Is it a sin to not homeschool?

General Faith
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Someone brought this up in an answer to one of my previous posts. Do you think it is a sin to not homeschool? Do you think homeschool is God’s design? I don’t know what to think. I was homeschooled myself. I think homeschool is definely better because you can educate your kids in Godly ways. However I think it definely affects social development. I was always around my mom and most of the teachers and classmates at the few co ops I went to were female. Men and boys have always seemed foreign to me despite being male myself, and I worry this added to my sinful desires for other men, and I wonder had I had better relationships with boys and men would this have happened?

Also, what about for Christians in places where you can’t homeschool, such as Germany and Sweden? Many of them leave the countries, but then I realize it may boil down to “be a German or be a Christian but not both”

I feel like homeschool is good but unfortunely academia in general is another complication to this crazy world

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Deu 6:7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Public education was one of the cleverest ploys of Satan to eliminate parental influence on their children.

Here is an interesting page about education;

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So that means Christian families have to homeschool-

Another reason I don’t want to have kids!

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There is one view that our life on earth is to be as easy and fun as we can make it. This view is consistent with the consumer culture we have created. The bible paints a different picture of God placing us here to obtain that which he can harvest.

If one is a Christian, one should be seeking after truth and to abandon the selfishness of the flesh and seeking to grow into the selfless love of Christ-likeness.

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Kids can be and should be home schooled even if they do attend public school. The dad is the spiritual leader of the home and is accountable for giving the kids wise instruction which, let’s face it, that means knowledge of the Lord! That they don’t have to believe everything the teacher says in public school. Teachers are wrong at times too.

I remember in elementary school when they started to teach us all about evolution. None of my siblings or me believed them, we laughed and the joke became (walking down a street or alley and seeing a puddle…) Hey Brian, there’s your mom! It was pretty funny.

After my kids were grown I came to understand what authority that the Lord has given us, in Jesus name. Now my kids never saw monsters in the closet or under the bed at night, but many children do and run scared to the parents and say monster in the closet and mom & dad say, it’s your imagination go back to bed…?? Whoa.

Small kids can be (homeschooled) to understand that they have authority over monsters in Jesus name and can command them to leave. So little kids should be taught these things and taught to pray to God. If I had it to do over again (especially in todays global climate) I would totally homeschool my kids.

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I think most of homeschooling with kids, is accomplished by spending time with them and just talking about different things and teaching them different things.

When my GF got pregnant and we got married and had our 2nd boy, we lived in Columbus, and we talked about it and both of us did not want to raise our kids in Columbus, so we moved to Colorado, and that was great because living on the front range of the Rocky Mountains is much like being on a permanent vacation! All you need is gas money, and some camping gear and so forth. I spent so much time with my boys stomping around in the mountains that…it benefitted them, big time. By the time they were 8 I trusted them to walk behind me with a loaded rifle when we were small game hunting!

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Amen. Without a doubt this is the truth.
Peter

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No. Better? Yes. But not all can. Some have to work. But the option is far better. There is not any of those indoctornation and anti-God stuff attempting to be forced into the heads of those with moldable brains. But sin? No.
Peter

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I hear you on this. I always feel a bit conflicted when people ask me about my experience being homeschooled and if I’d recommend it. Personally, I think it worked very well for me. I am more introverted and a self-starter and love reading, so I loved those aspects and being able to dig deep into history and literature and theology. I do grieve not being able to have the opportunity to make more friends in high school or to have formative teenage experiences.

I don’t think it’s the only way to have a good or godly education. I also think there is such a vast spectrum of ways to homeschool, so someone’s experience with it really depends on if they were basically just given some books to read, if they have a set curriculum, or if they are part of a homeschool group or co-op. Part of me thinks that government should not restrict homeschooling, but there have also been a lot of abuse of the freedom to homeschool and kids have not been given a good education in some situations (or worse).

At the end of the day, I personally had a good experience, but I think that was largely because of my personality, so I wouldn’t widely recommend it. I’m sending my own son to an academically rigorous classical Christian school (which would’ve been my dream school as a kid). I think this is the best of both worlds, but of course it is very expensive, so not accessible to many, and I’m not sure we will be able to afford it longterm either.

Public education is a whole other issue. :person_facepalming:

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I always say I want to homeschool my children because schools are just as scary these days as anywhere else.

But, the truth is, I feel very strongly that children learn so many social and emotional lessons by being at school, away from their family, that they cannot learn at home and I wouldn’t want to take away that opportunity for them.

It’s not a biblical question for me in any way. It’s a developmental question.

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You say that as if they give kids a good education in public schools, Lol! They are churning out illiterates at an alarming rate in public school.

I remember I used to skip school so I could stay home and read books. I’ve always liked to read. I knew that school hours were for learning though so I largely chose my own curriculum from a wide array of subjects with books from the Library.

I think it worked, lol.

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IMHO, a man who regards secular humanism and Christianity as equally valid frames of reference has no business serving as an elder.

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Of course it’s not a sin.

What sort of education one chooses to enroll their child in is ultimately a matter of parental discretion and involves weighing all kinds of factors.

I, personally, believe that public-funded education is a good thing. I acknowledge that, depending on where one lives, the quality of that education can vary wildly. If parents are able to afford quality private education for their children, that is also a wonderful thing. And if parents have the luxury of time, resources, and are themselves qualified, then homeschool can also be good.

There is no right or wrong answer; the right answer depends on dozens of factors; and ultimately is a matter of things like conscience, wisdom, and practicality.

If I offered my own personal experience growing up. I received a private education at a church-affiliated school from K to 6th grade (I’m using American terminology, for those who use other terminology based on their own country’s system and metrics); some of it was just fine. However on the whole the school was low quality, and it set me back, especially when it came to mathematics; it was also an awful experience as my family did not belong to the church it was affiliated with, and children of non-member families often faced challenges other students didn’t. Teachers routinely targeted such children, myself included, for social ridicule so that we knew we we did not belong. So my private school experience was quite terrible.

I was also homeschooled for a year in my junior high years, both my parents worked and so they used a mail-in VHS service from Abeka through Pensacola Bible Institute. These were VHS tapes recorded from real classroom settings. These came with coursework which had to be completed and mailed back to Florida. These VHS classes were absolutely terrible. They were, of course, what one would expect of a low quality VHS recording from the early 90’s, but they were also entirely unedited. As such if a child acted up in the classroom, the teacher would break from the lesson to scold the student–sometimes interrupting the class for as much as 5-10 minutes at a time. Sure, that may have been a true-to-life classroom experience in a way, but I already hated having to sit at home by myself in front of a TV learning a subject from the most boring teachers I could imagine (while avoiding the temptation to just turn it off and watch cartoons or something instead); but then have to endure these interruptions as well.

Awful. Simply awful.

As such, when I attended public school from 9th-12th grade, it ended up being, in fact, the best education experience I had at that point. The quality of the education was certainly the best I had had up that point. I also, for the first time in my life, developed the ability to socialize with people my own age and make friends. Up until public school, I did not really have any friends. As such the majority of my childhood was spent by myself. I had to, effectively, learn over a decade of social skills in a very short period of time.

Public school came with its own challenges. But on the whole, even counting the bad experiences, it was still the best education experience of my pre-adult life.

Now, none of this means I am opposed to homeschooling or private education. I think both are perfectly valid educational options for parents who are capable of it. I am saying, though, that my personal experience means I do have a particular perspective: I can’t, therefore, simply say that homeschooling is always better than public schooling. Because that certainly isn’t the case.

So I return to my position made earlier: This comes down to weighing a lot of factors and making an informed decision on what one believes is best for their children. And not all parents will reach the same conclusion; nor will all parents have the same options available to them. Not all parents have the means or ability to do certain things. For some parents, public education is the only option, even if they may believe homeschooling or private schooling would be better. The circumstances of life differ for all.

So at the end, parents simply must do what they are able to do, according to their means and conscience.

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Just curious as to whom you are reffering to? Just the gernal concept or someone say something to this effect? I feel like I missed something.
Peter

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I wasn’t saying or implying that at all. The last line of my post makes that clear, as well as the fact that I’m choosing to send my son to a Christian school. I am no fan of public education, and I think in most school districts in this country (USA), public education is subpar at best or actually harmful at worst.

That said, as someone who was homeschooled and in homeschool circles, I’ve seen the underbelly of that as well. There has been a lot of abuse by parents who use homeschooling not as a way to educate their children, but to indoctrinate them or worse. I think homeschooling is overall great, but it’s also a way for kids to slip through the cracks if their parents aren’t responsibly educating them. There are pros and cons to both, and I fully support each family making the decision that is best and feasible for them. I don’t think this is as much of a moral issue as many would paint it.

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Some people aren’t in a position to homeschool.

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It’s amazing what people can achieve when God leads them to act in accordance with His Word.

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What about sending your children to a Christian school? Seems like that is the best of both worlds. Of course, research the school and its curriculum first.

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I went to a Christian school for a couple years when I was younger. The curriculum is very similar to Public school with some Bible study thrown in. The girls were the same as in public school too. Not a big enough difference when they parents have to pay on top of it IMO

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