull out all the best examples and create a portfolio (really more like a scrapbook) and put the rest in a labeled box which I store in the attic. In some respect the annual portfolio serves as proof of each child’s homeschooling “grade” or progress that year until they get to high school when I then begin to keep official grades.

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Are you keeping grades yet? Please take a minute to share your methods in the comments section below.

Tags: Algebra, Biology, Debate, education, grade tracker, grades, high school, Home School Legal Defense Association, home schooling, homeschooling, homeschooling mom, HSLDA, Introductory Logic, latin, Literature, Microsoft Excel, report cards, Transcript