Is the Biblical Command to Homeschool for Us Today?

This post begins a five post series about homeschooling. All of these posts are previews of topics I cover in more detail in my book Faithful Parents, Faithful Children which is available for free in the Amazon Kindle store today through Tuesday (02/12/2013), and is always available in print in our store. If you want to stay updated on this series, Like us on Facebook. This post is an excerpt from a chapter on Biblical commands concerning education.

What Does the Bible Say About Homeschooling?

One of the key Scriptures delineating God’s mind is found at Deuteronomy 6:6–9:

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 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. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thine gates.

We have been told that this command is cultural. My reply is, “Of course it is cultural.” The very purpose of God’s commands is to show His people how to build God-pleasing culture. A highly important part of Christian culture is the rearing and training of Christian seed. This can only be accomplished under obedience to God’s commands for the family. In this case, concerning the education of the children, we are told to be about this business of education as a full time affair. We are instructed to be diligent because the sin nature of mankind is trying to prevail in every child. The natural man (child) does not seek God nor know Him. Careful instruction is required.

Home School Should Not Look Like Public School

When we first started educating our children at home we thought of it as school at home. Thus we tried to imitate the teaching style found in schools. We slowly discovered that the entire teaching enterprise needs to be understood in light of Biblical ideals. We do not need to imitate either the style or the exact content taught in the schools. Teaching may be done in ways that are more integral to good family life. The schedule and rhythm of the family along with the work and duties of the family have to be maintained. Education is a part of all of this. It is done in concert with family life not in opposition to it. Teaching children becomes a natural part of what the family does. It is a part of Christian culture.

Homeschooling Builds Biblical Christian Culture

The notion that culture should be separated from the disciplines or corrections of Scripture is ludicrous. Where do we find any Biblical teaching that culture may be formed outside of the Biblical model? Technologies improve, and this is a good thing. But the underlying norms of behavior, family duties, morals, church duties, etc. are always to be patterned after God’s revealed will. We are not allowed to discount Biblical example or instruction due to the present culture being at odds with them. In fact the real need in our time is to recover Biblical culture, not to continue to live in opposition to it. Do we esteem Biblically-based culture so lightly that we sincerely believe the present immoral and disobedient culture is superior?

My wife and I spent the early years of our marriage in membership at a local Bible church with an attendance of around one hundred seventy-five. We were the first couple in the church to educate our children at home. A second and third family soon joined us in that behavior. Now the years have passed. Our children and theirs, twelve between the three families, are mostly grown and are all solid Christians. Out of the entire balance of that church we are able to identify less than ten other children that serve Christ today. Almost all of the children from that church are either marginal Christians or outright humanists/pagans. Yet all the way along our home education journey we ran up against excuses, resistance, and being told we would harm our progeny if we did not rear them like other parents were doing. The idea of resisting the culture was unthinkable to most of the families around us.

Christians that are unwilling to challenge the culture in this area of education often lose their kids. The humble believer in God’s word and works can rear Godly children best by extricating his family from the present educational systems. The ways of the God of the Bible are sufficient for our day. Biblical culture is good and right because it is rooted in good and right precepts from the Creator Himself. For us to discount Biblical culture is to discount the God of that culture. It is a supremely arrogant attitude and deeply mistaken.

For Christian Culture,

Don Schanzenbach

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